Barney & Clyde by Gene Weingarten; Dan Weingarten & David Clark for June 26, 2022

Charles seems to be handy to have around. How bad is his upkeep? I know— since I have to ask the price, etc, etc, and I know the rest.

I bought my present car toward the end of 2019. I’m thinking I might take it to a car wash for the first time any day now.

Oh, I’ve done some spot cleaning of bird droppings, and I’ve cleaned the interior, but other than that, well, we have gotten plenty of rain.

I still miss the 76 Dodge Aspen that I had back in the last century. It was so rusted out that it had real character. And the bungie cords held the battery in just fine.

I replace my car and my wife’s car every 10 years. That means I end up buying a car every 5 years.

I like hand washing my car.

My daily driver for the summer is an ’88 Volvo 240GL sedan. Nice classic car in great shape, but only gets washed by hand once or twice a year. Stays parked outside until I put it under cover for the long winters here in northern Maine. I wish I had a Charles to take better care of it.

He doesn’t wash the car, he has a man for that, doncha know…

My daily driver is 16 years old. The manufacturer calls the color silver. I call it winter sky grey. It hides dirt well.

Gotta keep the Charles’ busy or they tend to go stale, dontcha know?

It is odd that people have largely stopped using garages for their intended use, even if it means wearing out their cars faster.