" Hand-Me -Down Cars: Why Family VehiclesLast Longer Than Anything You Buy on a Lot"
Car Connection Workshop
" Hand-Me -Down Cars: Why Family VehiclesLast Longer Than Anything You Buy on a Lot"
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Term
hand-me-down car
A hand-me-down car is a car that someone in your family gives to you after they are done using it. These cars often last longer because families usually take good care of them.
Term
beater
A beater is a cheap old car that people use just to get around. It might not look nice or run perfectly, but it gets the job done.
Concept
fleet service maintenance
Fleet service maintenance means taking care of many cars that a company owns so they don't break down and cost a lot of money.
Car
Toyota FJ Cruiser
The Toyota FJ Cruiser is a type of SUV that looks a bit old-fashioned but is very good at driving off-road. People like it because it’s tough and has a unique style.
Term
rust
Rust happens when metal parts of a car get wet and start to break down and get holes. This can make the car weaker and cause problems.
Term
brakes
Brakes help a car stop when you press the pedal. They need to be checked and fixed sometimes so the car can stop safely.
Term
front end work
Front end work means fixing the front part of a car, like the parts that help you steer and keep the car steady when you drive.
Term
tires
Tires are the round rubber parts that touch the road and help the car move and stop safely. Old or damaged tires need to be changed.
Car
Jeep Commander
The Jeep Commander is a bigger SUV that can carry more people and go off-road. It looks a bit like a box and is good for families or people who like adventure. Some people talk about it because it was a dependable car for their family.
Car
Jeep Wrangler
The Jeep TJ Wrangler is a type of Jeep that is good for driving off-road. It was made starting in 1997 and has round headlights that make it look like older Jeeps.
Concept
restoration
Restoration means fixing up an old car so it looks and works like it did when it was brand new. This usually means taking it apart and fixing or replacing parts.
Concept
rescue project
A rescue project is when someone finds an old car that hasn't been taken care of and fixes it enough so it can be driven again, without making it look brand new.
Car
Nissan 2008 Nissan
The Nissan 200SX is a small, sporty car that many people like because it’s fun to drive and easy to change to make it faster or look cooler. It’s popular with people who enjoy working on cars or racing them. It’s talked about a lot when people want a car that’s exciting to own.
Car
Nissan Rogue
The Nissan Rogue is a small SUV that many people like because it’s easy to drive and doesn’t use too much gas. The 2008 version is an older model that some people fix up or change to make it better. It’s a good car if you want something useful and not too big.
Term
CVT transmission
A CVT is a special kind of car transmission that changes gears smoothly without the usual shifting you feel. It uses a belt to do this, which helps the car run more efficiently.
Term
Nissan transmission fluid
This is the special oil Nissan says you should use in their car transmissions. Using the right one helps the car's transmission work well and last longer.
Car
Toyota RAV4
The Toyota RAV4 is a small SUV that lots of people drive because it’s very reliable and doesn’t break down often. It’s good for families and everyday use, and you see many of them on the road. People talk about it because it’s a safe and easy car to own.
Car
Toyota Highlander
The Toyota Highlander is a bigger SUV that many families like because it has lots of room and is dependable.
Term
transmission service
A transmission service means changing the special oil inside your car that helps it change gears smoothly. Doing this regularly keeps your car running well and stops big problems.
Concept
emotional ownership
Emotional ownership means you really care about your car because it has special meaning to you. When you care about a car, you usually take better care of it so it lasts longer.
Car
Toyota Tercel
The Toyota Tercel is a small, reliable car made by Toyota. The 1984 version is a little hatchback that was easy to drive and saved gas.
Term
0-60 time
0-60 time means how fast a car can go from stopped to 60 miles per hour. It's a way to see how quickly a car can speed up.
Concept
emotional attachment
Sometimes people feel really connected to their cars because of memories or experiences, which makes it hard to give them away or sell them.
LIVE
Good morning Niagara, you're tuned to Car Connection where the coffee's hot, the tools
are ready and the talk is ALWAYS tuned up.
I'm your host Niall Motormouth Jenkins, coming to you straight from the Car Connection workshop
where we mix a little humor, a little know-how, and a whole lot of horsepower.
