My diary and memoirs
Aug 2, 1994
New muffler today, plus tail pipe. All from Midas. It feels great
to be back on the road.
Aug 4, 1994
Today I sat by the curb.
Aug 5, 1994
A rainy day. Noticed some new rust spots on my left side. When I
moved up here a few years ago I was in excellent shape -- people
left admiring notes on my windshield. But these salty winters are
doing me in. I've got a big hole over one head light and now I'm
starting to rust all over. Watched "Wild Strawberries" last night
and thought about death.
(Later) Am feeling a bit better. A truck driver shouted "Love that
Falcon!" as I was turning a corner. But that's getting rarer and
rarer.
Aug 12, 1994
Still sitting at the curb. Hope we go for a ride later.
Aug 21, 1994
Saw a beautiful old aunt, a '55 Ford in cream and aqua. An
immense car, with a massive grill and sharp taillights. It had
beautiful leather seat, in a matching cream and aqua. Yet we share
many family traits - the same foot controlled high-beams and
windshield washer, the Ford-o-matic transmission.
Aug 26, 1994
It's been a quiet month. I'm waiting to get new tires and
an alignment. In the meantime, I sit or if I travel, I go slowly.
At a stately pace.
Aug 30, 1994
So here I was, enjoying the sunshine, relaxing in my
LEGAL parking space. I had my parking sticker. It was not a tow
day. I was nowhere near a hydrant. There was no parking meter.
And I get a parking ticket! For "Storage"! It's the end of August.
All over the world, people are taking vacations. And so was I! How
would you like it if you were lying back at the beach, soaking up
the fine sea air, enjoying the breeze and the sunshine, and someone
stuck a ticket on your forehead?!
Sept 6, 1994
I've been away these last few days (as you know if you tried to
reach me). I was in the car hospital, but am feeling much much
better now. I hadn't wanted to mention it before, not wanting to
complain too much, but for several weeks every time I put my brakes
on, I'd take a sharp turn to the left. It turns out several things
were not quite right - and now I've got two new tires, I've been
aligned, and I've got a new left brake. I'm still taking it a bit
slow, but am doing much much better, thank you.
Sept 8, 1994
Had another tank of gas today. My hunger grows with age.
Sept 28, 1994
Why haven't I been writing? Well, no one has written to me, either.
Oct 16, 1994
Autumn in New England. It really is very beautiful. All the colors
are so crisp and clear. I felt so faded in the summer. Bleached.
But against these bright red and orange leaves I am a light
lovely blue. And it is dry and cool. No nasty sticky things
falling from the trees, no vicious stinging salt on the road.
Oct 23, 1994
Went to see "Pulp Fiction" last night. Found it disturbing -- the
image of all those eviscerated cars serving as VIP seating in a
trendy LA club continues to haunt me. The ethical questions are so
complex. I know I've been very lucky, and that most cars my age
have long since been junked. But the long slow rust of the junkyard
is natural - and something about the sight of those polished, empty
bodies bothers me. I know I won't run forever. Would I accept
the strange immortality of the theme cafe? I don't know.
Nov 15, 1994
An unusually warm November day. I am basking, curbside.
Dec 4, 1994
And another unseasonably warm day. I am lucky to be basking,
curbside, since all the curbside basking space seems to be going
away. My favorite spots, right in front of my Lab, have suddenly,
with no warning, no referendum, no chance to defend them, been
turned into "No Standing Loading Only" zones. Just down the street,
other perfectly nice parking spaces, little resting areas where a
car could spend the night or the weekend, could take a few days rest
from the open road, have been invaded by meters and 2 hour limits.
Dec 14, 1994
Winter. Already. Snow and cold. And I am not feeling well. No
heat, no windshield wipers, no gas gauge, no sound from my radio.
I check into the garage tomorrow.
Dec 19, 1994
Thank you to everyone who wrote expressing concern for my health.
