It has been a tough week as I have been saying my final farewells to Betsy, who was my first car that I bought in Germany. She has served me well all these years, except the times she broke down of course.
In the winter time she didn't like the cold, so I needed to jump start her with the cables. But once she started again, she was doing just fine. These days she is more reliable than ever.
I've always known that cars were special and could talk since watching Knight Rider as a boy and Kit was super cool. Therefore, I always try to talk to Betsy and see how she is doing so that she doesn't get in a bad mood or anything.
I think Betsy is still upset with my wife after she refuses to drive Betsy anymore after the last time she broke down and said she wasn't reliable anymore. Betsy took that hard, but I reassured her that I will drive her still and she is staying with us.
I quite often take Betsy to the car wash to polish her up nice and clean. I also enjoy to clean her inside to keep her in good shape.
In order to keep Betsy in good shape, I also bought the Haynes manual for her so I could do most of the service myself. It was fun to buy the parts and fit them all yourself. At least I know that it was done correctly and Betsy would be in good shape.
Sometimes when Betsy broke down, the manual was helpful to look what to do, but really I needed a ODB2 reader which could speak Betsy's computer language and it would sometimes give me some messages that I could try and decypher what was wrong. Sometimes I still needed my local mechanic as what causes the issue isn't always clear.
It is with a heavy heart that after nearly 8 years I part with Betsy after we have been through so much together. I remember the time I changed her battery which gave her a fresh lease of life. I always like topping up her water levels so that she could clean the windows. She always stayed cool and didn't need much coolant either.
We have travelled together everywhere me and Betsy and it must be nearly 200k kilometeres together across europe. Whilst other owners of Opel cars complained of unreliability and swapping to a BMW or Mercedes, I stuck with Betsy, I knew she wouldn't leave me stranded and so it was true, she didn't. She did chew through a few spare parts and cost a little in maintenance, but she was always there for me as cheap and reliable run around.
But now the time has finally come that I need to say goodbye and it is much harder than I thought. Betsy I will miss you and the new owner says you will have a good owner once you have been exported from Germany to a new promised land, probably somewhere warmer too.
Take care Dear Betsy!
Thanks for reading!
Credits:
All photos are my own unless stated.
Let's connect : mypathtofire
I feel with you and Betsy 😘 as I always drove my Cars over many many years until there was simply no way to keep them, so I really understand.
Bon voyage Betsy!
I hope Betsy finds a good new home. I was trying to keep her until the last minute as I could.
Dont worry good cars always find good people 😘
Bon voyage indeed! 🙏 as someone wisely noted above, it will 100% go south, probably to Bulgaria, Montenegro or Serbia - such climate change always has a positive effect on patient’s health! ☘️☘️☘️
Goodbye to Betsy. Well, I think nothing last forever and she has served her purpose very well. Now it is time to fudge a new life without her while she probably travels abroad to meet her new owner😊
Yes, she goes onto the next stage of her life and hopefully has someone who cares about her too. ❤️
Oh yeah!👍
Well, someone who changes their car from time to time can't relate to this but I can understand your attachment with Betsy as you took a lot of care of her.
But everything has to leave one day, sad part. :(
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Thanks, we were together for quite some years and I tried to take good care of her so that she would last well. I hope she gets a good new owner. Thanks for your support.
Yeah, hope for the best..
Hello dear friend @mypathtofire good morning
I understand what you are going through, it is incredible how one falls in love with the cars they have, I have had several and it has happened to me like you of not wanting to let them go.
Goodbye Betsy, Thank you for your service.
Thank you dear @jlufer . It is hard to part ways and we do become attached to our cars. I've always loved cars since a boy and still do.
I don't know how old you are Betsi, but from Germany it will 100% go south, probably to Bulgaria, Montenegro or Serbia 😁
Your whole post reminded me of my ex Suzy (that's how I beat my Suzuki).
when we said goodbye to her, also after 8 years but only 110,000 km, there were emotions on our part.
I think you are right. Every person told me they will export, the km is too high. Betsy is 13 years old too.
Suzy looks great, that seems a sad moment that you separated. I love the car is red. I hope Suzy is doing ok still?
I hope it serves the new owner well. I sold it in October last year.
This brown one next to het is a replacement for Suzy.
Ah bless, poor Suzy! She looks such a nice red car too. But your new one looks also nice. 😀
13 years? you mentioned 8 in the post. i.e. you wasnt her 1st master?
I just checked her documents again and I was her 2nd owner. She was registered 2011 and I bought her 2014 not 2016 like I thought. So we are actually 10 years together.
👍
ps.
apparently the same for me and my bike - we are together for a dozen years.
The time sure goes by quickly with our trusty companions.
100% go south, lol. As we all know, climate change always has a positive effect on the patient’s health!
And where could go south if was in Melbourne?😀
Hmmm... there are some scientific stations at Antarctica, as far as I know. But I doubt that such goods as cars are in demand there. 😜
With "a little" tweaking, both Betsy and my Suzy could make it to the South Pole, like this Toyota 😁
Suzy looks like the small car I would buy right now in our situation. But I'm still not sure if I need a car. I can drive with my E-Scooter to work and my wife has a motorbike and a job-bike to go to work.