Here it's not just about fixing cars, it's about keeping you rolling, saving you money,
and giving you the confidence to understand what's under that hood, from the classics,
to the commuters, to the weird noises, to the what the heck moments we've got you covered.
So grab your coffee, sit back, join the crew because this is Car Connection, your Monday
through Saturday morning pit stop for stories, smarts, a few good laughs, and I'm Niall Motormouth
Jenkins and we are shifting into drive this morning. How are things going out there?
Going on out there, you doing okay this morning? I hope so.
It is still winter, I'm just saying. I stuck my head out the gopher hole this morning in the
Groundhog bit me. Yeah, his name is Won't He. You don't have to watch for the video on
YouTube, not on YouTube, that'll be on Facebook and Instagram. We have a reel going up,
yeah, and we have our very own Car Connection workshop.
Wyatt and Willie kind of fell out, fell out. So you'll have to stick around and find that video.
I think it's getting loaded up Friday, Friday, February 27th. So stick around for that. Check
us out on Facebook and Instagram. I'm trying to do 10 things at once this morning. You ever done
that? First and foremost is grab your favorite morning beverage. Thank you for bringing us along
this morning if you're on your drive in to work. And if someone would shoot me an email and just
let me know, is the volume on our podcast too high? I had someone like Skippy saying she's having to
crank it up at the store she works at Monday through Saturday. So if you're looking for
furniture, head into Bridgeburg Furniture in Fort Erie and you'll meet our very own videographer,
Skippy. She's saying, you know, your podcasts are really, really low and I'm looking on my EQ and I
see that I turned the gain up this morning a little bit. So let me know if that's blowing your ears
off and Skippy is in some kind of volume dreamscape. And she's saying she's having to put the steering
wheel on the volume knob and crank it over 100 in order to hear the podcast. But I what I'm seeing
on my screen is showing me that I'm quite a bit louder this morning and I turned it up just a
few decibels. So somebody shoot me an email Nile at ccbusnet.com Nile at N-I-L-E at C-C-B-U-S
is in Sam N-E-T dot com or go into our website carconnectionbusinessnetwork.com. And there is
a website form there. Let me know if this is way too loud for you guys out there. And then we'll
just nicely let Skippy know and smile and nod and go. It's all right. We got this. Well, good morning
to you. If you're just driving through the takeout window, double check your order, lock that down
in your cup holder. We don't want any splash on the passenger floor and pass over the 16 pack of
crayons and the folded up leaf bag and just let them know that is a car connection workshop
laptop. So take some notes this morning. If you've missed any of our broadcasts, we'll be
moving into season two episode 101 next week, early, early next week. This morning's
episode is season one episode 95 and we're going to be talking about how many of you out there
have had a vehicle given to you as a hand-me-down by someone in the family, an aunt, an uncle,
grandparent, parents, might have been your older brother's car or older sister's car or a neighbor
says, you know, come and get this car. I want to give it to you.
We're going to be talking about the hand-me-down cars and why they last longer in families.
And, you know, I think I finally figured that part out a little bit. So, yeah, share your thoughts
as well. You know, you can put a comment in any one of our YouTube videos, put a comment in there,
send me an email through our website form or simply email me nyle at ccbusnet.com. B-u-s is
in Sam N-e-t dot com and let me know, hey, when did you get a car given to you last or a hand-me-down?
Did you get a hand-me-down during school, automobile and how did you treat that vehicle?
Did you treat it any differently than something, you know, a beater that you bought for 500 bucks?
Good luck with that one. If they're beaters, they're done. That's what I've noticed is, you know,
I used to call them finding a goodie once in a while and I'll tell you, that just isn't happening
like it used to. I try and find what I call my $500 beauties, clean them up, take it all apart
inside, do all the mechanicals and pass it off to one of my clients for a son or a daughter to
go to school or back and forth to co-op and I'll tell you, by the time I finished them, they were
already gone. They're already spoken for and what I did notice was these inexpensive vehicles that I
was doing up and getting into the hands of mummies and daddies and grandparents saying I want that
for my granddaughter and sell it off to them, they'd take care of it because a grandparent,
especially if it was a grandparent or an aunt or uncle who purchased the car to hand down to them,
they would treat it totally different. So let me know what your thoughts are on that. Has somebody
in your family over the years in the past or present given a family member an automobile hand
hand me down automobile? Let's talk about that. Put that in the comment section on any one of our
videos or on Facebook, Instagram, that's where you'll find us. We're on every platform out there
and everything we talk about here in the car connection workshop is the biggest drawer in our
toolbox and everything we talk about lives on the homepage of our website at carconnectionbusinessnetwork.com.
