Well, I brought the Teal Terror (A.K.A. Crunch, Blue Bomber, Bessy, and in vernacular, "the car") in for an oil change.

I got a call two hours later. Like a concerned car owner, I raced into the back, where our car was suspended 5 feet in the air, so the mechanic could show me the wheel ball-joints, which were barely securing the front wheel mechanisms to the frame. He pushed at the wheel and it flip-flopped sideways. They were shocked that I had managed to drive the car to the dealer without both front wheels popping off of the car.

We have officially driven the wheels off of the car.

This car has taken us to Las Vegas, Boise (several times), Montana (several times), to every corner of the state, around both Canada and Mexico, and provided over 4 years of near daily commutes to Seattle. This car has been buried to the wipers in a snowbank, tooled around in sand dunes, hit by a 5' bush in a windstorm, and driven over a construction ladder.

It's a good car.

Right now, they are patching her up (yet again), but unfortunately, we're going to have to deal with the fact that Ol' Bessy will soon have to go out to pasture. We can't keep frankensteining her together for much longer.