For instance, there was the amazing anti-theft device (one no auto engineer ever conceived, for sure). In order to get the key released from the ignition, the car needed to be held firmly in reverse and then reach over the steering wheel with the left hand, hold the shift back and up and slide the key out. Hard to imagine a thief trying to make off with this car.

And I must touch on my own improvements, modestly. As I drove the car, I noticed that the turn signal indicator lever was becoming loose and didn't want to signal right-hand turns. In a moment of desperation, I slipped a ponytail holder out of my hair and around the indicator lever. I then secured it around the column and onto the hazard light button. I never had a moment's trouble after that. I got creative, and changed the colors of the ponytail holders to match the seasons: red for Christmas, green for summer, yellow for spring and brown for fall. It was quite festive!

My Nova developed a sense of humor, as well. After many trips and three windshields later, she decided she was tired of the "car doctor." On rainy mornings, the Nova began to display another quirky feature: she developed a water reservoir under her roof. Obviously feeling like none of the many teenaged passengers in my car were properly groomed, she developed a "teen-cleaner" option neither designed nor considered by the factory. It worked like this: the Nova would dump a wash basin quantity of water into the passenger's lap with the first sharp left turn taken. Usually, the most frequent passenger was my best friend, who learned to cope with this quirk by having a towel ready at all times to catch any offerings that my car might choose to bestow upon her. But occasionally I would forget to tell a novice passenger, and the unsuspecting would end up with the inevitable lap-full of water.

In my car's defense, she was a tank. Steel and iron. Even when I asked her to roll into that light post, she complied, and wore her hood dent proudly like a war wound. The rear door (de rigeuer pea green in color) was welded shut. Between the welded rear door and sagging front door, Ringling Brothers would have paid good money to watch the clown act getting in and out of my car. However, in her defense, I must say the window in the welded door worked well!

The only truly annoying fault with my Nova was that the interior had vinyl seats. And to complicate matters, they were designed with a raised checkered pattern. It made for some interesting reptilian-like skin patterns during the summertime, especially when shorts were worn. I considered it a conversation piece, this "branding."

Moving from the interior to under the hood, there was a peculiarity there.

(CONTINUE...)