That's where you'll find all the links for all the platforms we're involved in so you can follow
us, like us, share us, leave a comment on our YouTube videos. We just finished filming yesterday
the fleet service maintenance car connection maintenance schedule breaking it down for you
step by step and that that drops this Friday, February the 27th. So that's our Friday video
Tuesday's videos will be dropping today so we put two new videos up on Tuesday two for Tuesday one
on Friday three new videos every week teaching you what it is where it is how it works how it breaks
and what you could learn about taking care better care of your automobile that would give you enough
smarts to prevent you from getting ripped off at the service department or service desk or repair
shop whatever you want to call it that will put some some knowledge in your pocket in your back
pocket and all the videos that I do I teach you all those five things so that you can get a better
understanding how these things we call vehicles work so that once you have that understanding
the basics never change so I teach you the basic fundamentals so on the homepage of our website
carconnectionbusinessnetwork.com top right hand corner is all the links for all the platforms so
YouTube Instagram Facebook Stevensvilleontheweb.ca and you'd say well what platform is that well
Skippy our videographer created that website she lives in Stevensville her family's in
Stevensville my family's in Stevensville and there's some great eateries there and some fantastic
mom and pop shops in that little town there's a lot of stuff going on in the little town of
Stevensville they're people and she created the website to bring the business owners and the community
together to unite them together to support one another so they put us up a profile page there
so that's why you can find us there by clicking on the businesses tab and visit all the businesses
there one of my favorite foodies there is scottobots I've never had a bad meal there
great atmosphere it's just a little hole in the wall but the food's good the atmosphere is good
if you're ever in Stevensville check it out and let Christy know that motormouth sent you
also you will find our iHeart radio link on the top right hand corner and we have our own car
connection motormouth merch store where you can go in select some items pick your size your color
and make sure that you get a limited edition car connection beverage holder
coffee cup okay it's coffee cup we have our very own car connection coffee cup after 31 years on
radio I laugh about it because why did we wait so long I don't know it's an IDK I simply don't know
you'll find all the logos for all our program partners that make this broadcast possible
make our youtube channel possible and we're always needing program partners to help us until we get
monetized then that changes things and the whole idea of monetization for us is not to get another
shiny thing but to be able to take care of widows orphans single moms and seniors and those who are
going through some very financial financially struggling that's hard to say isn't it struggling
financial times economic times that we would be able to buy the parts we need install the parts in
the shop here shoot the videos share them with you and be able to continue to move forward and
build our channel so help us to do that by liking sharing following ringing the notification bell
do all those things leave a comment all those little things help us to keep the ignition on
and running on all cylinders all the time so thank you for that well let's talk about our weather this
morning our daily weather report brought to us by city auto sales and leasing you can buy with
confidence be treated with nothing less than honesty integrity low mileage quality vehicles
at fair prices that's how they've earned the title greater toronto areas premier pre-owned
auto store they have in-house financing and i'll tell you their vehicles look like brand spanking
new earl and louise grant husband and wife team for over 25 years providing people in the gta and
surrounding areas with top quality vehicles again buy with confidence be treated with nothing
but honesty and integrity that's city auto sales and leasing 12 degrees right now and again i only
speak in fahrenheit's and it's snowing and it has been snowing here on the south shores of ford eerie
where our studio is and our workshop studio for three days now so we've had snows woken up to
fresh snowfall for the last three days and it looks like it's going to continue for for us
along the south shores of lake eerie the wind is making it feel really cold this morning it's snappy
out there and about four degrees so from 12 degrees it's going to the wind makes it feel about
four degrees cloudy conditions expected around 8 a.m today's temperature range 12 degrees to 26
degrees and it's going to feel like three to 17 so dress warm keep an eye on road conditions
and um drive safe adjust your driving habits to suit the road conditions so they're saying
a 0.15 of an inch of snow in the last 24 hours when we got probably one to two so the in the next
24 hours they're calling for one to two inches in our area anyhow so uh we'll just see how that pans
out because there's about one to two inches there right now and it's still snowing pretty good well
let's have our morning swiggy together brought to us by rainbow motors and garage in scarborough
