2006 Honda Accord EX-V6
The 2006 Honda Accord EX-V6 is a quite remarkable car. The 3 liter J30A5 V6 engine allows for quick passing and fun drives on tight roads. The 6 track cd player allowed me to hold many configurations of albums for my commute.
Joy as an Act of Resistance is Idles second album. It was neat to me because their punk adjacent alt rock sound was something I could bang my head to and not really think about my feelings. Why was I upset? Unimportant. This is a song about fighting somebody with a perm.
“I said I’ve got a penchant for smokes and kicking
douches in the mouth
Sadly for you, my last cigarette’s gone out”
The first time I turned that song on in my Accord on the way to school blood began pouring out of my nose. It was a sign. Too hard for the car.
I also listened a lot to Sling by Clairo. It is no secret my love for Clairo. I have truly adored her music since early 2021 when I stumbled upon her first album late at night spiraling in a guest bedroom because my grandparents were visiting. (I didn’t sleep in my room because my room was big enough for both of them while the guest room could only fit one. So I was a guest instead.) I was curled up on top of a pile of covers I was too depressed to put into the shape of a bed and I clicked play on Sofia. I cried and cried and decided that I should do that more.
Her second album was a different tone. More folky. Domestic life is a concern. I know nothing about that. I’m driving to school. I’m going to park in the teachers lot cause that fucker K**** W*** can’t stop me. I am fueled by spite. I have a deep distaste for most of my teachers.
At marching band practice I am finally getting it. It wasn’t until my senior year that I really locked in. I began to really learn my music. I had always been good at marching but the mindset was different. This year I loved all of my comrades in the Tuba section and I was going to win state. With all of this in my mind I was still miserable under the South Carolina sun. I had shin splints for all 4 years and I just did my best to ignore them. Mr. P***** yelled and yelled and I could see how afraid the sophomore beside me was. I wish I could yell back.
I finally get out of practice. My calf muscles feel like putty. I’m dripping sweat and I want to go home. Then I remember when I get home I have work to do. That means the only time I have no obligations is the time between me leaving practice and me getting home. I open the door and get in. I was tall. I still am tall but I was then too. My seat is pulled all the way back and this is the only position I can comfortably drive it in.
The engine is alive. Half a liter of air fills all 6 aluminum cylinders. Four valves at the top of each cylinder. 2 let in the air-fuel mixture and 2 expel the burnt remnants of the mixture. As the starter turns the engine over the rpm rises to around 2000 before falling to around 800 where it stays.
I’m going 55 dodging pot holes. I’ve been on this road so many times I know where each one is. The trees are surrounding me. They reach above me and extend their branches to each other. Bambi is the first song on the album. It’s about Claire’s emotions surrounding her getting a record deal. I like how it sounds.
I emerge from the trees. Water is on either side of the road. To the left it curls behind me and to the right it extends forward towards town. The sun is starting to go down and the clouds are turning amazing colors. Amoeba starts.
The song is about loneliness. At this point I was pretty lonely so it was a hit with me.
“Could you say you even tried?
You haven't called your family twice
I can hope tonight goes diffеrently
But I show up to the party just to leavе.”
I didn’t go out enough. I had friends but we didn’t spend time with each other. Instead I stayed in my room.
Honda made this engine with the technology known as vtech. It allowed the engine to have 2 modes it could switch between, a gas efficient mode you would use for normal driving, and a more gas hungry but more powerful mode that you could use to go faster. I loved the engineers over at Honda for putting together something so creative.
The car makes gentle clicking noises. I’m not sure what all of it is but it calms me. I get home and I sit in my car now turned off staring out the front windshield. I give myself a moment to breathe before I head inside.
This car had been optioned to have a sunroof. This sun roof opened fine but it allowed leaks to form when it rained. I would go out to my car and find a puddle in my passenger side floor. One time I was driving home while it was raining and what felt like a bucket of water hit me in the face. The car had its issues.
After prom me and my ex-girlfriend made out in the back seat. She was wearing this fancy outfit with glitter and whenever I looked back there after that it sparkled.
Now I drive a fuel efficient, reliable suv that my dad drove for a few years before I got it. It has better cargo capacity. It doesn’t leak. Its 2.4 liter inline 4 cylinder engine is more than enough for me to get to highway speeds. And it’s soulless.
Many of my happiest memories from this time were inside of my Accord. I never named it. My friend named their car Dave and when it fell apart it was like a pet dying. I think me not naming it let me keep an emotional distance. If I didn’t admit it had a name I didn’t have to admit I loved it.
My parents donated it to NPR. What the hell does a radio station need a car for? I have yet to figure that out. Now it is gone. Somewhere in pieces probably.
I did love it.