My bitchin’ ’92 Nissan NX 1600 died many little deaths last year. The pictures above represent some, but not all, the breakdowns that made life exciting and my AAA coverage max out in 2006. The car tried, in every way, to convey to me that it was ready to let go, to leave the road forever. But I wouldn’t let it, I couldn’t let it… but finally, in the first week of 2007, it had had enough and, radiator a-steamin, got me within yards of a mechanic before dying the final death.

Here’s a eulogy from MM in San Francisco, with whom I had many adventures all over California in the NX:

So sorry to hear about the demise of the Little Nissan That Could. Oh, the places we have seen, the roads we have traveled, the adventures we have met. Yea, though I drive through the shadow of the summit of Donner, I shall fear no starvation v. cannibalism conundrum.

Well done, you tiny car with the giant electrical problems. Well done.

Here’s my new kid, a clean decade younger:

It’s fancy! It has a spoiler! What the hell is a spoiler? It is gonna start reporting the endings of movies to me, before I’ve had the chance to see them? I hope not, because I’ve got better things to do on my soul-crushing commute.