ontario canada so if you're ever up that way they fix all years make some models of automobiles right
up to and including light truck commercial vehicles they have a small car lot there and the resources
to find that specific vehicle you're looking for some of their vehicles do qualify for an
aftermarket warranty so if that's of interest to you that is available to you at rainbow motors
and garage in scarborough terrio canada with rita and remiss the brothers taking care great care of
our car connection listeners up in scarborough sales and service you can trust so get your
favorite morning beverage ready you got it we're going to count it down on three two one that's
how we do it here in the car connection workshop for 32 years now three two one
yeah i put a little extra local honey in my morning beverage i i have this thing that um
that prevents me from gaining weight it's called cortisol so after apparently after you wake up you
should not drink coffee for at least one hour i gotta tell you this it works it does work i don't
understand it i haven't studied it i haven't sat in and uh at my laptop or my ipad or my iphone
and check to see why that is i just heard one one of the uh online influencers um dr mendell
i've been watching him for probably five years and i'll tell you he always gives you a morning
health tech tip and i'll tell you this if you listen to him and you do what he says it actually
works so and i remember him saying do not have he said do not have any coffee for one hour after
you wake up make yourself a herbal tea or some warm water or something else but do not stuff coffee
in your face right away because it has something to do with cortisol and cortisol makes you fat
i don't know you can check that out so that's dr mendell it's got a great youtube channel
and the guy gives away some fantastic health uh tidbit tidbits so i'm gonna have another
swingy you came with that all right and that is good so i'm using one of his uh morning
herbal recipes that you can use to kind of satisfy that hot steamy something or other
going down your neck in the morning and it and it works i guess got to tell you it does work
so this morning we're going to be talking about hand-me-down cars and why they last longer in
families why do you think that is have you seen that actually happen in front of you in your own
family somebody has said hey you know grandpa or grandma passes away and they leave a son
a grandson or granddaughter a vehicle or do you pass have you passed a vehicle down to your kids
and do they take care of it and this has always been a question in the back of my mind that's
i thought i'd open it up for discussion because it is really interesting and because people know
that i'm a really good caregiver of anything you give to me if i like it i'm just kidding if i like
it that's a good answer that's an honest answer uh i take care of stuff and especially automobiles
and i i respect vehicles because they cost a lot of money and how many times do you really want
to keep buying automobiles so if you can take something and i mentioned this in the video
yesterday that we uh that will be posted friday on fleet service maintenance and how that can
put a whole lot of money back in your pocket and don't get stuck in the never never plan
working hard home to work home to work home to work home to work home to work home to work
home to work home to work and that's just the first week and you start to see the visualization of
being like a hamster running on that wheel and you get on that wheel and you run run run run run
run run run look around get off lick the little ball get some water grab a pellet jump back on
run run run run run run and make a car payment plus insurance plus gas and oil and maintenance
and do you take care of it or by the time you finish making the last payment
you're already looking at how you can jump into the next vehicle and keep yourself
debt poor a car i call it car poor how many years would you like to continue to do that do that
and play what i call the automotive game you don't have to change these things out
like the talking heads say you don't like the white noise and i talk about that
in depth on the video that will drop uh this friday on our youtube channel
friday february 27th we're almost we've almost smoked this month spring is coming baby you don't
have to get rid of these vehicles you know my tonio the fj cruiser is going to be almost
20 years this july it'll be 19 and a half years old and we're heading for 400 000 k
how does it do it you got to care give it nobody gave me that vehicle but you know this
past summer one of our um morning show when i was still on uh on the airways on the am state
1am station in canada it was always on um top drawer stations in the u.s for many years 24 and
a half years till the uh covid campaign kicked in and that took 26 years of hard work and tore
it apart we lost 50 of what we built for car connection and reaching people all over north
america and around the world tore it in half that's a story for another day we don't want to go down
that rabbit hole because that is still a very sore spot for me because that's why i don't talk
politics because it would take me way too long to come out of that rant but we are going to talk
in car insurance yes we are i am loading up the information so that we can talk about car insurance
we can share our stories uh good bad or ugly we're going to throw it out there and talk about it so
