Thank you for starting out with the disclaimer, I’m fine. My “lovely” brain was already convinced you’d had a terrible accident. Gotta love the neuro-spicy life. 🙃
Actually, it's easier if you've totalled a car yourself. Because then you know it's not necessarily a big crash. And if it is, the headline is probably different.
@@MiljaHahto Not really. I haven't totalled a car myself, but I was in one, when it got totalled. It was just a little, really unfortunately placed bump (calling it a crash would be way overstated). And yet my brain went "Oh no, I hope she is OK". I had to actively tell myself: "there are no bandages or casts in the thumbnail, this is probably not a "Hey guys, I wont be making videos for a while"-kind of announcement.
When the air conditioning in my last car died, I got a USB-powered fan and plugged it into the cigarette lighter with one of those adapter things. The fan was held to my dashboard with bandaids I found in my purse. I felt like MacGuyver.
Yeah, I wish high school had a mandatory class in adulting - basic car maintenance, how to manage a bank account, how much interest raises the cost of that sale item, household budgeting, first aid, AAA, meal planning, basic cooking, how to clean stuff and so on. So glad you managed both of those traumas - I feel your need to curl up and cry. I'm 72 and still struggle with 24x7 adulting. I don't wanna!!!! Speaking of which, time to feed the hubby.
Charlie, I thought I was the only one who had such craziness in my life. One work manager suggested that I quit work, write all my mishaps down , sell it to Hollywood, become rich.
Thanks for sharing. Rarely have I met someone who can rival my own car stories 😂. The time I drove into a wall because there was a spider on my knee, or the amazing yellow car I loved but you could only have 2 electrical things on at once so if it was dark and raining I had to turn my music off so I could put lights and wipers on 😅. Oh and then the sun roof started leaking, hello duct tape!!!
My first car I could have air conditioning or I could have brakes. I had to decide which was more important. It would suddenly just shut down, usually on the freeway of course, no electrical, no engine, no brakes, nothing but an 18-wheeler riding my bumper. Life was an adventure.
Hey Charlie! I’m loving this channel and the stories you tell. I don’t know if you’d feel comfortable sharing the details, but I’d love to hear your story of being a birth mother and your thoughts around the decisions you made. ❤
"I can't believe I've talked about my cars for this long." OH BUT I CAN and I'm totally here for it. I relate so very much to these stories (night driving is THEE BEST, second car was a Focus that I (nearly literally) drove the wheels off, and the car I moved to Arkansas with decided a/c was extraneous), and the urge to sit around with you trading car stories is damn near painful. I share the same adoration of having a car, for sure! Also it probably is but *might* not be fair to blame Dante. The reason I won't do audiobooks is that they put me to sleep, no matter what they are or what I might be doing at the time. So glad you're okay!
I have always loved being an adult ever since I became one. I don’t know maybe I just didn’t have a good enough childhood, but being in charge of my own decisions is always better even when I don’t have money and even when it’s hard and even when I’m scared. The power of self determination is gold.
I don’t even ever plan to drive but i really appreciate this 2nd channel more than I would have expected. Thank you for sharing pieces of you with the world. Being a young adult is quite hard and overwhelming nowadays and for whatever reason these videos bring me a lot of comfort
First cars always have the most colorful stories. Unless maybe if you’re rich and have a fancy new first car, that might be less interesting, I imagine.
My boyfriend was saddled with an assistant last summer. My boyfriend is a fire alarm technician and his boss is friends with a superintendent whose son needed to learn how the real world worked. This kid's first vehicle was a brand new $50,000 Dodge ram. 2 years later and his father has now bought him an $80,000 Dodge ram because... And you can look up the statistics... He got a DUI. He's in college and 'works" on his dad's job sites. I bet all his co-workers hate him. I met him once and I feel like he might be a bit irredeemable.
True! My first car got hit by a deer (it ran off the side of a cliff and into my car). I didn’t go off the cliff, but the deer did cause my engine to blow. First cars DEFINITELY have the best stories.
The car is definitely a safe place to be audibly "strange/loud/experimental" for me too. I had one long road trip where I spent the whole time saying trial baby names aloud until I finally settled on my 2nd child's name.
Ahhh cars. The BANE of my existence. My family has passed around a series of many beater cars from one sibling to the next, all barely functional but we made them work. Thank goodness for a family friend mechanic. I'm sure we put his kids through college even with a friends and family discount. I now walk to my work and it is GLORIOUS. I LOVE not having to drive every day.
The moment of looking at towing companies at the wee hours in the morning.... one of the reasons why I am extremely grateful to be able to pay for car insurance that includes towing. I hope my adult-i-ness continues to be able to afford it forever.
Great timing. Started watching on a train platform, so I got on the first train that arrived (sadly, not my train), and you’ve now accompanied me as I find my way from Amsterdam to (oops) Hilversum to Utrecht.
I'm from the Southeastern United States and oh boy can I relate to this story. My car was also without air conditioning for many years and because I consider it a 'luxery' I just...did without. I finally got the time and money to fix it last summer and I am so grateful to have it. ***Edit: This brought back a memory. I was working at a mortuary and then a law firm at that time, so I had to dress nice, and I learned to not wear long metal earrings because the metal would get so hot in the car it would burn when they bumped against my skin!
I (along with many others!) am glad you started with that disclaimer! 😂 I love that needle-lace. It’s so pretty! Cars are such a fun thing to have charge of… the system in the US is very odd to me. Over here in Blighty we have MOTs that we legally have to do every year if we want to keep on the road. It’s a pain in the bum, but does mean we keep our cars in good running condition - and, y’know, safe! I’m so glad the stories ended well though. ❤
I can barely tell you enough how much I feel like your twin from another decade some days! Car privacy! Tiny cars are the cutest! OMG what to do now when the car dies!? I found myself in SO MUCH of your stories this time ❤
Drinking carrot juice on a road trip in college is such a mood. It's bringing back bunches of memories for me of drives to NYC and all across New England.
It's funny how many of these videos are so relatable to my life. My first car (used of course) had no AC and the air bags blew out shortly after I bought it. I still drove it. I couldn't afford to have it fixed (also minimum wadge job at Blockbuster) so duct tape over where the air bags should be and windows down. Also, living in Florida where public transit isn't a thing and couldn't bother roommates for rides, I needed the car. Eventually, I drove that car cross country to LA and at the end of it's life it would cut off if I turned left. Someone tried to steal it one day but apparently decided it wasn't worth it cuz the door was pried partially open but they left it. Ah your stories always bring back wonderful memories.
My car used to overheat at the drop of a hat. I ran the heat all the time to try to siphon off some of the heat from the engine. It sort of worked, sometimes. The problem was... I lived in Las Vegas. It gets HOT in the summers. Eventually the engine just blew while I was on my way to work, but not enough for the engine to stop, and I hadn't heard anything. No lights lit up on the dash. I got pulled over for the smoke I was trailing by a cop who was a former mechanic, and he had me pop the hood, and he was very glad that the damage wasn't worse. That was October 2011, and the car I got the next week I've had since then.
Ooh, I’ve used that trick to try to stave off overheating the car in Texas. Once I ran it through an automated car wash - that cooled it down enough that I could get home😅.
I'm so glad that we have great public transportation in Berlin, Germany. And that we have the TÜV. That's a vehicle test you have to do every other year so traffic here is not as dangerous as in other countries. I bought my first car when I turned 40. It's a SEAT mii. And I love it. It's so small that I always find a parking space everywhere. And I can do U-turns everywhere. I went to Denmark on vacation with my kids several times and all our luggage, groceries, towels and bedsheets fit in it. But now the kids are taller than me and they don't know where to put their legs. So I might have so sell it and get another, slightly bigger car. Maybe even an electric one.
