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Rant & Rave
Tuesday, November 28, 2000
I don't think that I love anything more right now than my car. I have put my life and money into it without planning it. Wheel love devoted
to his CadillacOne day two-and-a-half years ago, my dad and I were on our way home from Kahala Mall. We happened to come across a place called Cheap Cars, so we decided to pull over and take a look, just to see what they had.
There was a 1978 Cadillac that a buyer had brought in a couple of days before. My dad pointed it out and I thought that it looked pretty good. We went home and I thought about the car for a couple of days.
We ended up going back to buy it, giving the salesman $1,100 for it. I had no idea that I would end up with a big rusty car like that, but then I started working to improve it.
The first thing I did was to clean it inside and out. I knew that it could look a lot better with more work, so I started looking for a job to get the money to pay for it.
I applied at Zippy's, McDonald's, Taco Bell and Foodland. I now make $5.50 an hour at Taco Bell. Over the past year and a half, I've been saving my paychecks, but I've also been buying things for my car. I started with the purchase of chrome wire wheels that I clean almost every day.
The next thing I purchased was a set of hydraulic lifters. These take the place of your shocks and springs and make the car go up and down quite quickly. With the lifters, I can also tilt the front of the car up, drop the back or cause the car to lean from side to side. If this is not enough, I can also make the car stand on three wheels.
Once I had the wheels and hydraulics, I put blue lights behind the wheels. These can be spotted while I'm driving at night.
I wash and clean my car daily and wax it every month. As a result, I started my own business without any such intention. Life is full of surprises. People who saw me cleaning and waxing started asking me to detail their cars. At one time, I had 10 customers. The little extra cash I make I put into my car.
I am finally down to the last few items I feel I need. These are tinting, an alarm system, and the big one, a paint job. It has taken me a long time to decide on the color, but royal blue won out and will fade into a red candy metallic. The job wouldn't be complete without metal flaking and graphics.
After two years, six months and -- with the help of my parents -- $8,500, my car will be complete. This is my pride and joy.
Shawn Miller is a senior
at Kaiser High School.Rant & Rave is a Tuesday Star-Bulletin feature
allowing those 12 to 22 to serve up fresh perspectives.
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