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My GTP Journey

Adventure with my Grand Prix GTP

By Mark TrevinoPublished 5 years ago 4 min read
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So let me start with a little background of my harrowing journey. A little over two years ago I was homeless, living on the streets with a very bad drug habit. Through the help of my two boys, oddly my ex wife, and a couple of great friends, I was able to initially start off by kicking my bad habit, then got off the street. Next came my first GTP. I managed to get up enough money for a "running car," and had my eye on a couple of "decent" runners, and was about to pull the trigger on what seemed like a good deal. Upon arrival and inspection, there was a reason this person had posted obscure angled pictures in their posting; that reason was to hide the missing parts and damage. Later that evening, as I was contemplating giving up on the hopes of a car, I took one last look at facebook market, and just happened upon a listing for the sweetest looking all black 2004 Grand Prix GTP CompG. The owner was asking I think close to two thousand, just outside of my budget, but cash is always king right? So I immediately contacted the seller and arranged a time right away to go look at the car that night. Just a short 40 minute jaunt outside of Austin in the hill country. Long story short, the lady I spoke with, and her son, the owner of the car, were great people. The car had a small dent on the hood, and a slightly slipping transmission. I managed to talk them down to $700 cash for an otherwise pristine and supercharged car I might add :) The car ran great, I put in a new transmission, started working for uber and lyft for a couple of months, Then it happened one rainy night on my way home from a long driving shift. I was coming through an intersection, and then all I recall is hearing what I can only relate to a shotgun blast in my left ear, spinning through the intersection to a stop right in front of the opposing oncoming traffic, luckily just before hitting anyone. As I was spinning through the intersection, and coming to the realization of what had just happened, one might think of many things like, "am I going to die, am I hurt, did I hit anyone else?" No, all I could think was FUUUCK!!, my car!!

The Damage.

Hit right in the drivers side door.

Needless to say, it was done for. Luckily the woman that hit me took full responsibility for running the light—and get this—she actually had insurance too. So needless to say, a few months later after I get a final settlement from the insurance company, it was enough to get another car, but not quite enough to get one like the GTP I had come to fall in love with. After lots and lots of online scouring, I managed to find one three hours away, strike a deal, drive down pick it up, and head home. That car is the gold one in the Title. I get home, give her a good once over and cleaning, she's all polished and pretty, and I start mentally planning my comeback with Lyft and Uber driving, up until I get a wrench thrown in my shit again. I was at my sister's house, and her daughter needed to go pick up her brother from work, her car wasn't working at the moment, so feeling all proud n' shit, I say... "here, you can take my car." Famous last words. Well i'm at the table online, making a list of all the upgrades, and replacement parts i'm going to order, and start thinking they are taking a little longer than normal, yes that fleeting thought crosses my mind," I hope they didn't get into an accident," and you guessed it, just before I was about to hit submit on a $300+ order for parts, my sister comes out of her bedroom,"we need to go, the kids got into an accident." Immediately my heart sank. Yeah, you get that sudden, you're joking right? But no, it was true. Then we pull up to the scene, and I never really thought that after your heart has sunk you could feel any worse, until I saw the damage to my new baby.

The damage from second accident

The Damage is done.

So, once again, I'm carless, and yes, if you were saying, geez, it can't get any better, it does. This was a hit and run accident, and the guy that hit them was drunk, and you guessed it, had no insurance. So here I am, almost a year later still with no car, but I had no choice but to fix this one; the damage is not as bad as it looks. Yes an insurance company would have totaled it for sure, but I wasn't afforded that luxury. I would have got next to nothing for the car, and it would not have put me into another one, period! so my only choice was to have it put in a body shop, and pay for it out of pocket. Situations being as they are, I'm lucky to have a roof over my head right now, let alone food. So getting the repairs paid for is going very very slowly, but as it is right now, I have it down to an even two thousand. Anyone one wanna pitch in?? :P So all that being said, I will be covering as much as time can permit, the repair stages as they come, and as I can afford. Thanks to anyone who took the time to read my misfortunes.

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