I currently own a solid black Smart Fortwo and I love it! I live in a small town and rarely take it anywhere with speed limits over 45mph (because I rarely want to go anywhere 😉), but it does surprisingly well [with the new sport tires I put on it] driving in the thick snowfall we get up here in North Dakota. Or rather, it just drives on the top layer(s) of snow and doesn't sink down to the ice pack below because it weighs next to nothing. And yes, I've tested it... as a 48-year-old woman who gets little to no physical exercise, I can push it on my own if I have to, lol. Keep being amazing!
Before I’d met my husband he had an old used car that would randomly catch fire under the hood while driving. Just pull off in the middle of rush out and whip out the fire exstinguisher as one does to stop said flame then back to sitting in traffic… until one day it was so bad he couldn’t put it out and just rolled far off the road into a wet field and had to leave it to burn itself out then be towed. This was befor the time of cell phones so getting a fire truck out there quickly wasn’t really possible. Needless to say it was now totaled.after that he carpooled with a work buddy who purposefully had a shutter old metal car (read: indestructible) and would smash it into people trying to fly down the breakdown lane in traffic. After the second time he went and found himself a new old car.
Thank you Charlie for your video. Oh my goodness ,the demise of poor smarty. Thank heavens you were not physically hurt in either car. I love my alone time, I think through conversations and script out what I am going to say or have said. I sing (loudly). I never utilise the shower this way as I may bother the neighbours. Being 10miles from the sea in the UK I sometimes early on a Sunday ,drive down ,park by the sea and stitch for a while. It's my you must get out more time😂 well it ticks the box.
My niece just started Xray tech school, and finally, finally, her books are online. I think she does have to pay something for them, and they are “loaned” to her, so they might be free I’m not sure. I think it’s like the free books on Kindle. Anyway, I’m sure she will never have to comb through the secondhand book store like we all did lol. And she doesn’t even have to lug them around. It’s a miracle!
Charlie, your story hit home for me. our current car is.a 2005 ford focus we call little blue. her ac died last year & it would cost more than the car is worth to get it fixed. we drive with the windows down. the heater works great...so much so there is NO vent option without heat., thus, windows must be rolled down all summer. we are gonna see how long she will last until we gotta look for the next lowest cost car in the lot.. i totally enjoyed this story. look forward to the next. hUgz from Ohio, Lee
My first car, also no a/c and my school was in an area of 106+F weather in the summer. I found the trick of buying two bags of ice for the long drives home and back and an old newspaper. I put the ice bags (2 for a dollar!) down my back and sat on the newspaper, which soaked up the water as the ice melted. Any wetness in my shirt dried pretty quickly becoz I also had the windows open (no power windows, you had to reach and crank). Also a dark metal steering wheel (burning hot!) with no power steering. That car was a workout, but there's something special about your first car....
Still adore those citrus pillows. My first car was a Dozuzu. Front half was a Dodge, back half was an Izuzu, held together with a 4x6 board 6 bolts and prayers, gas tank in the bed of the truck, and nonexistent floors that definitely did not keep out winter slush in NY. It cost me $300, some stitches in my foot, and a whole lot of teasing.
We ran over tire retread in our 1989 Eagle Summit. It caused a misalignment of the gears and loosened the carrier bolts which would later completely dislodge on the highway. Wow we are so lucky to be alive today. 😂
So many familiar thoughts and feelings that I haven't thought about in a while! My degree in college required me to go to art supply and DIY stores on a regular basis to get stuff for projects. It was really stressful to have to ask for a ride, even from a close friend. I do remember devolving into tears at least once. Finally having a car on campus was amazing. The AC in that car, too, eventually stopped working (and I live in Georgia). I ended up buying a new car (first ever new car, and probably last) just so I wouldn't have to keep showing up at working completely sweaty! Good times. =)
I still drive a Smart car - my 2nd in fact. I got my first one in 2004 (it was red, called it ladybug), drove that to 180,000km before selling it and upgrading to a 2012 MHD model which is black and I call it my batmobile. It's currently at 89,000km. Various nicknames given to these 2 cars have included "walking ring", "shoping trolley" (as we call them here) and "sewing machine". I managed to stall the batmobile in bumper to bumper traffic (yeah, stalling an automatic... I have skillzzzzzzzzzz), but not realising that was the only issue, to get it to the curb I literally opened the door, and pushed it with one foot out the door, like a toy car (all the while resisting the urge to go "Vroom Vroom", which set me off giggling).
My first car had a gear stick issue that would have cost me over $800 to fix... or given it was old enough, I could just start it in N! (Huge thanks to the mechanic who pointed that out instead of just charging me to fix it). Not only did this get me two extra years worth out of that car without paying for repairs, but it also stopped it from getting stolen twice! Because it would start in P, people would try and hot-wire it and were unabel to make it start!
My first car was 10 years old when I bought it from one of my mom's coworkers when I was a senior in high school. I could tell so many stories about that car and the chaos that surrounded it while I owned it. At one point, I had to run the heater in the middle of Texas summer in order to not overheat the vehicle while idling. It too had an abrupt ending when on the weekend of my best friend's wedding, I went to get its oil changed. The mechanics informed me that my car was one pot hole or sharp turn from becoming an undirectable battering ram and I probably shouldn't drive it home, let alone two hours across the state. It sat at my parents house for a few years before becoming a project car for a cousin.
That was fun! So glad you were not hurt or shot at by some random bullet back in the "bad" area. Your stories are so interesting and to remember those details. WoW !! I can't remember what I ate for dinner last night. LOL
I bought a used, yellow and black Smartie after my little pickup died on my birthday. I had that wee bee for five years and loved every minute of it. Alas, it was totaled after I was rear-ended and shoved into the car in front of me. Only the air bag injured me. I’d get another Smart Car if they were still being sold in the US. Who am I kidding? I’d get a 2016 or later model, for sure. They have just a little more get up and go than the earlier Smarties.
I started a note book with the all stories that happened to our cars (one of then broke the day I was travelling to go to my wedding) ... It mostly stopped when we decided to switch from fun cars to reliable ones (kids...). We still kept a "fun" one 🤣
My 1st car was a 1980 Chevy Citation. It had no rear window defroster, which was just delightful deal to with in upstate NY winters. Several times I was stuck trying to chip off enough ice to see out the back. 🙄 My husband & his ex-wife, being young marrieds in the early 80s, and poor college students, had a rusty old sedan. One night they came out of their house to find that the body of the car had rusted so badly, that it finally just fell off the frame!