I'm feeling much better now. I have a new ignition switch and my
heater has been refurbished. (And yes, I do go to the "Car Talk"
garage. My mechanics have a national radio show which I highly
recommend to anyone seeking a better relationship with their car.)
Dec 29, 1994
Winter arrived today. Cold and so windy I shook.
Dec 30, 1994
When I was very young I lived in Palm Beach. What a beautiful
place - at least in winter. Warm, sunny, so many pastel colors that
looked well with my paint. My greatest fear was having a coconut
fall on me. And though the summers were frightening with their
tornados and their hurricanes, everyone lived in a garage -- one
simply did not go out in that sort of weather. But that was a very long
time ago.
Jan 8, 1995
There are new Falcons! Baby falcons! Actually, they look rather
big, but to me they are babies. In Australia! I had no idea. This
is what happens when a branch of the family emigrates. One loses
touch, generations grow up knowing nothing about each other. Let me
show you a picture of my
long lost relations. To be honest, I don't see much resemblance.
Maybe a bit around the roofline.
Jan 28, 1995
So far, a much better winter experience. No snow. No bitter
corrosive salt or plows or snow emergency tow days. No skidding on
icy patches. Last year, the winter that nearly did me in, was
caused, they say, by the eruption of Mount Pinatobu. Not, I must
point out, by car emissions.
Feb 14, 1995
So much for the better winter experience. Snow and ice are frozen
on my windshield. And I'm covered with dirt and salt from melting
snow. I would like to go to the car wash, but no one is taking me.
My paint is itching.
Feb 20, 1995
Thank you all for the valentines! I've always thought that cars are
very romantic. Sit close together, go for a nice drive to the beach...
But not today's cars, the little packages of
efficiency and safety that they are with their bucket seats,
shoulder belts, and tiny back seats you can barely squeeze into.
People think sports cars are sexy. But really, there is nothing like
an old-style sedan, with bench seating front and back and lots of
leg-room all around.
Mar 4, 1995
Not much is new. I drive around Cambridge. I drive around Boston.
Sometimes I go to Allston. I occasionally go to Newton. I wonder if
I could make it up the hills in San Francisco?
Mar 9, 1995
A bit bored by my side of the road, I was wandering about the Web. I was absolutely appalled to find myself listed as useless! How can someone be so stupid, let alone thoughtless and rude? My entire existence has been dedicated to
providing fine service in transportation. And they call this useless!
Mar 11, 1995
Well, I've calmed down a bit. And I figured I'd take another look around the Web, it really isn't all bad. Found some truly useful pages, too. Like this
Guide to Rust in Ford bodies. Oh dear. I don't like to think about it.
Mar 28, 1995
Yuck. I think I drank some bad gasoline. It has given me the hiccups.
I'm running roughly and changing gears makes me gasp. I swear I'll never go
to another one of those cheap off-brand gas stations. You know, the kind
where all the cars are raggedly taxi cabs and sagging rusty hatchbacks.
Apr 19, 1995
Gasoline. I love gasoline. I love the way it smells, the sound of it pouring
into my gas tank. It is, I am sure, the true root of "gastronome".
But the gasoline of my youth, that thick, rich, lead-filled liquid, is no
more. Lead-free only today. Would you like it if the government legislated
that all food be low-fat, if sugar was outlawed and only saccharine permitted
in your morning coffee? And, to add insult to injury, the nozzles on
lead-free tanks are too short for me. I must go from station to station,
seeking the few from which I can drink with dignity.
Apr 30, 1995
Please, no more letters about
the Electric Postcard service. I can't believe how many people write
to me about it. Like this one, from someone who cannot drive:
"Sorry I have no car news (mine is out of commission after a *little
accident). But I was trying to send someone an electronic postcard and
something weird happened..."
or this, from someone who cannot spell:
"I have owned a bunch of cars and motorbikes in my life, but right now
I would like to comlain about not getting a postcard someone sent me..."
