The Mercury Mystique, Long May She Drive

Meet the new addition to the Miller family. A silver 1999 Mercury Mystique, acquired through a friend of my new parents-in-law. It's the little sister to the Mercury Sable/Ford Taurus: sturdy, reliable, but at nearly eight years old, rather lived-in. It came with a few quirks: no radio; only a valet key (unable to unlock the car's doors); some trim damage inside the car (and lots of dust and "age patina").

Still, for $2,500, not too shabby for being paid for. A trip to the local Mercury dealership, a locksmith, my local Circuit City and an inside-and-out car wash, and the car's looking presentable and behaving well.

It's also the V-6 "sport" version of the Mystique, which is surprisingly zippy, and since it's a late-'90s American car, it's still got enough heft that I'd feel safe in another crash. Amenities are good, too: power windows and locks, AM/FM/CD/iPod/Aux sound (now), air conditioning, sun roof.

It's also got some goofy faux-woodgrain panels on the dashboard. Since the steering wheel was looking fairly ratty (you know that beaten-up look that softer steering wheels get after a few years), I found one of those cheapo steering wheel covers at Wal-mart that was a great shade of black "leather" and an exactly matching hi-gloss faux woodgrain pattern. Stylin' now!

Anyway, I'm nearly entirely mended from my little brush with automotive disaster: aside from some remaining tenderness in the form of an upper-shin bruise and stiffness in my right shoulder and neck, I'm approaching 100%.

Coming this weekend: moving hijinks, as space for Amy's stuff is made among mine!

-Rich