Looking for a good home: a 1995 Nissan Pathfinder, a true and reliable friend
Photo by Del Stone Jr.
In 1995 I grew tired of driving around in what amounted to a flapping, leaky tent – my ’95 Mustang GT convertible – and decided to trade wheels. Instead of buying another sports car I went in a completely unforeseen direction and picked up a ’95 Nissan Pathfinder.
I can thank Keith King for that. He was the salesman at Hood Nissan-Volvo who handed me the keys and said, “Here, drive it around for a few days. See how you like it.” After five minutes I was sold. The truck was solid. I sat above the fray looking down at my lessers in their Focuses and Cavaliers and, dare I say it, Mustangs. No, the Pathfinder wasn’t a sports car. It would do zero to 60 in about 15 minutes. And it wasn’t an economy car. The number 15 comes to mind when measuring the fuel economy. But my, was it comfortable. The leg room was astounding. The seats fit my aching back to perfection. The stereo was great, the AC incredibly effective and best of all, I felt SAFE driving it. And the ROOM – oh my gosh. I had acres and acres to spare. After the glove box trunk on my Mustang I felt I’d died and gone to heaven.
Two days later I trudged back to Keith with my checkbook in hand. I gave him the Mustang and $1,000. That night I slept peacefully, not worrying about a cat using my ragtop as a scratching post.
The Pathfinder proved to be a reliable, sturdy and indomitable trooper. I drove it to Atlanta. To Dayton. To Orlando. St. Augustine. To Louisiana several times. Virginia. One morning I climbed into it in Chicago at 8:20 and climbed out of it Fort Walton Beach at 12:30 a.m. It was so comfortable and smooth I was able to make the drive in a single day.
I was grateful to have it after Hurricane Opal struck. It carried me around town, through pools of water and mounds of debris, with nary a hiccup. The same for Ivan and Dennis. I even used it to block my kitchen window from flying debris during Ivan. The Pathfinder didn’t care; it started right up the next morning.
I hauled a bicycle and a radial arm saw to Dayton, Ohio in that vehicle. I hauled mounds and mounds of dirt in buckets and baskets from my place to Mom’s house. Once, I hauled a 5,000-watt generator from Sam’s Club to Mom and Dad’s house. No problem. I also hauled writer Joe Lansdale and his wife, Karen, plus editor Rick Klaw, around Chicago. Somehow all of us fit just fine.
All of this is not to say the Pathfinder wasn’t without its flaws. That first week an exposed sensor shut down the engine every time it rained. Keith drove his personal vehicle to my worksite and left it for me while he took the Pathfinder back to the shop to have the problem fixed. The battery died on us while we were traveling to Louisiana – I should add this was after SEVEN YEARS. The head gasket had to be replaced after 12 years. And the Pathfinder had a nasty habit of chewing through exhaust manifold bolts – a costly repair.
But overall I was immensely satisfied with it. I trusted it. It never left me stranded, was always comfortable and I could haul just about anything that would fit in its rear cargo hatch.
Two years ago I decided I needed a new vehicle. I could see gas prices spiraling out of control, and although they’re down now I expect they’ll go back up. The Pathfinder was not easy on gas – around town I averaged 15 or 16 mpg. On the highway it once hit 20 mpg. I wanted something that would use a gallon of gas every 30 miles or so. I bought a Scion tC. When gently driven the Scion averages around 28 in town and over 32 on the interstate. Just this past weekend I was able to drive from Fort Walton Beach to Orlando on a single tank of gas. Can’t complain about that.
But the Scion isn’t the Pathfinder. It isn’t as comfortable and you can’t haul nearly as much stuff. And I wonder how it will handle the post-hurricane scenario.
Still, owning two vehicles is ridiculous for a single person. The cost of insurance alone is reason to sell one. Since the Scion was new and could reliably get me from Fort Walton Beach to a place like Orlando, I decided to keep it and sell my beloved Pathfinder.
I say “beloved” because I really did love that old crate. I called it “The School Bus” because while it wasn’t pretty, it was reliable and carried lots of goods. I’ll hate to see it go.
But go it must. The checkbook demands it. So today I put an ad online and took some pictures. I even created a photo gallery for the Pathfinder, warts and all.
I want the person who buys it to see everything about it. I want them to care about it, as I cared about it. I have this theory that if your car is nothing more than transportation, you won’t take care of it and it won’t take care of you. I know this is foolish because cars are merely machines. But I think they can somehow sense when you care about them and they return the favor.
So. Looking for a good home. A 1995 Nissan Pathfinder. A true and reliable friend.
About the author:
Del Stone Jr. is a professional fiction writer. He is known primarily for his work in the contemporary dark fiction field, but has also published science fiction and contemporary fantasy. Stone’s stories, poetry and scripts have appeared in publications such as Amazing Stories, Eldritch Tales, and Bantam-Spectra’s Full Spectrum. His short fiction has been published in The Year’s Best Horror Stories XXII; Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine; the Pocket Books anthology More Phobias; the Barnes & Noble anthologies 100 Wicked Little Witch Stories, Horrors! 365 Scary Stories, and 100 Astounding Little Alien Stories; the HWA anthology Psychos; and other short fiction venues, like Blood Muse, Live Without a Net, Zombiesque and Sex Macabre. Stone’s comic book debut was in the Clive Barker series of books, Hellraiser, published by Marvel/Epic and reprinted in The Best of Hellraiser anthology. He has also published stories in Penthouse Comix, and worked with artist Dave Dorman on many projects, including the illustrated novella “Roadkill,” a short story for the Andrew Vachss anthology Underground from Dark Horse, an ashcan titled “December” for Hero Illustrated, and several of Dorman’s Wasted Lands novellas and comics, such as Rail from Image and “The Uninvited.” Stone’s novel, Dead Heat, won the 1996 International Horror Guild’s award for best first novel and was a runner-up for the Bram Stoker Award. Stone has also been a finalist for the IHG award for short fiction, the British Fantasy Award for best novella, and a semifinalist for the Nebula and Writers of the Future awards. His stories have appeared in anthologies that have won the Bram Stoker Award and the World Fantasy Award. Two of his works were optioned for film, the novella “Black Tide” and short story “Crisis Line.”
Stone recently retired after a 41-year career in journalism. He won numerous awards for his work, and in 1986 was named Florida’s best columnist in his circulation division by the Florida Society of Newspaper Editors. In 2001 he received an honorable mention from the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association for his essay “When Freedom of Speech Ends” and in 2003 he was voted Best of the Best in the category of columnists by Emerald Coast Magazine. He participated in book signings and awareness campaigns, and was a guest on local television and radio programs.
As an addendum, Stone is single, kills tomatoes and morning glories with ruthless efficiency, once tied the stem of a cocktail cherry in a knot with his tongue, and carries a permanent scar on his chest after having been shot with a paintball gun. He’s in his 60s as of this writing but doesn’t look a day over 94.
Contact Del at [email protected]. He is also on Facebook, twitter, Pinterest, tumblr, TikTok, and Instagram. Visit his website at delstonejr.com .