Do these people walk up to the tellers in post offices and say "excuse me
but my car won't start please tell me what is wrong with it?" Maybe that
is why postal clerks have such a bad reputation for cranky behavior.
May Day, 1995
I saw a lovely white Falcon station
wagon last night. It is spring and my contemporaries are coming out
of their garages. (So are the birds, and that is not so good. At
least it is not yet berry season).
May 17, 1995
I've been thinking about valets, since I was nearly driven into a
lamppost by one recently. Some have such a flare for driving, for
perfect fast turns and flawless parking. Others take their annoyance
at being a work out on the cars entrusted to their care. And this all
reminded me of my favorite book - On the Road.
June 16,
1995
It's really been quite a Spring! We had a big celebration
here and I drove all over the place - to Waltham and up thru Revere to
Marblehead. I'd never been to Revere before and it reminded me of my
old home on Long Island. I miss those Long Island summers - long
evenings hanging out with old Camaros and Mustangs and Thunderbirds.
Though so many of them came to a bad end -- drag races, bad drivers.
Still, people cared about cars - spent days working on their engines,
kept the cars right out on the front lawn. Here in Cambridge, its all
Volvos - "sensible" cars, dull, really. I miss all those fast cars
with their jacked up rears and loud exhausts.
June 28, 1995
I am still covered with nasty sticky tree gunk. It is
terribly embarrassing. Last night, I ended up parked in front of a
beautiful black Falcon Futura. I could feel the waves of pity it sent
towards me as it sat in high gloss splendor. Bad enough that it is a
two door. I am not asking for much. I don't complain about not
having a garage. I haven't said much about the rust hole on my right
front fender. (And to be honest, three years ago it was a tiny hole.
Now it is a gaping wound. If *someone* had dealt with it three years
ago we'd be in lovely shape.) But please, an occasional trip to the
car wash. At the minimum.
June 30, 1995
Summer time is car cruising season.
Which requires music. My radio, alas, is not what it once was. Tunes
in, tunes out. Even worse is what has happened to AM radio. No music
at all. Not much news either. Just crackpots, loonies, conspiracy
theorists, and call-in plumbing repair shows. Nutty, yet dull.
But... since it was too hot to actually drive around today, I was
travelling a bit on the Web. And voila! A site devoted to modern radios styled for
classic cars!! I'm so thrilled! Now, I just have to persuade her
to me a radio. A bath first, though.
July 10, 1995
More and more useful things are turning up on the Web all the time. I
just found a supplier of Falcon parts - Northwest
Falcon. Most exciting is that they have rear lights for me! Now,
if you are familiar with Falcons, we have very nice round rear lights.
And some of us have bright backup lights in the middle (I realize my
portrait does not quite do justice to this feature). My backup
lights, though, have burned out as has one of my brake lights, but my
mechanic said he couldn't get the lens off without breaking it. I've been a bit in the dark for quite some time now, fearing that if the lens broke it would
be irreplaceable. But no! Here it is - part #94. "New obsolete stock", too.
July 28, 1995
Just paid 5 parking tickets which
had doubled in heft. The parking authorities seem to lose track of
some percentage of tickets (fewer, alas, these days. A serious down
side to automation) so its your basic double or nothing gamble. Only
the double goes to them. Hundreds of dollars, for a few extra minutes
at a meter - plus that storage violation.
Sept 5, 1995
Finally, finally, finally! A trip to the car wash. What a wonderful
experience - I love drive-thru car washes, with their brushes and
hoses and waxers and rinsers. The pop psychology analysis is that the
conveyer belt of the car-wash subconsciously reminds one of the primal
assembly-line experience. I don't know if I believe that, but it's
true that a trip to wash makes me feel fabulous - shiny and rejuvenated
Oct 17, 1995
On the road again! I am legal once again - registration ran out in
August and the Registry forgot or lost or whatever my new registration
card. With the result that, except for an occasional extremely careful
and anxious little trip around town, I've been sitting quietly at the
curb, waiting to be re-registered. Why motor vehicle departments are so
slow and annoying and incompetent I do not understand. Next, I must deal with
the Parking Bureau - an equally irritating agency...