Thanks for the story! I was most amazed by the fact no one even checked when you were smashing the Focus' window... My first car is also my current Ford Focus (slightly different to the one you posted in the video) in a combi version, bcs I got used to big baggage space cars that my dad had for his job when I was a kiddo (and he still has today... also those were great for camping vacations we used to do). Contrary to you, I like the bigger car variations for "I can help people move!" times. I am probably at the end of it's lifetime by now, it was made in 2005 and I got it second hand a few years later specifically to be able to drive to my Erasmus stay at Toulouse, which is some 1600 km away, and pack my stuff in it :D It worked pretty well since then, except for that ONE TIME when all the icons blinked and then everything went dark and zero and unresponsive *while the car was standing on tram tracks*. Fun times. Not even the emergency lights worked. Thankfully the driver of the first tram that appeared behind me (in like a minute) volunteered three of his passengers to push the car out of the way and to a parking lot close by, where I found out my mobile phone is almost out of battery and had to beg random strangers to help me call the insurance company's assistence line. Very much fun times. I was driving for a few years at that point but had never have to sort out an emergency of this kind by myself. Exactly as you say, it's not a big deal... once you've done it. Ooof. I'm glad you weren't hurt in your accidents and I am with you in the feeling of the unique safe space inside the car. It's a special setting, something like the shower... but different :)))
Great stories! When I bought my first very used car (Chevy Vega!) my dad bought me a AAA membership which saved me multiple times because Chevy Vega! When he asked what I wanted for Christmas, without thought, “AAA again” and thus, every year that’s what he always gave me and I can’t tell you how grateful I was. Being neurospicy, I often forgot renewing memberships (no autopay back then) so knowing it was always available took a huge load off my mind when: I locked my keys in my car (multiple times), needed a jump, needed a tire change, needed a tow when my transmission literally stopped working in the middle of the night (of course in the middle of nowhere) and once when a new tire literally fell off my car during rush hour on the 405 freeway because the tire store forgot to ratchet down the lug bolts before giving me the car. (In my case, people *weren’t* understanding and all the honking did not help my sad brain). Anyway, thanks for sharing your story. My dad is gone now and it brought back so many memories of how his gift bailed me out of tough situations. 💖
I can relate to no air conditioning, heat exhaustion and living in south Florida. Never got the A.C. fixed. Ended my traveling fulltime in the U.S.A. in my remodeled van. The remodel would have to come out and then the fix wasn't guaranteed. I also lost all braking ability in the middle of nowhere, up in the mountains of Tennessee. I called the local sheriff because my roadside assistance number said "Please call back, we are unable to assist you now". He said a few towing companies. I picked the first one, paid cash. The tow driver (and girlfriend) offered to drive me to a motel and get food. Brought me to the nearest auto repair. Spent the night in my van. When the place opened in the morning, they fixed my problem. Back on the road with a patched line. Had to replace the entire line when i returned home. I'm no longer traveling. I'm living in the mountains in Tennessee. I relate to so many of your stories. I am 65 and you bring up great memories, for me. Thank you for being you. ❤️
I don't know anything about cars either but my guess is the oil pan is what was leaking. Recently we ran over a huge boulder in our little sedan (oops) and I guess the danger was that we could've hit the oil pan. We missed it by a few inches and the car runs 100% great. Thanks for the stories!
My first car was a 1978 Buick LeSabre. It was gigantic. And with the watermelon green color it had, I was basically driving a tank. For most of the 12 years I drove it, it had no power steering and no air conditioning. I don't know if you've ever tried to turn a 5000 pound car with no power steering, but I can tell you it's not easy. I had to have the entire brake system replaced at some point. That costed more than we paid for the entire car, and the mechanic that did the work used crappy 3rd party parts, so we ended up having to replace the master cylinder again after paying $2000 to do it the first time. 12 years, 6 sets of tires, 2 alternators, 2 batteries, 3 oil leaks, and a gas tank later we finally sold it for $700. I honestly wish I still had it. Felt great to drive.
Stories like that make me greatly appreciate the fact that I live in the center of a major European city and have no need for a car, or even a driving license. Just a monthly tram ticket and I'm good to go
I was about to make a 2003 hundi smarter by having a back up camara when it got smashed, I got the ticket because I was trying to turn Left but the other driver was speeding, my car hardly moved her's ended up wrapped up in a pole. Neither of us was hurt much. Now I have a smart car and love it and it came with a back up camara.
Thanks for the story vs news clarification up front, that was definitely appreciated. I don't know if smart cars have radiators, but having had a few of those either rust out, crack during an accident, or the head gasket let go, they were always at the very front behind the grille and would be damaged if ya so much as look at them wrong (not to mention they're kinda critical to keeping ICE from overheating)
Thank You! This story has many equivalents in my life. Just in LA. Which took me to Seattle, Canada, NYC. Now being back in LA, I fucking resent driving to the point of needing anti-depressants. Let’s just say, Thank You. I appreciate this story very much.
I understand about car catastrophes. I had 2 with my favorite car a 2010 Dodge Charger in bright blue. Gabriel finally gave up the ghost at an Olive Garden. He tried so valiantly to climb a retaining wall. 😢 I now a VW Tiguan, named Francis. He’s seen better days!
I loved my first car, freedom to go where I wanted and all that. When it finally reached the point it was more rust than not and I had to replace it, it went to the scrap year, got turned into a cube and then sat at the back of the lot. The problem with that is I then saw it everyday when i was on the train going to work 😭. So I totally understand why your first two cars have more memories and stories! They were a huge part of our young adult days.
As someone from Arizona and went to college in Idaho, I’d much rather have no AC in the summer than no heat in the winter. Driving to Idaho for my last semester of college, in January, the heat in my car went out, a few hours from where I was supposed to be. I made it to my grandparents who lived near where I went to school but I was practically frozen by the time I got there. At least with no AC, you can roll the windows down. There’s not much you can do with no heat in the winter
Lol this sounds like so much of our cars growing up. Using the fan too much in the summer and it'd overheat, and yep it conked out. We'd shut it off on the motorway to wait in traffic, to stop it overheating. I have no idea how it passed the yearly safety tests. It was technically safe, but needed so many bumpstarts and TLC to keep going.
OMG, I have had my Smart car since 2006! The AC stopped working a few years ago, but after they told me how much it would cost just to find the cause (before even fixing it), I simply accepted the fact. I live in Switzerland, so the super hot days are limited and you can drive across the entire country in literally 3 hours (depending on the direction) which I normally don't do, so it's fine. Also, I totally get the singing in the car. Fortunately my boyfriend doesn't mind :-)
Alone time in the car is definitely a thing. And it's not bad with no AC if you're moving... my van's AC cacked a week after we got it and the fan is a great idea but after the engine is warmed up, it blows hot air... and my husband hates having the windows open when we drive. We sweat a lot. And the one car I ever owned that had AC got broken into because it hadn't locked when I pressed the button on the fob (turns out if you've got any door ajar, a 2004 Honda Accord doesn't lock from the fob). I'm lucky I've had really good tow experiences, but I also speak car. Poor little Smarty, she did her best. My best "tried so hard" car story was moving with my purple Chevette and knowing we were low on gas and bargaining with her to make it to the gas station over the hill, and she ran out of gas literally as I was reaching for the key to shut it off at the gas station.
Our car didn’t have a/c this past year and then it began to overheat if you stopped and you had to turn the heater on to cool it. I live in Georgia for reference and we hit heat records this summer. We also fixed the brakes twice then the transmission and thus spent the almost $4,000 we had saved for a down payment on a new car. I feel you.
thank you for telling what your making! i like to name my cars. my first car i called Paul. Paul Oliver Simon. it was a POS and my mom didn't like me calling it that. 🤣it would over heat and die at random intervals. finally got the problem fixed and rear-ended someone totaling it. i can't focus enough to drive. thankfully i never hurt any one too bad. drove for 5 years and killed 4 cars. i don't drive anymore.😅😅
I feel you on the small cars, my first was a ford fiesta and when it was done I got a fiat pop. So small, two doors, and was a convertible. I loved it so much and still miss it. I could park anywhere. But the ground clearance was awful. I live where we get snow and ice but its warm enough to start melting during the day- meaning it refreezes at night into solid chunks of ice from where it gets piled up in the center of lanes. I couldn't drive in the standard lane ruts sometimes and I had to watch out for random chunks. There'd be times I would have to stop in the middle the road and wait for oncoming traffic to clear so i could go into the other lane.
Thank you for starting this channel. I enjoy your other channel but I use this one for when I'm doing mending, etc. where I can just listen I don't have to watch what you're doing.
