Bye Bye - Three Oh Five (A tribute to my OHC)

[Venkat]

Friends,

It with some regret that I write this email to tell you of the sale last week of my Honda City 1.3 Exi whose registration number was 305.

She came into our family when she was barely 8 months old and had logged some 5000 kms on her odometer. She was a Sep 1998 model and we welcomed her home around mid 1999.

When we let her go last week she had logged a delightful 196,000 kms and was nearing the mature age of 10.

She was always under the AMC Of Ichibaan Honda in Kalina and except for the recent years when their level of service fell down, she was properly petted and cared for. In recent years I had started using a local mechanic for small jobs such as wiper / bulb replacement etc.

She suffered no accidents. Thank God for that. She did show her age in terms of paint oxidization, nicks and dings arising out of the normal work day rough and tumble of the Mumbai streets. She had started showing some signs of corrosion though. She had been driven by me most of her life, expect for the last few months when I kept a drive when the commutes increased daily. No effort had been spared to keep her purring along nicely.

She gave me no major problems at all. Just the normal routine replacements of Batteries, tyres, shock ups etc. Her Windscreen had been changed once though. A cricket ball fell on her at the MIG Cricket Club.

She was a hard working lady. She took our entire family to Kerala once. On another occasion she took us to South Karnataka. Hyderabad was covered thrice. Goa once, Shirdi a couple of times and Pune every week for my regular trips there. She never complained at all. She very warmly reciprocated the love that I showered on her.

I was happy to have her till the very end. But age caught up with her. I sold her for Rs 135,000/- proving once again that cars from her family have decent resale value.

No doubt I replaced her with a new model of Honda City GXi.

Regards,

P. Venkatraman

[ajmat]

I can understand your pain. Am in the process of selling my Vtec. Have been driving her over the past two weeks despite having the replacement car.

[Dippy]

Thats a very touching writeup on your beloved car. It really hurts to see a prized possession go like that. She has really served you and how 1,96,000 kms on the clock. I am sure that with tender loving she'll be ready to go even more than that because shes a Honda.

Nice to know you replaced it with a new GXi but as always the NHC will never give you the thrills you get from driving an OHC. Even your 1.3 was faster than your current 1.5. Do you have pictures of your old car to add to this thread?

[Mission_Safari]

I felt the same way when we gave out our M800 for a santro. I learnt to drive in that and felt very very sad when we had to sell it out . Whoever it may be I bet there will definitely be some kind of attachment towards their first car.. the car in which they learnt and gained confidence in driving..

I always felt that my car was like a ladder which will see many people climb high but always stay forever for some new kid to start learning in it.

[sushrutha]

Nice review there Venkat. By the way what was the mileage u were getting when u had clocked 1,96,000kms & then when it was 5000kms

[suman]

Hey Venkat, a very nice review, straight from the heart. It hurts to see an old faithful go, I hope your new acquisition also brings you many kilometers of happy motoring

[nripin]

I understand your feelings.

I have a 99 model Zen I love her so much that i dont think i'll ever giver her to any person.

What i dont understand here is why do people sell it when you love it so much and then feel sad about it ?

Was it not your own decision to sell it ?

[ram_hyundai]

Classic example of the love for our ride.My better half literally cried when we sold our santro.That had a lot of sentimental aura to it.I had felt the pain after a few days.I think most of us here would have gone through it.
ram

[a4_attitude]

very very touching stuff bhai, am sure the good news is you must be ready to welcome new member to family
cheers
W.ajay

[VJ_MAVRICK]

Quite a sentimental writeup Venkat and it shows how much we love our rides. I think you will sleep over that sale and continue to cruise on the new entrant and i guess this new ride deserved its place in your garage for your love of the ride. Drive safe and happy bhping

[Absar]

Beautiful words! They show your affection towards the car. Simply wonderful that you had it for 191,000 km! Stunning. Were the engine and suspension overhauled during your ownership?

cya
A

[Sam Kapasi]

Nicely expressed. Straight from the heart. Sorry about your loss, congratulations on your gain.

[Venkat]

Friends,

No ode to my car will be complete without a repost of the following email which was originally posted to a group of friends. It involves the car in question and is another aspect of motoring. Morbid but a compelling read nevertheless, I would think.

Venkat

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Friends,

Here is what happened, all from my point of view.

At around 4.15 am on Sunday morning, my servant knocked on my bedroom door and used the words Willie and Accident in the same sentence. I bolted upright and opened the door, when she gave me the cordless and it was Willie on the other end, telling me that they had suffered an accident enroute to Goa and gave me details of the location, injuries, Mabel's situation etc. He told me to come immediately there.

When I kept the phone down, my head was still reeling with the impact of the news. Sleep abandoned me.

I was wondering why he had not called me on my cell. When I went to it, I saw a string of missed calls, starting from 1:29 am. My cell was in silent mode thanks to Vighnesh's hospitalization and surgery the previous day. But that is another story.

I brushed my teeth. I awakened Usha and appraised her of the situation. asked her how much cash she had. We put together whatever we both could muster and while she made me a cup of tea I had a quick shower to shrug off any residual drowsiness. By 4:45 am I was on the road with some bottles of cold water in a chiller and some fresh clothes for Jarvis from Viveks collection.