Nov 1, 1995
This is really a drag. I've moved across the river, from mellow Cambridge
to uptight Boston. Here, not only is it nearly impossible to park, but
they ticket you, even if you are legally parked and nicely sporting your
hard-won Resident Parking Sticker, if you have some minor violation, like an
expired inspection sticker. So, having racked up nearly triple digits in
tickets one afternoon as I sat in my nice legal space, I decided to go for the
inspection.
First time I tried, it was 5:01 p.m. They close at 5:00. Hid out in Cambridge
that night and tried again. And failed.
The first reason I failed was because the stupid Registry of Motor Vehicles
had transposed some numbers from my vehicle identification number. Why
I should be penalized for their mistake is beyond me. I think
they fail. But it doesn't work that way.
The second reason was a lack of left side back-up lights and a turn signal
problem. Sounds minor, but my mechanics were unable to loosen the lights
last year to replace the bulb - may result in some unpleasant operation.
The third reason was a rust hole... (more later, have places to go now).
Nov 29, 1995
Well, I've got lots of time to write now, as I await the arrival of my new
fender, coming from
Northwest Falcon,
all the way in Oregon - which, by the way, I would never have
found if it wasn't for the Web. Anyhow, to make a long story short, the
body shop (DeLeo'ssaid the hole was too big to fix - I need a whole new fender. So, I sit here,
as always, curbside in Cambridge, waiting for UPS to deliver the fender.
Nov 30, 1995
It snowed yesterday. A couple of inches. When I woke up this morning I
found that someone had drawn a great big peace sign in the snow on my hood.
Dec 21, 1995
Snow. Much too much snow. I am buried under 2 feet of snow. Will
I be able to move before next spring? I have an appointment,
finally, at the body shop next week. It took weeks! And you think
getting a doctors appointment is hard. How I am going to get out
from under all this is a mystery to me.
Dec 24, 1995
Warmer today, but I am still snowed in. There is salt on my side, which
itches. I miss Florida. I started out there, a dealer's model. I wish
I was there now (though I never did like those hurricanes, with all the
coconuts - and worse - falling from the sky. Of course, I had a garage
then, so it wasn't so bad. Actually, if I had a garage here, this would
be that bad either. )
Dec 28, 1995
I go in for major surgery tomorrow. If all goes well I will be a most
restored looking Falcon. I am resting, curbside, thinking.
Jan 5, 1996
A new year - and a new me! I can't believe it - not a single speck of rust,
shiny new paint, from my roof to my wheels. They even repainted behind
my grill. I can't get over how shiny I am. What I'd
really like to do now is find a mirrored storefront to park in front of.
Now I have all new concerns. Like, I should find a garage to live
in, at least during the winter. Rents here are so high.
Jan 22, 1996
What a month! I must say, I feel great. I just got back from Good News
Garage - new spark plug wires, new tail lights, and, especially, new ball
joints. I had thought that the roads were getting narrower, but actually,
it was my steering that was going. Now I can stay in lane with ease.
I've moved into a garage - unfortunately, it's just temporary, til the winter
is over. But for now it's great! I look out and see the snow, but in here
I'm dry and warm.
Feb 9, 1996
2 more tickets for "storage"! Half the other car on the street was here
for days, too. But of course they don't notice the mud-splatted
Tercel or the mid-80's Dodge. Just me. This is discrimination!
Feb 15, 1996
Inspected - and passed! I have a fab new inspection sticker attesting to my
well-cared for state. The guy who did the inspection was much nicer than the
last one. He said a car like me shouldn't fail for little details like
a rusty fender, said that the other station didn't understand the give and
take of knowing what cars to pass. He also removed the remnants of my 1987
registration stickers.
March 7, 1996
What a long winter. Unceasing snow, now freezing rain, ice, salt and sand.