I had a car break down on my way from an overnight shift to school. Lots of white smoke pouring out from under the hood. I pulled over on the side of the freeway, opened the hood, kicked the tires, got my school reading out of the car, and sat on the side of the road crying. This was pre cell phones. I was waiting for ? well I didn’t know, maybe a police officer, and I did no know anything else to I could do. This stranger in a pickup, picked me up and rove me to a Denny’s near SFO. I went inside and called someone to drive 75 miles to pick me up, went inside the bathroom and cried some more. This woman came in, thought I was crying over a guy, and told me that men were worth crying over. I looked at her nad said it’s not a man, it’s my car died on the freeway. smile. Thanks for sharing your car stories.
"hates being a bother"... Yer this fits me too well. I've currently got a UTI because I didn't want to bother anyone for a drink in hospital. And well they didn't offer... For 3 days😅 Thank god my SO snuck me drinks at visiting times
This is such an American story! I can't imagine anyone living more than cycle distance from a place you could buy shampoo. Also, do you always literally have room mates? As in, sleep in the same room? Students housing here is at most flat mates, everyone had a (lockable) private bedroom (shared bathrooms) of at least 10m2. It must be exhausting indeed to never have a truly private place. I love this story-time format, thanks for this series of adventures to entertain me while I was having breakfast.
Thanks for telling us you were fine first thing!! Also it’s my understanding that the Canadian CAA is basically the same as the US AAA. If that’s the case anyone can call them and get a tow. They have standards so you don’t have to worry about sketchy companies. It’s the easiest way and you don’t have to worry. Seeing as I’m way older my early cars were much more sketchy! My first cars frame rotted out! Found out when we put it on a lift and it started to bend! I was young and foolish so I continued to drive it around town…. I was told not to speed it it but that wasn’t a problem cause things no longer alined so the transmission couldn’t find the top gears! My second car was better but was also the reason my parents got me CAA! I drove it for months without a starter. It was a standard so friends and hills would get it started. Also college wasn’t as expensive but books were more than my tuition! Fun times!
College (university) textbooks are not nearly so expensive in other countries! As in, a quarter of the price, or thereabouts. I used to work for a publisher that published a lot of textbooks in the US and UK and we had to change a load of things in the UK books so they wouldn't be sold back into the US and undercut our sales.
My current car has no air conditioning and we're coming into summer down here in the southern hemisphere.... second summer without it, but I can't afford the approximately $1000 to replace the AC unit. I feel you. Not as hot as Florida, I'm sure, but we'll pull some +30°C days in the next few months. Not converting to freedom units either 😂
I drove a 1991 Ford F-150 all through college...from 2018-2022. I am SO lucky I and my parents could afford to fix all of the problems that arose over those years. I had AC that only sometimes worked and no airbags because apparently they weren't standard when the truck was made. I locked my keys into the car so many times I ended up just making a spare door key (I had separate door and ignition keys that's how old the truck was) and lodging it in a hidden place accessible from the outside of the truck. I had two very memorable incidents that should have been breakdowns. The first was driving 3.5 hours back to school from a weekend trip with a broken transmission, after which the mechanic I took it to was both surprised I even made it half an hour from where I started and then gave me the sternest lecture I've ever gotten from a stranger to not ever do something that dangerous again. The second was the last time I drove that truck. My partner and I had just moved to a new city the fall after we graduated from college, and on our way back from Ikea on our second day in our first apartment, the brakes in the truck slowly started to give out. That turned out to just be a leak in the brake fluid hose which was easily replaced, but the truck was also just no longer going to be practical, so she is now happily in semi retirement in my parents' garage.
There is so much about your life I would love to know more about but because I am an aerialist I am desperate to learn about your aerial journey. I have no proof that this happened, but I like to imaging you and Shannon having an aerial jam while you were visiting her in Canada
How have I watched so many of your videos and completely missed that you were a CP? I’ll have to find your videos to find out when/where you were there! I’m sure we hadn’t overlapped, but how fun that you were there, too!
Cars are just an endless nightmare. I currently have a 16yr old car with all the problems and it's about to be scrapped and I'm replacing it with an 11 yr old car with only a couple of problems. I got good at fixing things myself because there's just so many of them every you normally have old cars.
My worst car story - it was winter in my university town, and the steering fluit line cracked and drained. I found a mechanic based on getting there with the least turns possible with my minivan that required me to put all my weight into turning the wheel. It was my first time having to do a fully adult thing entirely solo. I hadn't even known steering fluid was a thing
Dante, huh? I read Inferno, skimmed Purgatorio, and read the wiki on Paradiso 😂 I did find a free audiobook of an old British-sounding man reading Republic, though, but he was genuinely very funny and engaging.
I love your story times! I got heat stroke trying to get past Disney as a kid. Don’t leave your children in the covered truck beds in non moving traffic! Blacked out just after barely managing to get out that I was blacking out. All my cars have been characters and all 2nd (or even 6th) hand. First was grandma’s which she amusingly almost got a ticket in because it ran so smooth she was doing 60 in a 35 haha. Cop couldn’t believe a 78 year old was going that fast. After it had a minor accident that juts needed body work my parents confiscated it from me and never gave back. So I ended up in an absolute UNIT of an 80s Cadillac (its trunk was massive enough to hold a whole family with room to spare). It was such a tank I could take on anything smaller than a semi and come out unscathed (not that I was a wreckless driver but to say it was a very safe very large car). Ended up trading it for a washer and dryer from a man I’m pretty sure modded it to do moonshine runs (because that was a thing were I was.. also stabbing a at laundry mats hence the need for the washer/dryer). After that got a used suv and ran it to death until it legally could not pass inspection and cost more to repair than buying a new old car. Newest car is actually older than the suv (like cassette player rather than cd player). No one would buy the suv because it was so old and we didn’t want to pay to have it removed so it just sat there for months. Until an Irish contractor working down the street randomly popped by and asked if we wanted to sell it. He retuned with his kid and gruff grandpa later who peeled a plate off his truck to stick on the suv to take it home. The newest old car has since given several expensive headaches including the transmission giving out while in a very steep hill of a very busy road and having to be towed by a guy who bragged about basically being an anarchist… very uncomfortable.
Thank you for starting out with the disclaimer, I’m fine. My “lovely” brain was already convinced you’d had a terrible accident. Gotta love the neuro-spicy life. 🙃
Actually, it's easier if you've totalled a car yourself. Because then you know it's not necessarily a big crash. And if it is, the headline is probably different.
Same
@@MiljaHahto Not really. I haven't totalled a car myself, but I was in one, when it got totalled. It was just a little, really unfortunately placed bump (calling it a crash would be way overstated). And yet my brain went "Oh no, I hope she is OK". I had to actively tell myself: "there are no bandages or casts in the thumbnail, this is probably not a "Hey guys, I wont be making videos for a while"-kind of announcement.
I would like to say, i love the fact that you've embrace this format of vídeos. It's like a mix, kind of podcast, kind of stand up comedy.😅😂
When the air conditioning in my last car died, I got a USB-powered fan and plugged it into the cigarette lighter with one of those adapter things. The fan was held to my dashboard with bandaids I found in my purse. I felt like MacGuyver.
Yeah, I wish high school had a mandatory class in adulting - basic car maintenance, how to manage a bank account, how much interest raises the cost of that sale item, household budgeting, first aid, AAA, meal planning, basic cooking, how to clean stuff and so on. So glad you managed both of those traumas - I feel your need to curl up and cry. I'm 72 and still struggle with 24x7 adulting. I don't wanna!!!! Speaking of which, time to feed the hubby.
