The biggest hurdle has been my aftermarket catalytic converter. Toyota wanted to charge me $1100 and instead I ordered one online for $125. Of course I didn’t realize at the time the Celica’s catalytic converter and the down pipe to the back of the car was all one piece. The dealership originally said they would install the aftermarket one for me. Then when I showed up with the part they said they couldn’t because it required welding. So I had to take it to an exhaust shop which put it in for me. Then I had the common problem that everyone with an aftermarket catalytic converter has to deal with: the check engine light. The car’s computer can sense a change from the factory mixture coming out the exhaust and throws out an error even though the aftermarket piece is fine. I can’t pass inspection with a catalytic converter code being triggered. So my car sat for a few years.
I drove it on occasion to the grocery and beer store. As I kept up on police technology I knew my days were limited. The local cops were getting more and more license plate scanners. All they had to do is drive by me and an automatic flag would pop up on their computer telling them to pull me over. Sure enough that happened one day last year on my way to the beer store on I-66. A lady cop was just sitting on the shoulder scanning all the cars that drove from DC out in to Virginia. I couldn’t see if she had a scanner mounted on her car but as soon as she pulled in to traffic a few seconds behind me I knew that was the reason why. She cruised up to me and pulled me over. She wasn’t happy to hear that I didn’t have any registration and my plates were so old they weren’t even in the system. My safety inspection was expired. I did have a valid license though! For some reason she let me off, give me a light ticket, and told me to drive to the next exit and immediately park at that gas station. She said if I drive home and get caught I will go straight to jail.
So I drove home. What else could I do? How was I supposed to get home from Falls Church? The chances of me being pulled over again was rather low. I thought about it for many seconds. Almost a minute I bet! I knew I could take a different and relatively safe route home. No worries. The car didn’t move after that. It collected so much dust I had to wash the windows to drive it this week.
With a track car and a street car that I never drove I often had to deal with dead batteries. So I have my own battery charger. I charged up my Celica battery and she started right up. I'm not used to it; I'm used to Corollas. When I open the door and sit in the seat it always seems so low compared to a normal car. Until I pull up next to a Corvette and I feel high.
First I got insurance. I’m supposed to be in the standard category as opposed to the premium category because I haven’t had insurance for the last 6 months but for some reason I’m getting the normal rate. Then I rode my bike to the DMV to get a 30 day temporary registration so I could take the car in for inspection and other fixes. After waiting a good 30 minutes the guy that finally took care of me was worthless. I think it took him 30 minutes to take care of me. He had no idea what was going on. The guy next to him had to stop with his customer (citizen?) and help him every few minutes. When he finally got the correct commands in the computer to issue me a registration he found out I was not eligible. You can only get one temporary 30 day registration per car per person. I had already done this previously years ago. So now they need to go through the process to issue me a trip pass. From what I understood from the guys inability to communicate the trip pass is only valid for one day. I had no idea what day I could get in a shop or even what exactly I had to do until I got to a shop. So I picked Thursday (today). You have to declare your destination so they can document it. So when a cop pulls you over for no registration and you are not inbetween your residence and that destination you are busted big time. They advised me to pick someplace far away so I said Manassas. Turns out its a 3 day pass and it started on Thursday. That would have been nice to know.
I took today off to deal with getting the emissions and safety inspection along with whatever hoops I’ll have to go through to get my catalytic converter past the state laws. After getting a much needed car wash I hit Jiffy Lube and got the works. They washed out the engine and gave me new transmission and radiator fluid. There was a Shell station a few doors down so I decided to go give it a try and see what happens. I assumed they would turn me down because I hadn’t driven enough miles since I reconnected the battery for the car's computer to get a diagnostic reading. I was very confident when it did finish its diagnostics it would throw a code for my catalytic converter as it has done every time in the past.
Things didn’t go well in the start. I couldn’t understand this guy either. Everyone else in the shop spoke Spanish but I’m not sure what this guy spoke. He found that my wheel was loose. I had to wait for them to put it on the lift and check it out. Luckily for me they were able to tighten the wheel bearing (after an hour or so). Then I got the best news ever. The car passed both the emissions and safety inspection. I was shocked. I’m still shocked. I’ve only driven about 18 miles and I’m pretty sure that is not enough for the ECU to get a reading. I didn’t ask questions. I paid and left with a smile.
After stopping home for lunch I hit the DMV. I knew exactly how to fill out the form. The lady knew exactly how to serve me. Once I was called up I was out in five minutes with my registration and temporary plates. I got temp plates because I’m getting the ‘bicycle enthusiasts’ plates and they didn’t have them in. VA has a ton of special plates.I guess I can make it to my brother's wedding now. It will take a bit to get used to the fact that I can just jump in the car and take off somewhere. Road trip anyone?
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