Sunday, August 2, 2015

The Texas Bluebelle Story

Up until a few weeks ago, we had a silver 2011 Volkswagon Jetta four door sedan with a manual 5 speed transmission.  Although she wasn't a really fast or flashy car, she was very dependable and economic, especially with the astronomical gas prices that we've all had to contend with over the past few years!  Plus, she only had 32,323 miles on her odometer and had a lot more life left in her.  We had planned to keep her around as our economic get-around vehicle while we saved up to get something with a bit more Vroom under its bonnet.

Well, as we all know, sometimes life has a way of changing one's plans in unexpected ways.  While on the way back home on June 15th from a trip to Atlanta, I got a call from my son informing me that the engine blew up in his 2008 Mazda 6.  So, long story short we paid off the balance owed on the Jetta and shipped it to my son's apartment in Maryland. 

Here she is all packed up in the tractor trailer and ready to go to Maryland:


Heading to Maryland

We gave him the car free and clear so that he would have a dependable car to get around in without a car note.  After much nail biting on our part, the tractor trailer driver finally delivered the car to my son in pristine condition.  

Unfortunately, this was not the end of the silver Jetta saga.  I had informed my son that the car had a manual transmission before we shipped it to him and he said that he was fine with it.  Well, in the long run it ended up that he wasn't fine with it.  So unbeknown to us, he paid somebody $3k to replace the engine in his Mazda 6 and the Jetta was just sitting in the parking lot outside of his apartment.  So we told him that we'd give him the $3k for the engine and that we were going to fly up to Maryland to pick up the car and bring her back home to Texas.

But, the silver Jetta saga continued!  Not long after I talked with my son, I ended up getting a text from my daughter asking if she and her husband could buy the Jetta from us. They have two young children and really needed a second car that was safe and dependable.  They're a young, one income family so we just gave them the vehicle.  So after all of the drama, the Jetta ended up in a good home where she was very much wanted and needed and my son had a new engine in his Mazda 6!

But now we were down to only one car and needed to get another one.  A few weeks later, a car that was close to matching what we were looking for was delivered at the Frisco Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram Dealer in Frisco, Texas.  We went through USAA's Car Buying Service and the dealer quoted a fair price, so on Saturday, July 18th we headed out to Frisco to test drive the car.

After hanging out at the dealership for over six hours, we finally drove home in our brand new B5 Blue Dodge Challenger SRT 392!  We've since named her Bluebelle. 

Here are some pictures of her:

Bluebelle at the Dealer right before we took her home
 
In front of our house - look at those beautiful red Brembos!

Bluebelle's Cockpit

Her new Texas specialty plates
 

Despite all of the pain and drama, everybody got what they needed in the end.  Bottom line, we love our Bluebelle!  She drives like a dream and she is the nicest car that we've ever had!