Charlie, I thought I was the only one who had such craziness in my life. One work manager suggested that I quit work, write all my mishaps down , sell it to Hollywood, become rich.
Thanks for sharing. Rarely have I met someone who can rival my own car stories 😂. The time I drove into a wall because there was a spider on my knee, or the amazing yellow car I loved but you could only have 2 electrical things on at once so if it was dark and raining I had to turn my music off so I could put lights and wipers on 😅. Oh and then the sun roof started leaking, hello duct tape!!!
😂😂😂 I, too, have crashed a car because a spider started lowering itself down from the visor RIGHT INTO MY CLEAVAGE!! Fun times 😂
My first car I could have air conditioning or I could have brakes. I had to decide which was more important. It would suddenly just shut down, usually on the freeway of course, no electrical, no engine, no brakes, nothing but an 18-wheeler riding my bumper. Life was an adventure.
Hey Charlie! I’m loving this channel and the stories you tell. I don’t know if you’d feel comfortable sharing the details, but I’d love to hear your story of being a birth mother and your thoughts around the decisions you made. ❤
I would also love to learn more about this if you are willing to share Charlie
"I can't believe I've talked about my cars for this long." OH BUT I CAN and I'm totally here for it. I relate so very much to these stories (night driving is THEE BEST, second car was a Focus that I (nearly literally) drove the wheels off, and the car I moved to Arkansas with decided a/c was extraneous), and the urge to sit around with you trading car stories is damn near painful. I share the same adoration of having a car, for sure!
Also it probably is but *might* not be fair to blame Dante. The reason I won't do audiobooks is that they put me to sleep, no matter what they are or what I might be doing at the time. So glad you're okay!
I have always loved being an adult ever since I became one. I don’t know maybe I just didn’t have a good enough childhood, but being in charge of my own decisions is always better even when I don’t have money and even when it’s hard and even when I’m scared. The power of self determination is gold.
I don’t even ever plan to drive but i really appreciate this 2nd channel more than I would have expected. Thank you for sharing pieces of you with the world. Being a young adult is quite hard and overwhelming nowadays and for whatever reason these videos bring me a lot of comfort
First cars always have the most colorful stories. Unless maybe if you’re rich and have a fancy new first car, that might be less interesting, I imagine.
My boyfriend was saddled with an assistant last summer. My boyfriend is a fire alarm technician and his boss is friends with a superintendent whose son needed to learn how the real world worked. This kid's first vehicle was a brand new $50,000 Dodge ram. 2 years later and his father has now bought him an $80,000 Dodge ram because... And you can look up the statistics... He got a DUI. He's in college and 'works" on his dad's job sites. I bet all his co-workers hate him. I met him once and I feel like he might be a bit irredeemable.
True! My first car got hit by a deer (it ran off the side of a cliff and into my car). I didn’t go off the cliff, but the deer did cause my engine to blow. First cars DEFINITELY have the best stories.
The car is definitely a safe place to be audibly "strange/loud/experimental" for me too. I had one long road trip where I spent the whole time saying trial baby names aloud until I finally settled on my 2nd child's name.
Ahhh cars. The BANE of my existence. My family has passed around a series of many beater cars from one sibling to the next, all barely functional but we made them work. Thank goodness for a family friend mechanic. I'm sure we put his kids through college even with a friends and family discount. I now walk to my work and it is GLORIOUS. I LOVE not having to drive every day.
The moment of looking at towing companies at the wee hours in the morning.... one of the reasons why I am extremely grateful to be able to pay for car insurance that includes towing. I hope my adult-i-ness continues to be able to afford it forever.
I had a Subaru with no heat in Alaska while I was in college. Almost the exact opposite of your issues!
Great timing. Started watching on a train platform, so I got on the first train that arrived (sadly, not my train), and you’ve now accompanied me as I find my way from Amsterdam to (oops) Hilversum to Utrecht.
I'm from the Southeastern United States and oh boy can I relate to this story. My car was also without air conditioning for many years and because I consider it a 'luxery' I just...did without. I finally got the time and money to fix it last summer and I am so grateful to have it. ***Edit: This brought back a memory. I was working at a mortuary and then a law firm at that time, so I had to dress nice, and I learned to not wear long metal earrings because the metal would get so hot in the car it would burn when they bumped against my skin!
I (along with many others!) am glad you started with that disclaimer! 😂
I love that needle-lace. It’s so pretty!
Cars are such a fun thing to have charge of… the system in the US is very odd to me. Over here in Blighty we have MOTs that we legally have to do every year if we want to keep on the road. It’s a pain in the bum, but does mean we keep our cars in good running condition - and, y’know, safe!
I’m so glad the stories ended well though. ❤
I can barely tell you enough how much I feel like your twin from another decade some days! Car privacy! Tiny cars are the cutest! OMG what to do now when the car dies!? I found myself in SO MUCH of your stories this time ❤
Drinking carrot juice on a road trip in college is such a mood. It's bringing back bunches of memories for me of drives to NYC and all across New England.
It's funny how many of these videos are so relatable to my life. My first car (used of course) had no AC and the air bags blew out shortly after I bought it. I still drove it. I couldn't afford to have it fixed (also minimum wadge job at Blockbuster) so duct tape over where the air bags should be and windows down. Also, living in Florida where public transit isn't a thing and couldn't bother roommates for rides, I needed the car.
Eventually, I drove that car cross country to LA and at the end of it's life it would cut off if I turned left. Someone tried to steal it one day but apparently decided it wasn't worth it cuz the door was pried partially open but they left it. Ah your stories always bring back wonderful memories.
My car used to overheat at the drop of a hat. I ran the heat all the time to try to siphon off some of the heat from the engine. It sort of worked, sometimes. The problem was... I lived in Las Vegas. It gets HOT in the summers. Eventually the engine just blew while I was on my way to work, but not enough for the engine to stop, and I hadn't heard anything. No lights lit up on the dash. I got pulled over for the smoke I was trailing by a cop who was a former mechanic, and he had me pop the hood, and he was very glad that the damage wasn't worse. That was October 2011, and the car I got the next week I've had since then.
Ooh, I’ve used that trick to try to stave off overheating the car in Texas. Once I ran it through an automated car wash - that cooled it down enough that I could get home😅.
I'm so glad that we have great public transportation in Berlin, Germany. And that we have the TÜV. That's a vehicle test you have to do every other year so traffic here is not as dangerous as in other countries.
I bought my first car when I turned 40. It's a SEAT mii. And I love it. It's so small that I always find a parking space everywhere. And I can do U-turns everywhere. I went to Denmark on vacation with my kids several times and all our luggage, groceries, towels and bedsheets fit in it. But now the kids are taller than me and they don't know where to put their legs. So I might have so sell it and get another, slightly bigger car. Maybe even an electric one.
I currently own a solid black Smart Fortwo and I love it! I live in a small town and rarely take it anywhere with speed limits over 45mph (because I rarely want to go anywhere 😉), but it does surprisingly well [with the new sport tires I put on it] driving in the thick snowfall we get up here in North Dakota. Or rather, it just drives on the top layer(s) of snow and doesn't sink down to the ice pack below because it weighs next to nothing. And yes, I've tested it... as a 48-year-old woman who gets little to no physical exercise, I can push it on my own if I have to, lol. Keep being amazing!
Before I’d met my husband he had an old used car that would randomly catch fire under the hood while driving. Just pull off in the middle of rush out and whip out the fire exstinguisher as one does to stop said flame then back to sitting in traffic… until one day it was so bad he couldn’t put it out and just rolled far off the road into a wet field and had to leave it to burn itself out then be towed. This was befor the time of cell phones so getting a fire truck out there quickly wasn’t really possible. Needless to say it was now totaled.after that he carpooled with a work buddy who purposefully had a shutter old metal car (read: indestructible) and would smash it into people trying to fly down the breakdown lane in traffic. After the second time he went and found himself a new old car.
