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People occasionally asked us why we used the hazard lights so much.

Ourtwo had the guts to accelerate quickly, but he tired easily. He didn't like freeways they wore him out within about 15 minutes especially in the summer. If he started getting tired, he would hiccup to let us know he needed a rest. If we gave him a rest, he'd usually make it another 15 minutes. If we tried to push him, however, he would eventually die, and we would drift to the side of the freeway. He wouldn't start, no matter what we tried. The first time this happened, it worried us. Remarkably, however, he started again after 10 minutes. When we took him into the shop, they couldn't find anything wrong with him (remember, he's doctor shy), so we left. Ever after, he consistently died after 15 minutes of driving. We'd then give him a 5-10 minute rest, and then continue on our way. This made for long road trips, but it always worked.

3. Talk to your car.

This helps you develop a bond with your car. For most people, your car is not likely to respond. We were lucky. We obtained an R2D2 bobble-head toy with a button that would whistle and chime like the movie character, and hung it from the rear-view mirror. There were about 5 sounds that cycled randomly, so we could ask our car how he was feeling, and he would usually tell us. Someone also gave us a stuffed plush R2D2 for our car, which squeaked like a rubber ducky when you pressed the red button on his face. Unfortunately, it was harder to interpret the plush R2 than the bobble-head.

4. Know your car's tricks.

This was probably my favorite part of having a clunker. As Ourtwo's various components ceased to work, we'd find unique ways of compensating. With his left turn signal, we discovered that if after pressing the turn signal, you gave it a slight tap upward, the weird clicks and hazard light ordeal didn't occur. This was the only way we ever discovered to fix the problem, and being too poor for a decent car, we were also too poor for fixing petty problems, so we found our own solution.
My sister once had a car who's radio would just blank out once in a while. Unmechanically and unelectronically inclined as all of us were, we had no idea what to do. My sister discovered that if she brought down her fist firmly on the dashboard at a very precise spot, the radio would dutifully return to full function. I tried it once, but it didn't work. "No," she said, "like this." Then she brought down her fist in the exact manner as I had, and the radio

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