I sped as fast as I could. I knew I had about 250 + kms to cover and I should do it within 5 hours max. It was a continuous interplay between speed and urgency on the one hand while caution and safety in the early morning twilight made me slowdown a bit. I stopped for something to eat, but ended up having just a cup of tea at Visava, Poladpur. I reached the hospital at about 9:30 am. The directions were perfect.

The Gramin Rungnalaya was elementary and rustic. I entered and saw Josephine, Willie's Mom and Jarvis lying on the bed with bandages and asleep. Nikita ( Mabel's daughter) came to me crying while Chris ( Son ) sat in stoned silence. All of them were dirty and disheveled. There were about 5 other co-passengers in various states of injury. I consoled Nikita ( as best as I could ) and slowly each one of them awoke. Besides sympathy, all I could offer was cold water. I went out and met Mrs Kshirsagar, the sister in charge. Read the ward reports and appraised myself of the extent of injuries, diagnosis and medications offered so far. I was given various explanations of whatever happened. I was least interested in what had happened. I was more interested in getting them top class medical attention, ASAP.


I was informed that Willie had gone to get the body of Mabel post post-mortem and also arrange for an ambulance. I talked to him on the phone and he told me to stay put at the hospital while he finished the formalities and came there with the body. I took the bags and put them in the car while I told the Sister to prepare the discharge papers.

Willie came there with the ambulance. He had a black eye and was quite dirty himself. Mabel's body was in the ambulance covered in white cloth and plastic. After a quick exchange of sympathies we got down to business.

Mrs Philomena D'Souza, another co-passenger had a dislocated hip and also had to be taken back to Mumbai. While the others could travel in my car, there was no way she could sit up. Mabel's body was moved to the seat while Philomena was taken with the mattress and put on the floor of the ambulance. Willy sat in the ambulance.

The rest of the family got into my car and we started on the way back at about 11:30 am.

We had a meal break enroute. Nobody had any appetite, but they had not eaten anything for more than 12 hours now. I myself had a Masala Dosa while I ordered Idli/Wada and Mosambi juice and had it served in the car itself. No point in having a bunch of strapped / bandaged / dirty / disheveled co-diners sitting in the restaurant in full public view. I was reminded about the Asterix and Obelix cartoons where the beaten Roman soldiers beat a hasty retreat back to base camp. Humor, I was happy to note, had not eluded me.

I called up Usha and she was in continuous touch with me. I appraised her of the injuries and told her to call up Rajesh U and inform him of our status and to keep beds ready. As I neared Mumbai, I was in continuous touch with Dr Rajesh, who himself was in Delhi, Dr Jayaram who was standing in for him, Usha, who was co-ordinating everything and Raju who was moving back from Vapi.

Willie had spoken to Rudy and in the meanwhile they had made arrangements to get the body into the VN Desai hospital at Scz E. Usha was there along with the others at the VN Desai hospital to receive the ambulance and put the body into the morgue.

It was 5 pm when I drove straight into the Dr Rajesh U nursing home and got my car load admitted. Dr Jayaram was there and each one was taken for up for sessions of xrays, strappings, Tetanus, antibiotics and drips with a whole bunch of friends, visitors, nurses all there. I knew the medical condition and spent a lot of time seeing that each one of them was given the right treatment and there were no slip ups in all the confusion that reigned. I had to often correct Dr Jayaram and his team from confusing between the dislocated shoulder of bed 8 with the hairline fracture of bed 5. Confused doctors, ignorant nurses, local anesthesia and general commotion can itself further add to the calamity.

By the time we finished with most, it was around 9 pm. Nikita and Chris did not need hospitalization. Usha took them home. Around that time I realized that Willie had not eaten anything or slept since the last 24 hours. And he was on the phone all the time. I got his calls diverted to my cell. I wanted him also to rest. Now that all of the affected were treated and in safe hands.

Until that day, in all my 35 years, I had not seen Willie cry. Ever. I knew that he was emotionally on the brink. The stress of the past 24 hours was beginning to take its toll.

Dr Jayaram and me decided that it was best to sedate everyone for that night. Dinner was served. I informed Willie about the medical status of each one. I also told him that each one had been sedated. He wondered how. He put his head on the pillow and was promptly snoring.

By the time I went home and had a bath and sat down for dinner, it was 11pm. I realized that I had eaten only a Masala Dosa on a full and eventful day.

Venkat

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

[Venkat]

Dippy,
Thanks for retitling my thread. Yes I do have photos, but I am not sure if with my status I can upload the pics here.
I could alternatively put them up on Flickr or Picassaweb and link them here.
Venkat

Originally Posted by Dippy

Thats a very touching writeup on your beloved car. It really hurts to see a prized possession go like that. She has really served you and how 1,96,000 kms on the clock. I am sure that with tender loving she'll be ready to go even more than that because shes a Honda.

Nice to know you replaced it with a new GXi but as always the NHC will never give you the thrills you get from driving an OHC. Even your 1.3 was faster than your current 1.5. Do you have pictures of your old car to add to this thread?

[Venkat]

I was getting about 12-13 when it was new and about 11-12 when it matured. There was a very slight drop in fuel efficiency.
Venkat

Originally Posted by sushrutha

Nice review there Venkat. By the way what was the mileage u were getting when u had clocked 1,96,000kms & then when it was 5000kms