we can have a little bit of you know relief counseling a little bit of counseling together
get that off your chest but here's here's what i find is you know like this past summer uh we
had one of our listeners uh i was away at my brother-in-law's cottage for my summer getaway
just do a little well actually it's not really summer i end up being the last one swinging the
door on the cottage i don't know how that happens i'm the last man standing in like september
but it is a good month for fishing yeah and just relaxing exactly just you know kind of
unwind it takes me about a week just unwind and then the following week i kind of in the groove of
you know i still get up early like four o'clock ding eyes are open and i get up and get started
and enjoy the day i don't want to miss a single thing that's that's it i don't want to miss nothing
so i get a call and long story short uh vehicle is dropped off at our car connection workshop
while i'm away exactly how we discussed it it went down that was down it's it got shipped down here
and uh when i got back i looked it over and we knew what the game plan was was to check it over
it already been checked but check check it over against the check over to see if the check over was
valid or not and there were you have to watch that video because there were so definitely
some discrepancies on what where how and how come yeah and so the vehicle ended up being
donated to us and i decided to put the labor and the effort in and shoot a whole pile of videos to
show you how you can bring something back from the brink of destruction and the vehicle had been
sitting about 11 months and it was a family member's car the mom and it has some sentimental
attachments to it and i think that got me thinking about this morning's topic hand me down cars and
why they last longer in families it's i think it's that emotional attachment and as i was looking
this vehicle over and i'm going yeah you know that's a tough spot right there that one yeah a vehicle
had some damage in the back underneath and the the rusties were starting to really build up in
some areas and it was looking tough in some areas and the workload was going to be heavy duty it
needed uh it needed some serious front end work and brakes like everything it needed everything
and a couple of tires and the mileage is low 119 000 kilometers to me is like not even warmed up yet
but i could feel the sentimentality in that vehicle you know and i got thinking you know
my mom passed away in january of 2022 and uh she was our commander she kept us all in line
so now we're kind of running crazy we don't have a commander now but um i got to thinking if this was
my mom's car what and you know what would i do what would i do with it i thought you know what if we
if we can take a 1997 Jeep TJ Wrangler and rescue it from the crusher and i was laying in the mud
under this thing in my yard i call my yard clothes checking the frame and looking it over and and it
shouldn't even have been in it it was in in the middle of a trucking scrap yard 53 box 53 foot
box trailers box trucks 24 foot long box trucks uh travel trailers motor coaches highway coaches
like it was it was out of place it was like a toothpick in a swamp i don't know why i said that
but that gives you a good visual a toothpick in the middle of a swamp and like looking at it i'm
laying in the mud in the grasses like up to my chest and i'm going you know this thing's not bad
we could probably bring this thing back to life that would make some good videos and we're winding
here we are now winding up that project and it wasn't it's not a restoration i want to make that
clear we didn't restore it we didn't strip it down to the frame and take the body off and
not a not that just a rescue look it over figure out all the neglect all the maintenance that
never got done and and looking at that just yesterday when we were shooting the video and
you'll see that vehicle in in the background as i'm talking about fleet service maintenance and
how that'll stuff a pile of money back in your pocket and you won't be making car payments
for the rest of your life because that math doesn't work it works for the car for the the
selling dealer and for the bank and finance companies but for you it doesn't work it's the
never-never plan so i got thinking overnight and i'm thinking you know if we could if we could put
that 97 tj wrangler back on the road just by catching up all the neglected maintenance
which put it there in the scrap yard in the first place why couldn't we do that to this 2008 Nissan
rogue so that's what i decided to do and we went for it and it's now part of our fleet and now we
will love on it and take really good care of it because it's not the best vehicle on the road
it has a list of quirks quirky things one of it being one of the major ones being
rust in the back end the back end of those vehicles around the rear doors what we call the rear dog
leg breaks out in a rash and then it's it it perforates in no time and secondly the uh
what's it called continuous i don't know CVT i can't think of it this morning it's got a CVT
transmission and it's belt driven that's what i know about it and they don't have a great history
but the biggest thing that i could find was you need to change the transmission fluid with factory
Nissan transmission fluid nothing else every 50 000 kilometers or 30 000 miles and don't be towing
