the car parts underworld

There are many sterotypes in this world about woman and cars- they all drive terribly; they drive too fast; they do not know how to change a tyre and, most significantly, they know NOTHING about cars. Now, i am not going to try disprove this, but rather try and enlighten some of the females out there about the 'Cape Town Car Underworld'.

I have a little car of my own- a red hyundai getz and i love this car with all my heart. It is just perfect for me. I learnt how to drive in it; drove it from Durban to Cape Town and now it transports me around this city. The other day, this car died. Yes, it died. The car was making some funny sounds and smells, so i thought that it should go to the mechanic. I took it there on Tuesday and on thursday the mechanic called me back saying i should come in. He sounded very serious and i was quite nervous! So i arrive at the mechanic and he says, "come look at the gear box"...okay, i think...where is it? More importantly, what does it look like. Now the mechanic tries to explain what is wrong with it. Now really, this was just a waste of time. I have never seen a gear box before so i know nothing about it at all. And he is trying to tell me why it is broken and i am thinking..."But, can you fix it and save my car!" Eventually he realises i have no clue what he is saying and tells me that he can replace it (and the clutch because that is dead too) but it will cost.....between R8000 and R10 000! Sho! I wanted to cry!

However, not all hope was lost because my bestest friend Lisa told me about all the car underworld where you can get second hand parts for cheap. So i went to this website (partssource.co.za) and put up the parts i needed and a contact number and i waited and less than an hour later someone phoned saying they had a gear box for me for R3500...and it was a hyundai getz 2009, so practically new! Great news. So off i went into Blackheath (near belville) to get my gear box and it was a success. A very industrial area but a good place- Supreme Spares and it has lots of spare parts for all sorts of cars. A good place to go if you need some parts, and nice people working there too. I ended up getting a clutch at Midas, so nothing exciting there. When i returned to the mechanic an hour later, gear box in hand, he told me we need a clutch fork too. SIGH! So, he got in the car this time and we went off to find this fork. Well, this is the real car underworld now. First stop, Korean Boys! Which specialise in Hyundia second hand parts. It was Saturday at 12:10, so most places were closing. After a bit of bribing and smiling, the man let us in to see if he had one. But, no luck there. Next stop, Bridge City. Now this place, as you walked in you saw a car dashboard hanging on the wall surrounded by light cases and engines. Seriously! He went to the back, which i can imagine had even more parts everywhere, but again no luck! So last stop was Clifton's. This was a real dump and super dodgy! As you walk in all you see is shelves of car parts! We asked him for the clutch fork and my hopes rose as i heard the man digging through metal, but alas, no success! Now it was too late to go anywhere else, so the little red car had to spend the weekend in the workshop :-(

Bright and early Monday Morning I was harassing my mechanic about 'this fork', and some success was rendered. We found a fork that was not an identical one but one that, according to the salesman, should be fine. So now I sit and wait in anticipation to see if anything has happened and make a wish upon anything and everything that my little red machine will be back on the roads asap.

So if your little cars break down, do not worry too much because I am a pro at the car underworld and can help you out :-)