Ode to my clunker

I'm holding on to my clunker.

You may think I'm crazy. Forgo $4,500 in free stimulus cash for a junk car? DUH?

I didn't do it by choice. But now I'm glad I did.

Betty the Battle-Ready Buick is something of a legend in my family. My ancient white beast of a 1992 Buick Regal, Betty has not met a freeway she hasn't conquered. At 172,000 miles, she keeps barreling down the road, far surpassing seemingly sexier brands.

Sure, image-conscious folks may see me in Betty as a geezerly Grandmother type. Betty is, indeed, grandmotherly in the best ways: trustworthy, consistent and reliable, comfortable with rock-solid character. I can't remember the last time I had to fix Betty. Like my dear late Grandma MacIntosh, Betty has never failed me.

She has escorted me through good times and bad. She carried me across America twice, through the deserts of New Mexico and the red rocks of Utah, to weekend hikes in Malibu when I lived in Los Angeles. We've explored the back country rivers of Pennsylvania together on our way to Manhattan.

Here in Michigan, her doors -- so heavy they take two arms to shut -- have protected me along tens of thousands of miles along I-75 and I-96. I fell in love with my husband, moved to Mexico and the west coast, and came back home to Michigan in Betty.

My husband Paul, a native of metro New York City, once was a skeptic of American cars, until he met Betty. We've watched as Betty out-performed his 1994 Saab and scores of friends' Japanese cars.

Still truckin'

Still, every worldly relationship has its end. I thought cash-for-clunkers was the cue for Betty and I to say goodbye.

Come to found out, ole' Betty was getting surprisingly good gas mileage, too good to be turned in for stimulus cash.

Friends and neighbors laughed in disbelief, saying things like: "A BUICK gets better gas mileage than my car -- come on!"

It's made me reflect upon how brainwashed Americans -- especially those of my generation, Generation X -- are about American cars.

I count myself among them. This month Paul and I walked into a car dealership and immediately became enchanted by a sleek, beautiful car. Immediately I assumed, "This must be a foreign car."

Then I looked at the posted information on the windshield, and was rightly corrected. It was a raspberry-red 2009 Buick.

The experience made me think: If I thought this way, imagine what 30- and 40-somethings who have never driven a Buick think of the brand? Would my generation ever give it and other American brands a chance?

Think again

Car pundits typically say the burden of reversing popular anti-American car sentiment falls on the Detroit Three automakers. No doubt. Perhaps we Americans should take some responsibility, too.

My generation says it believes in supporting local food and local jobs, in maintaining local traditions and homegrown expertise. We say we care about those important things and consider the public good when it comes to our buying decisions.

Yet many of us don't consider those values when we go out into the world and act.

Recently the Los Angeles Times auto critic told National Public Radio that the 2010 Buick Lucerne is such a great car, "If you love your country and want a Lexus, buy a Buick."

So Paul and I are aiming to replace our beloved Betty with a shiny new (or new-ish) Buick some day.

For now, we have Betty, and we're grateful.

Amber Arellano, an editorial board writer for the Detroit News, also writes a weekly column on culture and politics. E-mail her at aarellano@detnews.com">aarellano@detnews.com Find her columns at http://www.detnews.com/arellano">www.detnews.com/arellano