A secret car guy?

The past week has been brutal.  I had little spare time and what little I had was spent working on estate paperwork- particularly in regard to Dad's cars.  Dad's MiniCooper has been the most difficult to address.  Nobody wants it. It's not a practical car - an oddity for a practical man.  I think my dad may have had a secret thing for cars.  He was definitely not the climb-under-the-car or even work-under-the-hood kind of guy.  I do think, however, that he could appreciate a pristine, sports car. I believe that after years of having to have practical cars because he had six kids, Dad decided that, in his last years, when he had the means, he could play a little.  I never really heard him talk about cars over the years. I know his first car was a mustang.

I picked up his Mini on Friday to return it to the dealership. It was a leased vehicle and not only impractical for any of us, it also has this postage-stamp-size back window which I complained about regularly when Dad made me take this car to get him to his doctors' appointments.  I used to tell him that I would drive the car with the least bells and whistles because he always insisted we drive his cars.  He loved bells and whistles, me- not so much. For example,  Dad would tell us about how the mirrors would warn us when other cars got too close when we drove his Flex. 

As you can see, we had some fun taking a few last pictures before surrendering the car.  This served two purposes. 1. I wanted these pictures as another remembrance of my dad. 2. I wanted to document the condition of the car with time-stamps in case we run into any issues with the finance company.

I confess that on the night I picked the car up from Dad's house, the weather was mild, so I drove with the top down.  I might never get to ride in a convertible again in my life, so I wanted to do that. It was not the best experience.  Storms were moving in, so I was riding with lightning and rain threats all around me and finally had to stop and put the top back up.

These pictures are of Dad with his "wives" as he called his prized possessions.

I believe this was his first car, and that is his actual wife leaning on it :)

I thought I would be relieved to get the cars settled, but really it just makes me miss Dad more.  Settling an estate does not leave one time to grieve.  I have suffered loss before, but nothing has been as painful as this.