Thank you Charlie for your video. Oh my goodness ,the demise of poor smarty. Thank heavens you were not physically hurt in either car. I love my alone time, I think through conversations and script out what I am going to say or have said. I sing (loudly). I never utilise the shower this way as I may bother the neighbours. Being 10miles from the sea in the UK I sometimes early on a Sunday ,drive down ,park by the sea and stitch for a while. It's my you must get out more time😂 well it ticks the box.
I actually love this channel. Thank you for sharing stories with us
My niece just started Xray tech school, and finally, finally, her books are online. I think she does have to pay something for them, and they are “loaned” to her, so they might be free I’m not sure. I think it’s like the free books on Kindle. Anyway, I’m sure she will never have to comb through the secondhand book store like we all did lol. And she doesn’t even have to lug them around. It’s a miracle!
Charlie, your story hit home for me.
our current car is.a 2005 ford focus we call little blue.
her ac died last year & it would cost more than the car
is worth to get it fixed. we drive with the windows down.
the heater works great...so much so there is NO vent
option without heat., thus, windows must be rolled down
all summer. we are gonna see how long she will last
until we gotta look for the next lowest cost car in the lot..
i totally enjoyed this story. look forward to the next.
hUgz from Ohio, Lee
My first car, also no a/c and my school was in an area of 106+F weather in the summer. I found the trick of buying two bags of ice for the long drives home and back and an old newspaper. I put the ice bags (2 for a dollar!) down my back and sat on the newspaper, which soaked up the water as the ice melted. Any wetness in my shirt dried pretty quickly becoz I also had the windows open (no power windows, you had to reach and crank). Also a dark metal steering wheel (burning hot!) with no power steering. That car was a workout, but there's something special about your first car....
I need you to know that my 3 year old who loves cars was all about listening to this. ❤
Still adore those citrus pillows.
My first car was a Dozuzu. Front half was a Dodge, back half was an Izuzu, held together with a 4x6 board 6 bolts and prayers, gas tank in the bed of the truck, and nonexistent floors that definitely did not keep out winter slush in NY. It cost me $300, some stitches in my foot, and a whole lot of teasing.
No, this is never a security code answer cuz Dozuzu...
We ran over tire retread in our 1989 Eagle Summit. It caused a misalignment of the gears and loosened the carrier bolts which would later completely dislodge on the highway. Wow we are so lucky to be alive today. 😂
So many familiar thoughts and feelings that I haven't thought about in a while! My degree in college required me to go to art supply and DIY stores on a regular basis to get stuff for projects. It was really stressful to have to ask for a ride, even from a close friend. I do remember devolving into tears at least once. Finally having a car on campus was amazing. The AC in that car, too, eventually stopped working (and I live in Georgia). I ended up buying a new car (first ever new car, and probably last) just so I wouldn't have to keep showing up at working completely sweaty! Good times. =)
I freaking lost it when you actually inserted [car terminology] into your hands 🤣😂 perfect use of editing 10/10
I still drive a Smart car - my 2nd in fact. I got my first one in 2004 (it was red, called it ladybug), drove that to 180,000km before selling it and upgrading to a 2012 MHD model which is black and I call it my batmobile. It's currently at 89,000km. Various nicknames given to these 2 cars have included "walking ring", "shoping trolley" (as we call them here) and "sewing machine". I managed to stall the batmobile in bumper to bumper traffic (yeah, stalling an automatic... I have skillzzzzzzzzzz), but not realising that was the only issue, to get it to the curb I literally opened the door, and pushed it with one foot out the door, like a toy car (all the while resisting the urge to go "Vroom Vroom", which set me off giggling).
My first car had a gear stick issue that would have cost me over $800 to fix... or given it was old enough, I could just start it in N! (Huge thanks to the mechanic who pointed that out instead of just charging me to fix it). Not only did this get me two extra years worth out of that car without paying for repairs, but it also stopped it from getting stolen twice! Because it would start in P, people would try and hot-wire it and were unabel to make it start!
My first car was 10 years old when I bought it from one of my mom's coworkers when I was a senior in high school. I could tell so many stories about that car and the chaos that surrounded it while I owned it. At one point, I had to run the heater in the middle of Texas summer in order to not overheat the vehicle while idling. It too had an abrupt ending when on the weekend of my best friend's wedding, I went to get its oil changed. The mechanics informed me that my car was one pot hole or sharp turn from becoming an undirectable battering ram and I probably shouldn't drive it home, let alone two hours across the state. It sat at my parents house for a few years before becoming a project car for a cousin.
My first thought when I saw your thumbnail was, "Oh No! How is the squirrel?!" 😀 LOL glad you are ok 🙂
That was fun! So glad you were not hurt or shot at by some random bullet back in the "bad" area. Your stories are so interesting and to remember those details. WoW !! I can't remember what I ate for dinner last night. LOL
I bought a used, yellow and black Smartie after my little pickup died on my birthday. I had that wee bee for five years and loved every minute of it. Alas, it was totaled after I was rear-ended and shoved into the car in front of me. Only the air bag injured me. I’d get another Smart Car if they were still being sold in the US. Who am I kidding? I’d get a 2016 or later model, for sure. They have just a little more get up and go than the earlier Smarties.
I started a note book with the all stories that happened to our cars (one of then broke the day I was travelling to go to my wedding) ... It mostly stopped when we decided to switch from fun cars to reliable ones (kids...). We still kept a "fun" one 🤣
My 1st car was a 1980 Chevy Citation. It had no rear window defroster, which was just delightful deal to with in upstate NY winters. Several times I was stuck trying to chip off enough ice to see out the back. 🙄
My husband & his ex-wife, being young marrieds in the early 80s, and poor college students, had a rusty old sedan. One night they came out of their house to find that the body of the car had rusted so badly, that it finally just fell off the frame!
Thanks for the story! I was most amazed by the fact no one even checked when you were smashing the Focus' window...
My first car is also my current Ford Focus (slightly different to the one you posted in the video) in a combi version, bcs I got used to big baggage space cars that my dad had for his job when I was a kiddo (and he still has today... also those were great for camping vacations we used to do). Contrary to you, I like the bigger car variations for "I can help people move!" times. I am probably at the end of it's lifetime by now, it was made in 2005 and I got it second hand a few years later specifically to be able to drive to my Erasmus stay at Toulouse, which is some 1600 km away, and pack my stuff in it :D
It worked pretty well since then, except for that ONE TIME when all the icons blinked and then everything went dark and zero and unresponsive *while the car was standing on tram tracks*. Fun times. Not even the emergency lights worked. Thankfully the driver of the first tram that appeared behind me (in like a minute) volunteered three of his passengers to push the car out of the way and to a parking lot close by, where I found out my mobile phone is almost out of battery and had to beg random strangers to help me call the insurance company's assistence line. Very much fun times. I was driving for a few years at that point but had never have to sort out an emergency of this kind by myself. Exactly as you say, it's not a big deal... once you've done it. Ooof.