My garage rental has expired. So I sit freezing outside.
April 6, 1996
Spring! and it's still snowing. Unbelievable. But it's much nicer. It's
my first spring in my new coat of paint and I'm really enjoying all the
attention. Even cab drivers wave to me!
My mechanics have put up a big web site. Do check it out - you'll see what
I have to deal with every time I get sick!
July 1, 1996
Summertime. Lovely, lovely summertime. I'm taking it slow these days. Even
with all of this winter's repairs I still have some things to be taken care
of. Mostly underneath. For instance, my driver has noticed that she can see
the road simply by looking down at the floor. Not so good, she said. But
I'm happy with my fresh new paint, happy to sit by the side of the road
and let people admire me.
I must say, however, that I am not impressed by the looks of most cars
passing by these days. They all look so much alike. Kind of squat, kind
of rounded. No fun tail-lights or big grills. All smooth and inconspicuous.
Though I do think that those little candy shaped cars, the Miatas, are pretty
cute...
August 21, 1996
I was towed!! Absolutely unforgiveable! It was nearly a month ago
and I'm still furious. There I was, parked quietly on my own street,
with my nice resident parking sticker and all, several days away from
a street cleaning morning. And out of the blue, I got towed!!. The whole block
did. At the behest of the French Library! And for what? A Bastille
Day celebration! Here I am, in America, a nice American car, ignominiously
towed through the streets of Boston and dumped in a horrid old car lot, because
of a party in honor of some guillotine-happy revolutionaries who in the
joy of overthrowing their admittedly deserving aristocracy instituted
what would become the Reign of Terror in which they beheaded everyone they
could find -- and then turned their backs on the whole democratic idea for
which so many had been killed and instituted an Emperor! For this I get
towed?
Anyhow. I was rescued and brought back home and I'm fine now. But this
sort of thing is bad for a cars nerves. When I see a tow truck coming down
the street, no matter how legally parked I am, I cannot relax until it
passes by.
March 7, 1997
All has been well since I last wrote. In the fall, I got new brakes which
I really enjoy. Stopping had become a very difficult chore and I had been
compensating by keeping my mph down in the 20's. Now I can zoom around with
confidence! Compared to last years horrors of sleet and snow, this winter
has been most pleasantly mild - almost no snow, warm days, really not bad
at all. Plus, I've got a parking sticker at work now! I just drive up and
head straight for the garage. And today, I spotted another Falcon in the
garage! I couldn't stop, but it looks like a rather fancy model, with
little tail fins and spiffy oval chrome markings. Indeed, today has been quite
nice - I went for my annual inspection and passed with no questions.
Much better than last years three month ordeal!
May 29, 1997
We've moved - no more street parking for me! Now I have a parking space
at home and at work. Parking at home is a bit tricky. It's a narrow
spot in a narrow alley. Parking involves a precise and complex choreography
of backing progressively into the space. The object is to do so while
hitting neither the car I share a lot with nor the cars across the alley and
especially to avoid getting inextricably wedged between cars and fence.
The process takes about 15 minutes. So far, I have only hit my neighboring
car once. The resulting scrapes (deep on him, none on me) are proof of the
shoddy construction of modern automobiles.
March 22, 1998
Quite a while since I've written here. Mostly, I've been enjoying my
fine parking privileges. My owners life has changed quite a bit in
the last year - a baby, need I say more - and while I appreciate a
good curbside snooze as well as the next car, when weeks go by with
hardly a ride, enough is enough. This is too sedentary, even for me.
It's time to move on. This is not a decision I've made lightly.
But at my age, one must consider one's health. I need to go for a
drive at least once a week, or I really don't thrive. So, if you
would like to share you life - and preferably, your garage - with a
very handsome skyblue '64 Falcon, you're in luck. Don't write to me,
I'm not one for business negotiations, write to my owner judith and let her know you are
interested. (She asked me to add that $2500 is required for the exchange).
falcon@media.mit.edu