Suzuki SX4 is not at all small as it seems. We arrived from Belgrade to the Leaning Tower of Pisa (1100km), four of us adults. And five of us adults, from Belgrade via Vienna and Bratislava to Prague (900 km), Only then we had a roof rack and a luggage box.
If it's not small, I don't want it. 😜
My first car in Spain was the Opel Astra 1.6 from 2001, a sedan version... That was the only time bought an older car than I had (Skoda Fabia 2003), but I liked it a lot and the trunk was huge!! When I was moving from one to another apartment, I used it to transport all our things... As we just moved to Spain and had to "re-allocate" to another apartment, we didn't have too many things, but I did do 6-7 trips with a car full of things...
But, in the end, I have to say that I wasn't too happy with its performance... It broke many times, and in the end, it had a huge problem with the engine, so I almost gave it away as it was worthless... 😞
Did you already found a replacement for your Betsy?
I had before Betsy an Astra also 1.6 I think it was, around the same age as your Astra but an estate. It was huge and great for transporting things. I moved country in it a few times.
I really liked the feel of driving it, which is why I bought another newer Astra, although it didn't drive exactly the same.
The older Astra did have a few issues, I couldn't get replacement parts for it and needed to use string to pull the wipers on its last journey to the scrap yard.
I didn't find a replacement for Betsy yet, I might wait until next year even before getting something.
I suppose you have a spare car to use until you get a replacement for Betsy? While I don't move too much with the car as of work from home, I can't imagine NOT having one for some time...
Yes we have another car to use until we decide what to do. You can see it on my post when I broke down in Augsburg. Lol.. my wife has taken it though, so I will only have it when she not using. We work from home, but a car is pretty handy for shopping and stuff, kids activities etc.
Yes, once you get used to one car, it's hard to switch to something else. I have driven my Peugeot 307break for over 450 thousand kilometers, with very few breakdowns, almost none. Well, it is now twenty-one years old and registered until October. I don't know what I'm going to do with it because it's not worth anything. The bodywork is pretty rusty, but the engine and everything else work like clockwork.
I think if you keep maintenance well and replace parts, things should tick along nicely. I wanted to keep Betsy a little longer, but I don't want to do a new maintenance or buy new parts etc without then keeping her another 2 years and the problem is that I don't travel very far with her, which isn't so good for a diesel. Considering a petrol car next.
The attachment is often real especially if you've spent a long time owning the car. It still looks solid in my opinion, like you said, it's probably time to let it go..
Thanks. We have been together a long time and it is hard to part ways. I might need to walk for a while too or use my bike.
Hello @mypathtofire
I am sorry that you have to let "Betsy" go, without a doubt you will miss her a lot for everything you have experienced with her.
Thank you. It is emotional and hard to think that she will be leaving us soon.
May Betsy find a new owner, friend and family member in her old days. Cars for me have more raw-practical value so I am not the person who give them a wash often to be honest. But this week will be the week (thanks to your post) and I will remember Betsy and your story while giving my friend some new wipers and a good rub :)
I hope that Betsy finds a good place and caring new owner for her older years too. It is good to hear that you will give your friend some new wipers and a good rub too. 😀
It's hard to part with a car sometimes, I know that feeling all to well!
Thanks! Its not easy when you have been together for some time. Hopefully Betsy finds a good new owner.
This post is written with !LUV, truly. I couldn't hold back a few tears while reading it... and a lot of smiles as well.
!PIZZA
Thanks, it was a lovely day yesterday spending with Betsy and taking some photos. 😃❤️
Oh man! You should ask my dad about that. He loves his cars so much but he also loves buying new cars lol. He has a hard time leaving but he gets used to his new car quickly, I hope it will be the same for you.
Thanks man, yeah it's so nice to buy a new car, but leaving the old one isn't easy.. hard to think where all the time has gone together.
Poor Betsy... RIP
Funny how cars and motorbikes become family members and get names. One of our cars got the name Goliath and our motorbike is called Eleanor.
Those are some cool names! I can't think how they would get them! 😅
Well, that's a secret of my wife.
not RIP, but Bon Voyage and long life! from Germany it will 100% go south, probably to Bulgaria, Montenegro or Serbia 😁 and such climate change always has a positive effect on patient’s health!
A rehab for a car. Nice! 😅
When I was down in Ohio a couple of weeks ago I took a ride with my niece in our old car that we sold to her. It definitely made me miss it more than I had.
It is hard to part with your old car. Betsy left me today with new owner. It was hard.
I feel your pain for sure!
Bye bye Betsy! 😓
She is gone now.. 🥲
You've been curated by @amazingdrinks! Delegations welcome!
Oh no you sending Betsy somewhere warm! I had she does not get sunstroke.
Lucky Betsy has some aircon to keep cool! 😀
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