Happy Birthday to me.... kind of

So today is my half birthday. I know I'm in the age range where one doesn't generally celebrate such events and usually want to do the opposite and start skipping birthday's in an attempt to slow down time. But today I got a present.... kind of. I was in a car accident awhile back, Sunday 7/20 (that's not the present, I'm getting to it). Yet again my car was the only one damaged. (The first time was back in 1999 in SF - 6 car pile up. Barely a scratch on the other cars and mine looked like an accordian). And may I state for the record, I was not at fault, either time.

Well, this time I thought it might be the end for my little buddy. My little ol' red saturn has been with me for over 11 years, and I've known it for 14 years, since it's inception. The cost to fix it was potentially more then the car was worth which insurance companies don't like. Luckily, it all worked out and after a bit of delay, I was finally able to pick the car up this morning, on my half birthday (that was my present).

I don't know what I was expecting. Perhaps the trunk would still be leaky. Maybe they might have put the interior trunk lights back in this time, so you can see in the trunk when it's dark. I think I got the first. I didn't get the second. And I got something completely unexpected. Now, unfortunately I don't have any pictures so had to search the internet. Below is a picture of a car very similar to mine, before any body work.

One of the best parts of the car, the reason I was wanting to hold on to it (besides the gas milage - a wonderful mid-30s), was the bumbers. They just don't make them like that anymore. Good old rubber (maybe with a little plastic) bumpers. In my opinion bumpers are meant for bumping - hence the name. We all learned this at a young age at the local amusement park playing with bumper cars before we even had our liscences. Now a days, the car's look great, but not very functional. You graze another vehicle and you have damage that costs an arm (if not a leg) to bring back to pristine condition. My car, same grazing and nothing to show for it - it's rubber. It doesn't really scratch, not for the little day to day events.

So the surprise I had today upon being reunited this morning. I have to say it sill hasn't quite sunk in. But the bumper, the wonderful bumper... Well it's still rubber (with a little plastic), but it's not black anymore. It's grey. I'm not even sure it's dark grey. So my front looks like the picture above, and the back, well, it's grey. I'm thinking this is how they might have been able to work out not totaling the car. But still, it's grey. It doesn't really match. I mean the interior is grey so it matches that. But you can't see the interior when the car drives by. It looks like I have mismatched socks on. Needless to say, I'll never confuse which car is mine. You could say it looks quirky now. And really, the color doesn't effect the performance. But it's grey.

And the clincher. I was searching the internet for images to show the grey bumper on another version of the car (like a grey or teal version), and nothing. All the 1994 Saturn's were made with black bumpers from what I can tell in two minutes of searching. So I don't even know where they got the bumper. I guess it was special ordered. For me. On my half birthday.