The "Stars are Out of Alignment" Story

It was an ordinary day. We had just traded in our second Ford Aerostar for a Mazda MPV. We loved our Aerostars during the time we had them. Just seemed that they always had something wrong with then. Our first Aerostar was a new 1987 model with dark blue color top and bottom with a silver band around the middle. Really cool looking car. Had a sliding door on the passengers' side and a rear door that opened. Just like all the mini-vans that followed it. It was huge. A 7 passenger mini-van. I could remove the seats ina few minutes which left plenty of space for moving items or for storage when going on vacation. The van was a 6 cylinder automatic with rear-wheel drive and anti-lock brakes. It had a great sound system in it and even featured a cassette player. It was great for a large family and transporting lots of kids. Also was a treat to take on vacation. Then, Carol heard this "ting" in the engine. I couldn't hear it, but I couldn't hear lots of things. Van had less than 10K miles on it at the time. And the "ting" was getting louder by the week. Finally took it to the dealer where we bought it and the mechanic also heard the noise. They did some tests on it and it was determined that they put the wrong size pistons in the car when it was made. They gave usa loaner and spent the best part of a week taking the engine out and replacing the pistons. When we got it back it sounded great to Carol for ....... about a month and then the "ting" started again. Back again for more tests and analysis. They were stumped, but they recalled the car and gave us another loaner while they put an entire new engine in the car. This time it actually worked. With all the hassle, we still loved the van. After our three year warranty ran out, we decided to buy another car. So, we traded for a new ..... 1990 Ford Aerostar. When my friend Hal, who I taught with, saw it for the first time, asked "Why on earth would you buy another one of those after all the trouble you had with the first one?" Because we loved it. And the new one had an extended body with a gray to and bottom and burgandy stripe around it. Couldn't be unlucky two times in a row. It served us well for three years and then we didn't want to push our luck, so we purchased the MPV. Still see a few of the Aerostars on the road and wonder what ever happened to the two that we once owned. It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.