Pete n Repeat twice... or as Yogi Berra would say, "This is like Déjà vu all over again."

PETE & REPEAT: I don't remember the year, but Uncle Jim sold his Renault 16 (R-16) to my dad. (I know from experience that lotsa people have no clue what is a Renault [mostly pronounced in USA like it is spelled: ruh-NALT, but properly pronounced--as in French, since the car is manufactured in France: reh-NO], so I googled and swiped two photos that are verrry close to what Dad had. The 16 denotes the model. Altogether we had an R-10, R-12 and two R-16's. [If you remember my mom's "orange bomb," that was an R-12. When you finish reading this post [assuming you do, of course!] read my response to Jon P's comment about my mom's car.] The R-10 was a saltine box, the R-12 was an OK compact car, but the R-16 was a wonder. It handled great and had a great ride due partly to the unique suspension and partly due to the seats being of the quality you would expect to find in a much larger and more expensive car. Of the Renaults imported to the USA, the R-16 was considered the Cadillac. Actually, after Uncle Jim bought another car that was larger and more feature-rich, he told Dad multiple times that the Renault had a far better ride.)

Anyway, some time later, probably in early 1978, we were driving home from Lewisburg, PA, and Dad spotted another Renault 16 sitting in someone's front lawn with a For Sale sign in the window. He said, "Hey, Faith, you want a Renault?" Being wheelless, I piped, "Sure!" So he promptly pulled a U-turn. While we were looking it over, a man came out of the house to talk with us. The price was $400! (Weren't those the days! But do you know how many hours I had to baby-sit before I paid that back?! After insurance, gas and maintenance, not much money was left for the car payment.) Dad bought it on the spot, the man gave us the keys, and we continued on our way home.

Now we had not only two Renaults, but two very similar Renaults. Dad's was dark green with dark brown interior, stick shift. Mine was almost the very same shade of dark green with black interior, automatic shift. Well, if you think people had gawked before when they saw our one Renault, you should have seen their eyes bug out when they saw two Renaults! The ride home was so entertaining, especially on the main street through Mifflinburg and Middleburg! People in their yards and on porches and sidewalks would stop what they were doing to stare, and their heads would turn to follow Dad's car as it drove by. Then I drove by right behind him. People's heads were spinning as they were doing double takes, trying to determine if suddenly they were seeing double or what. Nope, no double vision, just double Renaults!! Dad and I had a lot of fun with those two cars.

One of my "fun" memories of this car is that a classmate who often parked his big, ole American-made car next to my Renault at school (PVBI) gave me a hard time about driving a foreign-made car. One early morning I drove to school in snow deep enough that my front bumper was plowing a path! (College never closes, ya know!) As I turned the corner to drive up the hill to school, I spotted my braggadocious classmate's car uselessly spinning its tires in the snow. I sweetly, with nary a spin, drove out around his car and on up into the lower parking lot. (You know I couldn't offer him a ride--this was at Bible college!) When he came into class about five minutes later, he looked like the abominable snowman. I asked him what had happened that he was covered in snow. He glared at me and growled, "My car is sitting at the bottom of the hill. It went backwards from where it was when you passed me." Needless to say, he had no more comments about my foreign car!

One more story about my beloved Renault. I was living with my brother Tim and his family in Millheim, PA, when he was principal of the Penns Valley Christian Academy. Each Tuesday, he held "night school" for several adults who were studying either to complete high school requirements or junior college level work. One night we decided to take my car to night school. We were at the edge of town and starting to pick up speed, when all of a sudden * WHAM! * Something huge came out of nowhere and smacked hard into the windshield then flew back over the car and bounced and skidded on the road. We were like, "Whoa, WHAT in the world was THAT?!" I slammed on the brakes and pulled off to the side--I was shaking--while Tim looked back to see what it was. Unbelievably, it was my hood! Somehow it had become unlatched, and as I picked up speed, the wind lifted it up and literally tore it from its hinges!

We thanked God that the windshield had not broken and that nobody had been following us. We ran back to get the hood off the road before someone would come along and hit it, carried it to the car and put it in place so we could creep back home, then took Tim's car to night school. There was no way to repair the hinges, so that weekend, Tim drilled two holes through the hood and into the car frame and bolted the hood down. Be assured it never flew off again!

PETE & REPEAT Déjà vu: In an earlier post, I mentioned that on Saturday we bought a 1997 Buick LeSabre. We picked it up tonight--Ken wanted me to have the honor of driving it home :) ... now we have two Buick LeSabres! Not only two LeSabres, but two gray/silver LeSabres. I don't know if people stared at us as we drove home tonight or not. Since LeSabres aren't so unusual, I think probably not, but perhaps!

We've aptly dubbed our cars "Pete and Repeat," but we're open to suggestions for other names. Pete is a tad more gray; Repeat is a tad more silver. Pete has maroon interior; Repeat, light gray. Pete is a Custom model; Repeat is a Limited edition. Pete is bedraggled and weary; Repeat is like brand spanking new! Pete will continue to take Ken back and forth to work (we hope--we're praying that Pete won't get jealous and quit running!!); Repeat will be reserved for trips, our weekly run to Wal-Mart and my rare shopping sprees.

We're already trying to figure out how to keep them separate on insurance policies, how to keep service records specific, how to tell the keys apart, etc. I suggested a simple solution for the keys: Ken can carry Pete's, and I'll carry Repeat's! ...No, he didn't think that was such a bright idea either. lol

We're trying not to call them HIS and HERS because they are OURS, but Ken thinks that since admittedly Pete will be more HIS car, that would be really convenient... and easy too, believe me! It's one niiiiiiiiiice car. Ken thinks I will do most of the driving in Repeat, but I don't think so. My itch to drive is long over.

(The whole HIS and HERS idea reminds me of a line my dad used to joke about... A young married fella explained to his wife that there would be no problem knowing whose possessions were whose if they just followed his philosophy: "What's mine is mine, and what's yours is mine.")

Interestingly, we bought Pete on my birthday weekend in 1998, and Ken joked for a long time that he had bought me a car for my birthday. So maybe I should just go with the flow and let Pete and Repeat be HIS and HERS after all!

Aha, I know--a POLL!! What do YOU think? Take my poll at the top right of my blog. Or leave a comment with your suggestion!