I'll Miss You Dearly.

crybaby
Originally uploaded by erickpineda527.

It was bound to happen. I knew the day would come. It was great while it lasted, but you know how the saying goes "nothing good lasts forever". She was a blast to have around and she never let me down. I took great care of her and I was actually really sad to betray her so. I'm sorry. I hope you find a nice, deserving owner. When the weather is right and the sky is clear I hope they take you outside to do what you do best. Goodbye my precious Eclipse Spyder Convertible . You'll be missed.

Yep it's true. I traded her in for something newer. Something more practical. Something more befitting of a 35-year-old guy with a family and dreams of making it big in the restaurant business. I took excellent care of her making sure nothing was ever in disrepair or dirty. She proved herself one last time with a totally kickass trade-in value that even the dealer couldn't deny. I wish I had taken one last picture of her before they drove her off to the backlot.

With Isa I never felt safe to try and attempt and put a babyseat in there and go driving. If something should happen a retractable softtop would never do. Also it being what it was the blindspots were huge. A low-slung ragtop would only mark me as an irresponsible parent. So since October of 2006 I had been researching and pricing a replacement for the Spyder.

It had to reliable, well engineered and still maintain style. No minivan or station wagon would EVER be parked in my driveway. I thought my Acura MDX purchase was a solid purchase (and it was) so I figured an Acura TL would be the right fit. And if I wanted to be more price conscious then the TSX might be ok. I even rented a Toyota Highlander and considered a Honda CRV since we liked our suv's height so much. I even came "this close" to buying a Volvo S60 Turbo from a guy (glad I didn't - he wanted too much and the reviews were less than stellar surprisingly).