I'm glad you weren't hurt in your accidents and I am with you in the feeling of the unique safe space inside the car. It's a special setting, something like the shower... but different :)))
Great stories! When I bought my first very used car (Chevy Vega!) my dad bought me a AAA membership which saved me multiple times because Chevy Vega! When he asked what I wanted for Christmas, without thought, “AAA again” and thus, every year that’s what he always gave me and I can’t tell you how grateful I was. Being neurospicy, I often forgot renewing memberships (no autopay back then) so knowing it was always available took a huge load off my mind when: I locked my keys in my car (multiple times), needed a jump, needed a tire change, needed a tow when my transmission literally stopped working in the middle of the night (of course in the middle of nowhere) and once when a new tire literally fell off my car during rush hour on the 405 freeway because the tire store forgot to ratchet down the lug bolts before giving me the car. (In my case, people *weren’t* understanding and all the honking did not help my sad brain). Anyway, thanks for sharing your story. My dad is gone now and it brought back so many memories of how his gift bailed me out of tough situations. 💖
I can relate to no air conditioning, heat exhaustion and living in south Florida. Never got the A.C. fixed. Ended my traveling fulltime in the U.S.A. in my remodeled van. The remodel would have to come out and then the fix wasn't guaranteed. I also lost all braking ability in the middle of nowhere, up in the mountains of Tennessee. I called the local sheriff because my roadside assistance number said "Please call back, we are unable to assist you now". He said a few towing companies. I picked the first one, paid cash. The tow driver (and girlfriend) offered to drive me to a motel and get food. Brought me to the nearest auto repair. Spent the night in my van. When the place opened in the morning, they fixed my problem. Back on the road with a patched line. Had to replace the entire line when i returned home. I'm no longer traveling. I'm living in the mountains in Tennessee.
I relate to so many of your stories. I am 65 and you bring up great memories, for me. Thank you for being you. ❤️
I don't know anything about cars either but my guess is the oil pan is what was leaking. Recently we ran over a huge boulder in our little sedan (oops) and I guess the danger was that we could've hit the oil pan. We missed it by a few inches and the car runs 100% great. Thanks for the stories!
Yeah, especially when looking at the picture she showed, it definitely looks like oil leaked into a puddle under the front of the car.
Great yarn! Also Smart Cars are highly sought after these days holding their value better than most vehicles.
My first car was a Pinto. I so feel your pain. I can also picture the Carmax you probably went to. Great storytelling!! ❤❤
My first car was a 1978 Buick LeSabre. It was gigantic. And with the watermelon green color it had, I was basically driving a tank.
For most of the 12 years I drove it, it had no power steering and no air conditioning.
I don't know if you've ever tried to turn a 5000 pound car with no power steering, but I can tell you it's not easy.
I had to have the entire brake system replaced at some point. That costed more than we paid for the entire car, and the mechanic that did the work used crappy 3rd party parts, so we ended up having to replace the master cylinder again after paying $2000 to do it the first time.
12 years, 6 sets of tires, 2 alternators, 2 batteries, 3 oil leaks, and a gas tank later we finally sold it for $700.
I honestly wish I still had it. Felt great to drive.
Stories like that make me greatly appreciate the fact that I live in the center of a major European city and have no need for a car, or even a driving license. Just a monthly tram ticket and I'm good to go
Really enjoy your story telling. It is a lost art.
This was a lovely half hour, chilling out while listening to you and playing Tiny Glade
17:05 I freaking love this channel and your stories, and your descriptions of driving the smart car made me laugh out loud😂
I was about to make a 2003 hundi smarter by having a back up camara when it got smashed, I got the ticket because I was trying to turn Left but the other driver was speeding, my car hardly moved her's ended up wrapped up in a pole. Neither of us was hurt much. Now I have a smart car and love it and it came with a back up camara.
Thanks for the story vs news clarification up front, that was definitely appreciated. I don't know if smart cars have radiators, but having had a few of those either rust out, crack during an accident, or the head gasket let go, they were always at the very front behind the grille and would be damaged if ya so much as look at them wrong (not to mention they're kinda critical to keeping ICE from overheating)
Thank You! This story has many equivalents in my life. Just in LA. Which took me to Seattle, Canada, NYC. Now being back in LA, I fucking resent driving to the point of needing anti-depressants. Let’s just say, Thank You. I appreciate this story very much.
I understand about car catastrophes. I had 2 with my favorite car a 2010 Dodge Charger in bright blue. Gabriel finally gave up the ghost at an Olive Garden. He tried so valiantly to climb a retaining wall. 😢
I now a VW Tiguan, named Francis. He’s seen better days!
I love your stories. Thank you for starting this channel.
I loved my first car, freedom to go where I wanted and all that. When it finally reached the point it was more rust than not and I had to replace it, it went to the scrap year, got turned into a cube and then sat at the back of the lot. The problem with that is I then saw it everyday when i was on the train going to work 😭. So I totally understand why your first two cars have more memories and stories! They were a huge part of our young adult days.
As someone from Arizona and went to college in Idaho, I’d much rather have no AC in the summer than no heat in the winter. Driving to Idaho for my last semester of college, in January, the heat in my car went out, a few hours from where I was supposed to be. I made it to my grandparents who lived near where I went to school but I was practically frozen by the time I got there. At least with no AC, you can roll the windows down. There’s not much you can do with no heat in the winter
Lol this sounds like so much of our cars growing up. Using the fan too much in the summer and it'd overheat, and yep it conked out. We'd shut it off on the motorway to wait in traffic, to stop it overheating.
I have no idea how it passed the yearly safety tests.
It was technically safe, but needed so many bumpstarts and TLC to keep going.
OMG, I have had my Smart car since 2006! The AC stopped working a few years ago, but after they told me how much it would cost just to find the cause (before even fixing it), I simply accepted the fact. I live in Switzerland, so the super hot days are limited and you can drive across the entire country in literally 3 hours (depending on the direction) which I normally don't do, so it's fine.
Also, I totally get the singing in the car. Fortunately my boyfriend doesn't mind :-)
Alone time in the car is definitely a thing.
And it's not bad with no AC if you're moving... my van's AC cacked a week after we got it and the fan is a great idea but after the engine is warmed up, it blows hot air... and my husband hates having the windows open when we drive. We sweat a lot.
And the one car I ever owned that had AC got broken into because it hadn't locked when I pressed the button on the fob (turns out if you've got any door ajar, a 2004 Honda Accord doesn't lock from the fob).
I'm lucky I've had really good tow experiences, but I also speak car.
Poor little Smarty, she did her best. My best "tried so hard" car story was moving with my purple Chevette and knowing we were low on gas and bargaining with her to make it to the gas station over the hill, and she ran out of gas literally as I was reaching for the key to shut it off at the gas station.
Our car didn’t have a/c this past year and then it began to overheat if you stopped and you had to turn the heater on to cool it. I live in Georgia for reference and we hit heat records this summer. We also fixed the brakes twice then the transmission and thus spent the almost $4,000 we had saved for a down payment on a new car. I feel you.
You are a GREAT storyteller!!
thank you for telling what your making! i like to name my cars. my first car i called Paul. Paul Oliver Simon. it was a POS and my mom didn't like me calling it that. 🤣it would over heat and die at random intervals. finally got the problem fixed and rear-ended someone totaling it. i can't focus enough to drive. thankfully i never hurt any one too bad. drove for 5 years and killed 4 cars. i don't drive anymore.😅😅
That name is amazing 😂😂😂
I feel you on the small cars, my first was a ford fiesta and when it was done I got a fiat pop. So small, two doors, and was a convertible. I loved it so much and still miss it. I could park anywhere. But the ground clearance was awful. I live where we get snow and ice but its warm enough to start melting during the day- meaning it refreezes at night into solid chunks of ice from where it gets piled up in the center of lanes. I couldn't drive in the standard lane ruts sometimes and I had to watch out for random chunks. There'd be times I would have to stop in the middle the road and wait for oncoming traffic to clear so i could go into the other lane.
You are such a great story teller. Loved it.
You’re a good storyteller!