you know brick buildings with it or overloading it or running it super hard like you stole it
and you can get a lot of mileage there's a ton of those things on the road like Toyota
RAV4s great vehicles Toyota Highlanders great vehicles there's a ton of them out there
and so somebody's treating them well and um so when you know what the quirkiness is on a vehicle
the things that tend to be pattern failures you can then create a game plan to prevent those
things from sneaking up on you so this particular road is got to have a transmission service for
sure because there i don't see any history or anything indicating that it has had a transmission
service in 119 000 kilometers so how many transmission services should that vehicle have seen already
minimum three should be on its third one now so we'll we will definitely we're scheduling an
end to the shop and we will shoot a video on doing a transmission service on that style of
transmission CVT i can't remember what that i can't remember what that means at the moment without
coffee i'm not firing on all eight cylinders at the moment probably about 6.25 so anyways let's
hear your comments have you had a hand me down down vehicle when you were going to college or
university or did your parents pick up a vehicle for you and pass it to you to be the next caregiver
and how well did you take care of that so i'm going to share a little bit of what i think i put down
a few comments here and the first one the first one and i do have a story to share and then i'll
wrap this thing up this morning i don't want to take up too much of your time and we'd like to
thank the greenwell family at niger block 5000 montrose road niger falls for making this podcast
possible and uh we'll be moving into season two early next week season two episode 101 so there's
a 101 uh podcast and that's information you will not see on our youtube channel so you've got two
areas where you can educate yourself on owning and operating an automobile and at the same time
learning enough that you're not taking advantage of so our tj project is wrapping up we're also
i'm reaching out to you and i want to make sure i get this in there but thank you to niger block at
5000 montrose road niger falls building canada since 1931 providing building supplies hardscape
landscaping materials and connecting you with contractors that can estimate accurately and
start and finish the job on time providing the weather cooperates of course i mean that's
that's always a big factor when you're working on a building yeah that happened to us when we put
the spades in the ground around 2012 to build this addition to house the car connection workshop
studio and our broadcasting studio it was nasty the weather was not good our permits didn't come
in until late fall around there are Thanksgiving time here in canada and that really was not a
good time to put the spades in the ground because the rains came and you can just guess it and the
snows came and we're putting up a building and digging a hole in the earth's crust it was nasty but
we uh we bought a bunch of supplies from niger block they were really good to us and getting
those products to the job site and i'll tell you right now their customer service is over the moon
they'll take great care of you so if you're looking to build that backyard outdoor space this year
you're gonna want to get on somebody's schedule right now because march is just days away so getting
back to our topic this morning hand me down cars and why they last longer in families i want to
hear your comments so send me email let me know when that happened to you and tell me your story
what's your story on that whether you're a son a daughter a grandson or granddaughter or a mother
father aunt or uncle vehicles get moved around and so i think the biggest thing is emotional
ownership versus disposable how did i come up with that well from what i see
and what i've seen in 44 plus years of being a service tech and still fully qualified and licensed
and hands-on the emotional side because i see that with someone
skippy um is very emotionally attached to her father's van that was passed on to her
and to a vehicle that she took care of her um son for 17 years and he needed full time
adult help he was not a not a well child right from birth in uh i'm gonna let skippy tell you
that story on a video we were just talking about that yesterday and i said you really need to share
that story with our our viewers and our listeners because it's it's it's i said it's an amazing story
i said it's a love story and so her attachment to that van that helped to keep her child
mobile that was the independence right there emotional attachment so i got thinking about that
somebody gives you an automobile hands you the keys it says it's yours it's a gift
how do you feel about that or a grandparent passes or a mom or dad passes and leaves you a vehicle
what's the attachment there i think it's emotional i really do i think it's you look at that vehicle
and you say you know this was so-and-so's vehicle and i have it i have it to take care of
i think that when you just go out and you buy a vehicle the attitude and the mindset is totally
different like you really don't care if it gets trashed you know and a lot of people are like that
until they got to replace it and they go holy smokes you know how much that's going to cost me to buy
something else that's a crazy thing i didn't pay that for this one but now it's over you know
you didn't care give it you didn't have that emotional attachment and i remember and i'll
leave you with this story i do have a couple other things i think it's kids inheriting vehicle
vehicles ownership the emotional ownership and kids inheriting vehicles and why those family
vehicles get better maintenance i think it's the emotional attachment versus depreciation
that was another thing i got thinking about is when you just go out and you buy a vehicle there
it didn't belong to somebody else that you knew there was no emotional attachment because of
a relationship it's just a car but i think when it's handed from one generation to the next one
there's that relationship that's attached to that automobile and i remember my former mother-in-law
who i got i had the greatest mother-in-law for 24 and a half years and that's that's a story in
itself but not for today um that all went to hell in a hand basket but just the same she was a great
mother-in-law and uh we had a lot of laughs together and enjoyed a lot of things that um
we shared the same and she bought this 1984 Toyota Tercel little white four-door hatchback
and she used to bring it she brought all her vehicles uh to our shop and i remember the
lecture i got she said i'm not looking bringing my vehicle here for you to work on it and get
paid nothing i'm bringing here because i know you fix vehicles with passion and compassion
so you charge me like you would charge anyone else and if i find out you give me a discount
i'm not coming back like well that's pretty good deal right she was the only one out of
the entire family our families that brought their vehicle to me to have it fixed and paid
and paid for it so anyway she had this Tercel she saved she bought it brand spanking new
she lived in Hamilton in the west end for many years we're talking super decades and she worked
for a company called Litten Systems they were she worked on the team at Litten Systems that
created the robotic arm for the space shuttle she did some very interesting stuff there
stuff that was on the QT and so she commuted from Hamilton West Hamilton
all the way to Rexdale every single day so she bought this brand new and she carpooled she did
carpool as well uh with one of her bosses and it worked out they lived in Ancaster she bought this
1984 Tercel and she drove it and drove it and drove it she went on a one of her long journeys
that she would map out and go across Canada with her car and herself by herself and until the point
it was time for she said it's time for me to to get a newer vehicle now and so that vehicle got
handed to me to do whatever I wanted with and I passed it on to someone my mentor's son because
he was going to school and I have to tell you this that vehicle was well cared for and you know
the body started coming apart on it the bottoms of the fenders were flapping and it had almost 500
thousand kilometers on it how crazy is that and it was just a four door
1.6 liter no I don't know if it had air conditioning or not I can't remember but
yeah it was a gutless wonder zero to 60 yes but it ran on pretty much farts in a jar
and it was an automatic so it was super gutless on the takeoff but you could get there
and that was driven for almost just under 500 thousand kilometers and it was done
the body was getting super rough but it had served and it had served extremely well and
Kelvin who had it drove that thing to and from school and co-ops and whatnot and it got him through
school and there you go the emotion was there emotional attachment I think there was I think
there was I think me passing it on to somebody else was like I could have used that for myself
or given it to somebody else but I chose to help and and it all worked out in the end and then
her second vehicle same thing she decided you know it was starting to burn some oil and we
managed to get that settled down she wanted a minivan and we're going to be talking about
minivans coming up very very soon can you look stellar behind the wheel of a minivan I don't
know can you accessorize it to look cool yeah what are your thoughts so we're going to have some fun
about minivans and we know they they are people carriers gear carriers and they are the ultimate
and getting stuff moved around but you know can you really look you know like can you be that hot
soccer hockey mom behind the steering wheel of a minivan or dads can you be that cool dude
that stellar looking chap behind the steering wheel so we're going to be talking about that I'm not
sure if it's going to be this friday or not I'm thinking I'm thinking it could be it could be
friday's conversation fun friday come and join us for that as well so I I ended up with a second
vehicle from my amazing mother-in-law at the time and she bought that used we found that used it was
only a couple years old it was another turd cell she wanted another turd cell and she drove that
till she said you know what I'm gonna I want to do a major trip all across canada all through Alaska
and she wanted to drive it and sleep in the minivan so we ended up picking up a minivan
a really good one at a good price and she passed me that turd cell and I thought you know there's
somebody probably that's one of my clients at the shop at the time might want this so you know I
did all the mechanicals the engine was giving us some grief it was burning a little bit of using
a little oil but we managed to get that taken care of and I sold it to a customer at a really good
