Thank You for Everything, Dear Avanza. We’ll miss you.

February 10 2024, 0415 pm.

Dad finally sold his 10-year old Toyota Avanza to a rich family in San Antonio, Makati, looking for a car to customize.

That car took us a lot of places and served as a great vehicle for emergencies. It felt like asking someone else to be the owner of your dog because you were too old to care for it. In a lot of ways, it was that one car you were familiar with and couldn’t wait to ride because it felt like home.

Even sadder: my dad will be 65 this year and he’s driven and favored manual transmission since he was 18, despite owning two other automatic transmission cars.

It only dawned on me that the Avanza would be the last Manual car he’ll drive.

He had me take photos of it with him, he even hugged it. I saw him giving it one last wash and wipe and he was whispering something, perhaps he’s saying thank you and sorry.

Best friends

When the new owner got it out of the garage, he couldn’t help but look at it with such fondness and sadness. He was joking around and laughing it off when the new owner asked if he wanted to take one last picture, but I knew he just wanted to get it over with.

The car left our house and he didn’t take his eyes off it until it made a turn. He went inside, head down, deep sigh.

It was bound to be sold anyway, especially since he’s the only one who likes to drive stick here, so we thought might as well sell it while there’s still value. It was an “E” and we sold it for 250k.

It was a company car given to mom, but we inherited it when she retired.

It’s well maintained. It’s never been banged or hit by anything other than the occasional “gasgas” by bikers.

We always had it serviced and replaced with original parts done by a former Toyota mechanic for all 10 years. If not for the old style body, you wouldn’t think it was a decade old. This mechanic became a family friend and was our “middleman” for the sale.

I wanted to take remove this as remembrance, but dad said it would damage the dashboard. It was from Regina Rica and it’s about as old as the car. The new owners were also okay with it since they were Christian.

The good news is, we sold it to car lovers. They were planning on giving it a major makeover as a gift to their niece who’s about to start college in UP. So at the very least, it’s in good hands and is likely parked under a roof.

It would have been heartbreaking if we delayed the plan to sell it until the only buyers would be junkers or chop-chop mechanics.

Thank you, friend. I hope your new owner loves you as much as we do ❤