Sad day, over 6 months ago.

[psburtis]

This past July 11th I totaled my beloved Bonnie, the first car I'd ever bought. It's too complicated to explain in a post, but we'll just say that construction zones around St. Louis in the middle of summer with heavy, backed-up traffic aren't the best place to rely on anti-lock brakes... Anyway, I lost my Bonnie that I'd had for over 5 years without any accidents more serious than a door ding up till then. I truly loved that car, and she'll always hold a place in my heart. Even with all of the upgrades I'd done (most of them were time consuming and done by yours truly), the insurance company still valued her at around $1600... sad, I know.

Here's a pic of her in the junkyard:



I drove my family's extra car for almost 2 months until I got a "new-to-me" car. Sadly, I didn't find any Bonnevilles that were a good price/condition ratio in my area, so I had to look outside the Bonneville family. I'm happy to say that I'm still in the GM family, but my new car doesn't have as good of gas mileage as my Bonnie did... haha. It's a 1995 Caprice SS. It's a ton of fun to drive with it's LT1 engine and a few air intake mods the previous owner had done. Here's a pic: (and no, I'm not towing that boat... I just parked in front of it)


I'm still a HUGE Bonnie fan, but that's the reason I haven't been around much lately. So, to all you still-Bonneville-owners out there who haven't had the tragedy of losing your car, drive safe and cherish your rides. Insurance companies don't reimburse "Love." Especially you older model fans, because the good ones are fast becoming few and far between. I didn't have the money to fix her up because I'm in school, and couldn't find one that would be worth my time during that 2 months I was looking, but I want to get another late 90's Bonnie once I graduate and treat her just like I treated my first one. So, to close, you probably won't be seeing much of me here... at least for a while. I'm sure I'll pop up every once in a while, and hopefully I'll be on here pretty heavily a few years from now, looking at ideas and advice on how to fix up the next Bonneville I find. Until then, good luck, drive safe, and treat your cars like you treat your women.

Happy Driving My Friends,

Parker B

[MattStrike]

Aack! That doesn't even look like a hard hit, sorry to see it in a junkyard.

[psburtis]

it really wasn't... the reason they totaled it was because the airbags went off and the cost to replace everything by an expensive body shop outweighed the cost of the car. I have a friend down here in St. Louis who could've helped me fix pretty much everything, but by the time I could've paid for the car as-is, it was already sold to someone else...

[ga93sle]

Sad to hear about your Bonnie, I know exactly how that goes. Sweet Caprice, though, I love the wheels and the DCM!

[psburtis]

thanks ga93sle, that's one of the bigger reasons I bought it, it just looks mean. Also, I could tell that the guy who was selling it took really good care of the drivetrain, which, as a student, was my biggest concern. I can drive a car that looks bad but drives great, I can't drive a car that looks great but drives bad. She isn't in the best condition, (several years as a MN State Trooper car will do that) and has a lot of rust in the trunk and floor boards, but I'm going to slowly take care of that. Luckily there isn't much snow or salt down here in St. Louis, so she won't get much worse, only better.