price and they drove that car for a long time and boy did they ever take care of it it never looked
like it aged and I asked I said you know you've really taken fantastic care of this vehicle her
name was Eunice I said Eunice amazing she goes well I knew it was your mother-in-law's and I
didn't want to let you know how cool is that and that's how I came up with this mornings
the emotional ownership is stronger than just buying a vehicle somewhere
and it becomes disposable but there's something about that emotional attachment
have you ever experienced that share that with us send me an email nile at motormouth
nile you can use that email too motormouth.jankens if that's easier for you motormouth all one word
motormouth.jankens at gmail.com or nile at ccbustat.com don't forget to visit the home page for website
that's where you'll find Crystal Ridge Dream Center serving men women children single moms
seniors meals love and hope and Tuesday it's Tuesday today so they'll be feeding about 260 300
people out the door and they do that on Fridays as well they have after school programs for the
kids they help them with their homework they mentored them they love on them they play games
chocolate bingo and stuff like that that's really cool and movie nights for the kids
but they feed them as well changing lives one at a time in the Niagara region that's what they do
our nonprofit faith-based organization that we've come alongside with in 2025 and into 2026
they're doing what we should all be doing and that is reach out be a hand up not a handout a hand up
give a man a fish feed him for the day teach him to fish feed him for a lifetime
and thank you to Total Freedom Addiction Campuses Canada and US that's the purpose of our online
store is when you buy merch from our online store on our home page of our website proceeds go to
help those struggling with addiction get to Total Freedom Addiction Campuses in Canada and USA
where a new life waits them there it's not a program it's a life change you can't fix and you
can't fight what you can't see it's sent it's a centered healing program and restoration to
individuals and families enslaved by cycles of addiction and destructive behaviors and it's just
great to be able to come alongside things like that that make a difference in somebody else's life
because when you take your eyes off yourself watch what happens yeah life is the rent we pay for
taking up space here on this earth are we paying our rent so happy healthy motoring today drive safe
keep an eye on the other guy you know who i'm talking about that guy buzzing in and out of
traffic at high speeds keep an eye on your speedometer just remember that sign that says 100
kilometers is not a suggestion it's the deal it's the real deal so keep your vehicle happy healthy
and stay with us we'll see you tomorrow morning for another edition of motor mouths morning drive
peace patience kindness always make it a great day and we'll see you tomorrow bye for now
About this episode
Niall Motormouth Jenkins dives into the unique longevity of hand-me-down family cars, exploring why vehicles passed down through relatives often last longer and receive better care than typical used cars bought off the lot. He shares personal insights from refurbishing affordable cars for clients and invites listeners to share their own experiences with family hand-me-downs. Alongside automotive tips and community updates, the episode blends humor, practical advice, and local shout-outs, creating an engaging mix for anyone interested in vehicle maintenance and family car traditions.
Original notes
After more than 44 years as a service technician and 11 years running my own shop, I've noticed something fascinating-hand-me-down vehicles almost always last longer than cars bought from a random used car lot.
When a vehicle comes from a grandparent, an aunt or uncle, or even a stranger with a story, there's an emotional connection. That connection creates responsibility, pride, and a commitment to maintenance that most people never feel with a disposable purchase.
In this episode, I share the story of the 2008 Nissan rogue that was donated to the Car Connection fleet by a listener whose mother is now in care with dementia-and why that emotional attachment made me determined to save that vehicle.
If you've ever inherited a family car, or owned a vehicle with a story, this episode will hit home.
Share your story-what vehicle did you inherit, and why did it matter to you?
More episodes and...project Details & links available at Car Connection Business Network.com (ccbusnet.com) you'll find everything on our home page if you'd like to follow the build/repair work we do, connect with our program partners click on their logo to connect with them Thank You!
Visit our online Car Connection Motormouth Merch store grab some gear join the crew in helping those struggling with an addiction get to a total Freedom Addiction Campus Canada & USA where a New Life awaits them there! Nile motormouth Jenkins. Like, Subscribe, Share your comments down below on our videos,
Follow us and Listen on all podcast platforms, IHeartRadio, Spotify, Apple, Amazon and more.... help us keep the ignition on and all cylinders firing. Happy Healthy Motoring Friends, see you in the next one. Peace Patience Kindness Always, NMJ
Car Connection Workshop
Nile Jenkins
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