I'm glad you weren't hurt. Tires left over from semis in the road are called alligators. Or road gators.
I love listening to you! Thanks🩷
Your storytelling is goshdarn good.
I love the way you tell your stories ... you so interesting ... thank you xx
Thank you for starting this channel. I enjoy your other channel but I use this one for when I'm doing mending, etc. where I can just listen I don't have to watch what you're doing.
I love this channel! Thanks for sharing your stories, Charlie 🙏
I had a car break down on my way from an overnight shift to school. Lots of white smoke pouring out from under the hood. I pulled over on the side of the freeway, opened the hood, kicked the tires, got my school reading out of the car, and sat on the side of the road crying. This was pre cell phones. I was waiting for ? well I didn’t know, maybe a police officer, and I did no know anything else to I could do. This stranger in a pickup, picked me up and rove me to a Denny’s near SFO. I went inside and called someone to drive 75 miles to pick me up, went inside the bathroom and cried some more. This woman came in, thought I was crying over a guy, and told me that men were worth crying over. I looked at her nad said it’s not a man, it’s my car died on the freeway. smile. Thanks for sharing your car stories.
OMG my story is similar! I needed the cheapest car on the lot so I got a smart car. I still have it, love that car.
I'm sorry about your car experience , the most important thing is that your ok & I wish you every success on your replacement car .
"hates being a bother"... Yer this fits me too well. I've currently got a UTI because I didn't want to bother anyone for a drink in hospital. And well they didn't offer... For 3 days😅 Thank god my SO snuck me drinks at visiting times
This is such an American story! I can't imagine anyone living more than cycle distance from a place you could buy shampoo. Also, do you always literally have room mates? As in, sleep in the same room? Students housing here is at most flat mates, everyone had a (lockable) private bedroom (shared bathrooms) of at least 10m2. It must be exhausting indeed to never have a truly private place. I love this story-time format, thanks for this series of adventures to entertain me while I was having breakfast.
Thanks for telling us you were fine first thing!! Also it’s my understanding that the Canadian CAA is basically the same as the US AAA. If that’s the case anyone can call them and get a tow. They have standards so you don’t have to worry about sketchy companies. It’s the easiest way and you don’t have to worry.
Seeing as I’m way older my early cars were much more sketchy! My first cars frame rotted out! Found out when we put it on a lift and it started to bend! I was young and foolish so I continued to drive it around town…. I was told not to speed it it but that wasn’t a problem cause things no longer alined so the transmission couldn’t find the top gears! My second car was better but was also the reason my parents got me CAA! I drove it for months without a starter. It was a standard so friends and hills would get it started. Also college wasn’t as expensive but books were more than my tuition! Fun times!
College (university) textbooks are not nearly so expensive in other countries! As in, a quarter of the price, or thereabouts. I used to work for a publisher that published a lot of textbooks in the US and UK and we had to change a load of things in the UK books so they wouldn't be sold back into the US and undercut our sales.
My current car has no air conditioning and we're coming into summer down here in the southern hemisphere.... second summer without it, but I can't afford the approximately $1000 to replace the AC unit. I feel you. Not as hot as Florida, I'm sure, but we'll pull some +30°C days in the next few months. Not converting to freedom units either 😂
100% can relate to Car Horror Stories of My Twenties!
Oh my! Good memories about firsts crapy cars!!!! 😂😂😂😂
I drove a 1991 Ford F-150 all through college...from 2018-2022. I am SO lucky I and my parents could afford to fix all of the problems that arose over those years. I had AC that only sometimes worked and no airbags because apparently they weren't standard when the truck was made. I locked my keys into the car so many times I ended up just making a spare door key (I had separate door and ignition keys that's how old the truck was) and lodging it in a hidden place accessible from the outside of the truck. I had two very memorable incidents that should have been breakdowns. The first was driving 3.5 hours back to school from a weekend trip with a broken transmission, after which the mechanic I took it to was both surprised I even made it half an hour from where I started and then gave me the sternest lecture I've ever gotten from a stranger to not ever do something that dangerous again. The second was the last time I drove that truck. My partner and I had just moved to a new city the fall after we graduated from college, and on our way back from Ikea on our second day in our first apartment, the brakes in the truck slowly started to give out. That turned out to just be a leak in the brake fluid hose which was easily replaced, but the truck was also just no longer going to be practical, so she is now happily in semi retirement in my parents' garage.
There is so much about your life I would love to know more about but because I am an aerialist I am desperate to learn about your aerial journey. I have no proof that this happened, but I like to imaging you and Shannon having an aerial jam while you were visiting her in Canada
How have I watched so many of your videos and completely missed that you were a CP? I’ll have to find your videos to find out when/where you were there! I’m sure we hadn’t overlapped, but how fun that you were there, too!
Wow! I had to read Dante for college during my cross country move! I wonder if we listened to the same audio book 🤔
Cars are just an endless nightmare. I currently have a 16yr old car with all the problems and it's about to be scrapped and I'm replacing it with an 11 yr old car with only a couple of problems. I got good at fixing things myself because there's just so many of them every you normally have old cars.
Me too. Talk, sing, or argue in the car
Needle lace looks very similar to crochet, I reckon if you were to give crochet a go, you'd get on with it better than you think you would x
My worst car story - it was winter in my university town, and the steering fluit line cracked and drained. I found a mechanic based on getting there with the least turns possible with my minivan that required me to put all my weight into turning the wheel. It was my first time having to do a fully adult thing entirely solo. I hadn't even known steering fluid was a thing
Dante, huh? I read Inferno, skimmed Purgatorio, and read the wiki on Paradiso 😂 I did find a free audiobook of an old British-sounding man reading Republic, though, but he was genuinely very funny and engaging.
I lived in Oklahoma for a bit over 2 years. Summers in OK are no joke.
Oh yeah, and then we moved to Pittsburgh. By car. With two cats. In February.
Ooof, yeah, retreads are also super hazardous!
AAA is seriously a necessity.
I love your story times!
I got heat stroke trying to get past Disney as a kid. Don’t leave your children in the covered truck beds in non moving traffic! Blacked out just after barely managing to get out that I was blacking out.
All my cars have been characters and all 2nd (or even 6th) hand. First was grandma’s which she amusingly almost got a ticket in because it ran so smooth she was doing 60 in a 35 haha. Cop couldn’t believe a 78 year old was going that fast. After it had a minor accident that juts needed body work my parents confiscated it from me and never gave back. So I ended up in an absolute UNIT of an 80s Cadillac (its trunk was massive enough to hold a whole family with room to spare). It was such a tank I could take on anything smaller than a semi and come out unscathed (not that I was a wreckless driver but to say it was a very safe very large car). Ended up trading it for a washer and dryer from a man I’m pretty sure modded it to do moonshine runs (because that was a thing were I was.. also stabbing a at laundry mats hence the need for the washer/dryer). After that got a used suv and ran it to death until it legally could not pass inspection and cost more to repair than buying a new old car. Newest car is actually older than the suv (like cassette player rather than cd player). No one would buy the suv because it was so old and we didn’t want to pay to have it removed so it just sat there for months. Until an Irish contractor working down the street randomly popped by and asked if we wanted to sell it. He retuned with his kid and gruff grandpa later who peeled a plate off his truck to stick on the suv to take it home. The newest old car has since given several expensive headaches including the transmission giving out while in a very steep hill of a very busy road and having to be towed by a guy who bragged about basically being an anarchist… very uncomfortable.
Thank goodness you're okay thats all that matters
Our first and last car was called Hugo and his life ended with a potsmocker car driver hitting us in the back. 😞
love your channel Charlie 😍