My second blog entry in 2019; 5 months after the new year! Haha! Whoa! Virtual spiderwebs all over, eh? Anyway, I can’t ignore this event which I feel like I really need to force myself to immortalize it in the blog. After 8 years, I finally bid farewell to my dear ole’ fuchsia Myvi, Dagny Taggart.

Goodbye, Dagny. You have been such a faithful friend and accomplice. So many memories throughout these 8 years, despite the sarcasm thrown by my colleagues and pupils! They were conservative ignoramus lot.

For the past two years, Dagny started to show a lot of ‘tantrums’  – so many parts to be fixed and some were starting to get loose and damaged : Brake pads, brake discs, air-conditioner, tyres, etc. I am a noob in the mechanical parts of the car and I dread of spending a lot of money to the workshops for the sake of Dagny’s maintenance. But I am a frequent traveler (off to UPM or any other parts of Malaysia!) and I need to be able to feel secure whenever I am on the road despite being the noob. So, I thought – rather than splurging money fixing Dagny; I might as well just grab a new car – and that came spontaneously like 3 weeks ago; –

• Listed down all the potential cars that I wanted;
• Went back to Kedah to have some sorts of physical scouting and test-drive sessions;
• Negotiated with Bang Lan, my father’s contacts at Alor Star Tandop (a seasoned car consultant);
• Signed the agreement with BSN;
• Sold Dagny for meager amount RM13,000 (inclusive of all the defunct parts and scratches on her body! Sigh) – well, what do you expect; a car is a liability. it is a depreciating asset! I actually had a split initial intention either to buy new apartment or a new car; although buying an apartment/house is an appreciating asset but being a single person, I don’t think I have the time to manage two residences – so for the time being; having a new ride is more suitable with my life as if for now.

4th May 2019; the last day of Dagny Taggart. This picture was taken at the highway shoulder near the Alor Setar Selatan Highway Exit. You will not be forgotten!

I have to say I had that mixed feeling. Reminiscing the bittersweet beginning of unable to accept her due to the colour fiasco (REFER to my writing dated 26th February 2011 at https://undomiel84.wordpress.com/2011/02/26/fuchsiamagenta-one-of-a-kind-introducing-dagny-taggart/) and then all the memories of life with her ;-

• All the long night journeys from UPM back to Serendah and then Batang Kali during my Master’s Degree years 2014-2016;
• Travelling to the north, south and east coast of Peninsular Malaysia;
• The colourful memories with someone who used to be a significant other in my life from 2010-2017;
• Rendezvouses sessions circa end of 2017-2018.

Throughout the 8 years of service, I never had any accident – except for the expensive gasket and coolant fiasco due to ‘Ayah’ erratic last-minute checking of Dagny (He has this habit of wanting to check my car and Kakak’s car before we start our long journey back home from Jitra; it is admirable BUT, he likes to do that at the moment we announce it is time to leave – let say 5.30 a.m.; the moment we are ready to drive; that’s when he would be adamant checking them and nag, nag, nag for about 30 minutes!). I immortalized it in the entry dated 17th September 2015 at https://undomiel84.wordpress.com/2015/09/27/the-car-coolant-the-gasket-my-car-breakdown-incident-km-250-7-plus-north-south-expressway/. He is a great father and I love him but nobody is perfect. As a son, I learn to weather his antics; after all, he is MY Father!

To Dagny, thank you so much!! I would never forget WUT 2185 although I heard your colour will be repainted to attract a wider spectrum of potential buyers – fuchsia or any pinkish hues are still taboo amongst conservative Malaysians! Goodbye Dagny; and welcome Christine; my HRV Honda I named after the possessive haunted car in Stephen King’s novel. 

Picture courtesy of Paultan.Org. My Christine is an HRV Honda Passion Red.