OUT SAVING THE WORLD

EARL IS ALIVE?!
Loyal readers to OSTW will recall the name "Earl," my trusty 1998 Buick LeSabre Custom (America's best-selling family sedan.) I first drove Earl in January, 2001, when he had about 42,800 miles on the odometer. On January 21, 2004--two years ago today--I killed Earl when I rear-ended an Infiniti SUV on Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu.

Or did I?

While poking around the DMV website today, I came across a feature where you could check the smog check history of a vehicle. Here's what Earl came back with:

AUTO TECH SMOG TEST ONLY /
BELL GARDENS N 1G4HP52K2WH424778 BUICK LESABRE 1998 09/28/05 05:48 p.m. P FY354619C
AUTO TECH SMOG TEST ONLY /
BELL GARDENS N 1G4HP52K2WH424778 BUICK LESABRE 1998 09/14/05 03:36 p.m. F
AUTO TECH SMOG TEST ONLY /
BELL GARDENS N 1G4HP52K2WH424778 BUICK LESABRE 1998 08/30/05 03:28 p.m. F
SANTA MONICA GROUP /
SANTA MONICA 502RLX 1G4HP52K2WH424778 BUICK LESABRE 1998 08/05/03 11:02 a.m. P FC116625C

That's right. Earl made his way over to Bell Gardens where he failed two smog tests in late August/early September, and then passed on September 28th. (Interestingly, Earl has no license plate number assigned. Not quite sure what that means.)

My curiosity got the best of me, so I ran a Carfax report.
The original salvage title to the insurance company was issued about a month after the accident, on 2/28/04. After that point, I assumed Earl would be cannibalized for parts.

But, more than a year later, on 3/27/05, a new owner was reported. Then came the smog tests, and on 10/14/05, yet another new owner was reported. Does Earl now have a home? Has he been raised from the dead to roam the ghettotastic streets of Bell, California?

I'll see what I can find out on this one...

I'm J-Dub and I approve this message at 10:46 PM |

New Year's Tradition (Maybe this year it will be true)
A long December
And there's reason to believe
Maybe this year will be better than the last
I can't remember
The last thing that you said as you were leavin
Now the days go by so fast

And it's one more day up in the canyons
And it's one more night in Hollywood
If you think that I could be forgiven
I wish you would

The smell of hospitals in winter
And the feeling that it's all a lot of oysters
But no pearls
All at once you look across a crowded room
To see the way that light attaches to a girl

And it's one more day up in the canyons
And it's one more night in Hollywood
If you think you might come to California
I think you should

Drove up to Hillside Manor
Sometime after two a.m.
And talked a little while about the year
I guess the winter makes you laugh a little slower
Makes you talk a little lower
About the things you could not show her
And it's been a long December
And there's reason to believe
Maybe this year will be better than the last
I can't remember all the times I tried to tell my myself
To hold on to these moments as they pass

And it's one more day up in the canyon
And it's one more night in Hollywood
It's been so long since I've seen the ocean
I guess I should

I'm J-Dub and I approve this message at 8:41 PM |