In the words of my father, I “made out like a bandit” this weekend. And had a spot of luck too.

It began Friday when the new hard drive for our Series 3 Tivo arrived. The old hard drive decided to take a permanent vacation, presenting the dilemma of either purchasing a new Tivo, meaning we’d loose the lifetime subscription that has paid for itself a few times over, or trying to drop in a new hard drive. Either way, it would cost about the same. The hard drive install was quick and easy, and after running through the guided set up our resurrected Tivo was running smoothly with our lifetime subscription still intact.

Saturday afternoon the wife and I visited a fellow fly fisherman and his wife with the express purpose of combing though some fly tying materials. Comb through we did. About an hour and a half later I was putting a grocery bag in my car full of materials, including seven dozen spools of thread of all sorts of colors and hues. All that and a dinner date with my wife.

Sunday’s event was courtesy Honda. As a participant of an online Honda Owners Panel (which conducts surveys about once a month) I was awarded two pass to the IndyCar race at Infineon Raceway. Christopher and I arrived about ten that morning to enjoy a continental breakfast in the Honda tent, which was set up at turn two. (An uphill right-hand sweeper.) After walking around the various exhibits and watching the Historic Gran Prix cars head out to the track for warm up, we headed back to the tent for a great rib lunch. Lunch gave way to a visit by the Ryan Hunter-Reay (driving the ethanol-sponsored Rahal/Letterman Racing #17), then a tour of the garage area. Though I wouldn’t pay for the privilege, it was fun seeing the race in person. Helio Castroneves (Team Penske #3) won, with Ryan Hunter-Reay finishing 18th. Gotta love free stuff.

I’ll be the guy looking for more freebies…

This weekend I drove my son Sean some 200 miles to find this first car, which ended up being less than 15 miles away from home. But in the end he kept a streak of Honda ownership alive with a 1994 Honda Civic LX sedan.  (That should make his maternal grandfather proud!)

Hondas in general and Civic specifically attract a rather fanatical community ranging from teenage kids bent on building upon their dreams of being the next big tuner/racer/drifter to the more practical citizen simply looking for a reliable commuter car. I think we got lucky with this one, swooping in before any other buyer showed up with cash in hand. Particularly considering that this 13-year-old Civic has amazingly low 97,000-some miles on it. Even more amazing is that it was purchased in Chicago and driven here (California).

This little car is a far cry from my first car — a 1971 VW Beetle. I hope that Sean will offer thanks every time he cranks up the air conditioning or sets the cruise control. Of course, car ownership has thrust him into another aspect of adulthood…with the pride comes a price: new tires, new timing belt and water pump (a must on any small car) and dealing with the Department of Motor Vehicles.

I’m hoping this car turns out to be a good find. We only happened upon it after a long-delayed e-mail response to an ad; and then only because we still had yet to drive through the city in which it was located. You can see the picture that was in the ad to the right. Stay tuned, however, I might post some more once Sean washes and waxes it, assuming he’ll stop driving it long enough for a picture.

Chris got his first car this weekend. He had begun to search Craigslist about a month or so ago, about the time he started working at Safeway. Though I had thought he’d want to wait longer, he was itching to get “something to work on,” even though he had yet to get his drivers license. So, we started looking. I couldn’t not believe what people tried to pawn off as “decent” or “good” cars within Chris’ price range. We look at one 1974 Toyota Corrolla that we should have been paid to take away! Then there was the 1990 Honda CRX in Pittsburg that had oil leaks, bondo over an entire front fender panel, cracked CV joint boots, suspicious wear on rear tire, a check engine light that was always on, and a non-working speedometer…and that’s only what I saw. But on a lark, we drove a bit further to Antioch after talking on the phone to the seller of a 1978 Toyota Celica GT (Chris adds more specifically that it’s an RA42 GT.) Apparently it was originally purchased by the father of the seller and has remained in the family since his passing four years ago. Sure, it looks like a 28-year-old car, but is in good shape and with a new carburetor, alternator, clutch, rear end, radiator, water pump and tires. (And everything except the radio is original…it even came with the original owner’s manual and window sticker!) Sure, Chris will have to put some work into the interior, and there a few things I’ve specified need to be fixed before he can drive it daily (including getting his license), but I think he found a good first car for a good price.

Interesting. A few short weeks after I write American Honda Motor Co. about my disappointment with the design of the new Civic’s seat/seatbelt latch (see the blog entry here), my inbox receives the following:  “The Honda Division of Honda R&D Americas…would like to invite you to be a part of a select group of Honda owners to participate in our Honda ‘Power of Dreams’ Panel.”  Coincidence?  I wonder.  And yes, I did sign up, just to see what might happen.  Could be fun.

As my family and close friends know, I am a bit particular – maybe to the point of having a touch of OCD – when it comes to cleaning my car. Well, we finally had a sunny day, allowing me to give my “new” car (2003 Honda Accord but new to me) its first through washing, waxing and detailing. My son Chris thinks this car goes “18 dummy” (meaning it’s off the hook, dude). Sometimes it looks a bit sinister to me. Received the registration a few days ago, so soon I’ll be off to DMV to swap the plates to my amateur plates, then I’ll work on the dual-band radio installation.

How I came to own this car was summed up by why a fellow co-worker who said that “Pat has never met a new Honda or Toyota that he couldn’t trade in.”  The upshot is that I traded a 2006 Civic for this 2003 Accord because the seats in the Civic seemed to be designed for drivers with more delicate derrières.  Yeah, one would think I would have sensed this problem in the test drive, but it was oh-so subtle.  Sure, the seats were a bit stiff, but having not owned a new car in may years I said to myself, “Self, they’ll soften up over time.”  But a week into ownership, I found my right hip was beginning to hurt after my commute, and even the new-car smell did not assuage my feeling that something was wrong.  I thought it was the seat padding, so I tried a few things that I thought offer a bit more padding, even though I have plenty o’ padding on my hiney.  However, it didn’t help much.  I can’t say why, but one day during my commute, I came to me, and with an examination I confirm my suspicions that the seat belt latch was above the top of the side bolster — much higher than any other car I have driven — and that was digging into my hip.

After quickly firing off letters to the Honda dealership, the dealership owner and Honda corporate, I realized that (1) there wasn’t much that could be done and (2) I was unlikely that anything would be done.  With some quick research and bit of luck I found the Accord (for basically any equal trade and no extra money out of my pocket) and not once have I second-guessed my decision.  I, and my derrière, are much happier.

P.S. I must commend Honda’s warranty service, as my extended warranty on the ‘06 was fully refunded.