When I first bought it, over thirteen years ago, blue with white above, the man from whom I bought it, a general repair man farmer and jack of all trades, popular in his rural community, had bought a slightly newer replacement, same colours. Whenever I drove within about five miles of his place, all of the neighbours waved at me.

When I did the body job, I painted over the blue with black (of which I had some residual stuff on hand) but it's wearing off, so blue is showing through.

Body job coming up, this spring - or, if authorities stop me on road, they'll take it off the road, my mechanic says. He says that, with some repairs, the mechanicals and safety devices are in good shape.

Chief problem - it chews through gas like it's going out of style.

They tell me that I should replace it with a more energy-efficient vehicle ...

... but how about the large amount of energy that it will take to recyle it? Before it becomes necessary.

Plus the large amount of energy that it had taken to build the updated vehicle that I'd then start to use.

ole joyful