An American Journey: Epilogue

…Continued from The Return Home.

So, those are my road trips across the country.  I wouldn't mind visiting some of these states again, and actually taking time to see some of the sights, and someday I might.  Some of these sights include the Corn Palace, Wall Drug, Mt. Rushmore, an Air Force Museum and an Auto Museum near Rapid City, the Little Big Horn battlefield in Montana, and another Auto Museum near Missoula.

I put over 7000 miles on the Dynasty's odometer between the time I bought it in December 2003 and my arrival at home in June 2004, and I estimate at least 6500 of those miles were these trips.  The Dynasty remained as my daily driver until November 2005.

On November 13, 2005, the Dynasty's power steering failed. The car had also had transmission trouble for as long as I'd had it (it didn't like going into Reverse) and one of the engine's aluminum heads had a MacGyver-inspired repair holding it together, so it was time. I had already started looking for another car, but just hadn't bought anything yet. That very day, I traded the Dynasty into Vancouver Ford in Vancouver, Washington on an almost-new 2005 Ford Taurus SE with 26,373 miles on the odometer. The Dynasty's odometer read 171,892. I thought the Dynasty's story would end here, at least as far as I would ever know, but not quite...

In February 2006, I received a letter from Safeguard Towing in Portland, Oregon. Apparently, they had taken possession of the car on January 12, 2006, and that it was to have been auctioned at 10:00 am on February 13, 2006. (The letter was written as if the auction was yet to take place, though the letter was dated February 15: two days after the date of the auction.) I called Safeguard Towing, mainly to make sure they weren't going to try to collect the listed fees from me. The guy who answered was a new dispatcher, who could only tell me that the letter was sent to anyone who had owned the car, and if I didn't own it anymore I didn't have to worry about it. He couldn't tell me anything about what happened to the car, and apparently the auctions don't even take place at their yard, so I don't even know if the date of the auction was right. All I can say is, if it had still been my car, and had been stolen or something, I would have been pissed to have received the letter AFTER the auction.

For what its worth, here are the fees listed in the letter: Towing: $238.00
Storage: $29.00
Lien Fee: $40.00
At Auction: $1,147.00

I don't know if this means that the car was sold for $840, which is $1,147 minus the other fees, or if that's just what they wanted for it, but I really hope nobody paid $840 for that car. It wasn't worth it. I'd only paid $800 for it in the first place.

In October 2006, I received another letter, this time from Oregon Lien Service. On October 5, Speeds SuperTow took possession of the car. Here are the fees as of October 13, 2006:

Towing: $4.50
Storage: $297.00
This Date: $336.50
At Auction: $1,161.50

The auction date: November 7, 2006 at 10:00 am. (Election Day!) At least they told me before the auction this time, just in case it actually was still my car.

It seems to me that it was still on the road and somewhat driveable, at least as of October 13, 2006. Makes me wonder if any of the things that were wrong with it were ever fixed, like the power steering or the transmission.

In late 2007, I started getting letters and calls from collection agencies about the above issue. In a futile attempt to clear up the issue, I learned from the Oregon DMV that the car was never registered again and ended up in a Portland salvage yard. It seems the Dynasty's story has come to an end.