Why the name Pedro, you ask? Well, my best friend and I had the idea, when I was 17 and she was 15, that we would name our rides after Latino men, all names starting with the letter “P.” We figured we would start a ridiculous tradition that would later prove difficult to explain to anyone with a straight face. We have succeeded.
Pedro was my very first car and first big purchase. He was a used, light blue, $1,700, 1989 Dodge Colt with poorly executed purple window tint. Technically, Pedro was also a Mitsubishi and a Plymouth because car manufacturers seemed to swap vehicle bodies back then faster than I could hide a pack of cigarettes from a snooping parent. He was a manual 4 speed and topped out at 104 miles an hour, at which time the odometer froze and he began to violently shake. I only tested this twice, as I felt bad for my little guy and decided he didn’t need the trauma.
Speaking of trauma, Pedro had his share and will always be my favorite car because of it. He managed to get hit 4 times in the first week I bought him – elegantly enough, on all 4 corners of his bumpers. He took another hit the following year on the left front corner panel as I was on my way to a club in downtown DC. About another year passed and poor Pedro earned a matching dent on the right front corner panel. This one happened in a parking lot as I was unpacking moving boxes in my friend’s apartment in NC. And, as if that wasn’t bad enough, a car rolled into the front bumper at a traffic light; a golf ball from the local course landed on the front hood as I drove by; a small deer ran into the left rear corner panel; and my best friend got into at least 2 minor incidents with Pedro after I gave him to her when I had bought a replacement vehicle.
Through all of the accidents, Pedro kept us alive and unscathed. He served me and my best friend well for 5 wonderful, bumpy years. When it was time for my best friend to give him up for a replacement too, our amigo went on to serve a new purpose. He was donated to the Salvation Army to hopefully add life to someone else in need and, yes, he was still running like a champ.