Car Cataracts

"Are your headlights on?" That was a question I often heard from Suzie when we went somewhere in my car at night. Although she was poking fun (what? Suzie poking fun!?) the reason for her ridicule was genuine: My car was blind. Yep, my poor, little Plymouth Neon (the same as the Dodge Neon only spelled P-L-Y-M-O-U-T-H instead) had suffered from a debilitating degradation of it's optics for a long, long time. Thanks to Ebay, it's finally able to carry its driver and passengers in safety at night. Something like that happens very slowly over time, and although it had gotten to a point of action some time ago I kept putting it off. One time I was just about to buy new ones and my car was accordioned while I was sitting at a stop light. As bad as they were back then, they were even worse now--So cloudy and yellowed that were practically useless. Enough was enough--I finally had enough of practically driving by flashlight. After all, I live out in a rural area (i.e. toolies, sticks) now, and I can't afford to drive practically blind--Especially in rain. When my cars like mine originally came out(mine was bought in June of 1994) they had headlights made of some sort of acrylic. I don't know about the Chrysler Corporation, but most (if not all) car companies now make all their headlights out of Lexan (Lexan is the same space-age stuff that the space people use on their space-age stuff so it won't show its age while it's in space). So, they got changed yesterday. The difference is dramatic: Before: After: The difference is HUGE! I took it for a drive last night, carrying my adjustment tool. I stopped a few different times and cranked them this way and that, noting where they were shining down the road in front of me. My car can SEE!

0 comments: