Does the car you drive represent WHO you are?
If so I think I screwed up... again.
My summer beater is a '84 Cutlass Supreme BROUGHAM. I inherited it, it was a friend of mine's car and it was very important to her, it was more than a car, it was a expression of her fortitude (yeah, there's a story). Personally I really don't LIKE the car, not something I would choose... but I keep it going as a tribute to ELF's memory.
The PROBLEM with the car is no matter where I go, someone will come up to me and tell me about how their mom or dad or uncle or favorite teacher had one... well YEAH, they set sales records all through the '80s, there was ZILLIONS of them... and everyone of these folks want to tell about how good a car they were. NOPE sorry. they're AWFUL: underpowered with a great big motor with no HP, HUGE 4 barrel carb and a teeny tiny gas tank, they weighted over 2 tonnes, with 9" disk brakes, bump steer like no other car I have driven, all of them had weird transmissions that didn't really work as intended and they rusted worse than a Ford of the same era (that's a LOT).
I think the biggest problem is I just hate talking to people, but I put up with it cuz it was ELF's car.
So my truck died, a slow painful rusty death and for the first time since about 1992 I am not driving a Astro/safari van. I've had 7 of them.
Went out looking at trucks and NOTHING modern does it for me, way too much STUFF. After a lot of looking I was looking for a pre 2000 Ranger or a Tacoma (I was REALLY looking for a T100 or a pre '92 Toyota "pick up", but a wrecked one is $10-12,000. NOPE). All the rangers I saw were expensive junk and all the Tacomas were just expensive, REAL expensive, STUPID expensive, there's 1st gen Tacomas out there with a rotten frame and an asking price of $10,000.
I lucked into a high mileage, re-framed Tacoma in great shape (it was my neighbor's and I've been bugging him to sell it to me for years and he found another one, so last week 4 of us in our small town traded up Toyota pickups).
I spent the day at the hospital yesterday (twas VERY busy) and I would deke to the parking lot, sit in my truck to have a smoke... and 3 people had to knock on the window to talk about my nice shape 2002 Tacoma. It was the first time I drove the truck.
WHAT HAVE I DONE? It's a truck to haul me and my crap from place to place, I'm not trying to make a statement, actually QUITE the opposite. Leave me and my old shitboxes alone PLEASE. In the millions of Ks I put on Safari vans, no one ever wanted to talk about my truck... PERFECT!
A Tacoma is about as exciting as a mayonnaise sandwich on white bread
Do you walk up to people on the street to talk to them about their car?
I don't... I will at the track or at a car show
I get it that people think of cars as a status symbol.. I DO NOT. Not even a little. Sorry
If so I think I screwed up... again.
My summer beater is a '84 Cutlass Supreme BROUGHAM. I inherited it, it was a friend of mine's car and it was very important to her, it was more than a car, it was a expression of her fortitude (yeah, there's a story). Personally I really don't LIKE the car, not something I would choose... but I keep it going as a tribute to ELF's memory.
The PROBLEM with the car is no matter where I go, someone will come up to me and tell me about how their mom or dad or uncle or favorite teacher had one... well YEAH, they set sales records all through the '80s, there was ZILLIONS of them... and everyone of these folks want to tell about how good a car they were. NOPE sorry. they're AWFUL: underpowered with a great big motor with no HP, HUGE 4 barrel carb and a teeny tiny gas tank, they weighted over 2 tonnes, with 9" disk brakes, bump steer like no other car I have driven, all of them had weird transmissions that didn't really work as intended and they rusted worse than a Ford of the same era (that's a LOT).
I think the biggest problem is I just hate talking to people, but I put up with it cuz it was ELF's car.
So my truck died, a slow painful rusty death and for the first time since about 1992 I am not driving a Astro/safari van. I've had 7 of them.
Went out looking at trucks and NOTHING modern does it for me, way too much STUFF. After a lot of looking I was looking for a pre 2000 Ranger or a Tacoma (I was REALLY looking for a T100 or a pre '92 Toyota "pick up", but a wrecked one is $10-12,000. NOPE). All the rangers I saw were expensive junk and all the Tacomas were just expensive, REAL expensive, STUPID expensive, there's 1st gen Tacomas out there with a rotten frame and an asking price of $10,000.
I lucked into a high mileage, re-framed Tacoma in great shape (it was my neighbor's and I've been bugging him to sell it to me for years and he found another one, so last week 4 of us in our small town traded up Toyota pickups).
I spent the day at the hospital yesterday (twas VERY busy) and I would deke to the parking lot, sit in my truck to have a smoke... and 3 people had to knock on the window to talk about my nice shape 2002 Tacoma. It was the first time I drove the truck.
WHAT HAVE I DONE? It's a truck to haul me and my crap from place to place, I'm not trying to make a statement, actually QUITE the opposite. Leave me and my old shitboxes alone PLEASE. In the millions of Ks I put on Safari vans, no one ever wanted to talk about my truck... PERFECT!
A Tacoma is about as exciting as a mayonnaise sandwich on white bread
Do you walk up to people on the street to talk to them about their car?
I don't... I will at the track or at a car show
I get it that people think of cars as a status symbol.. I DO NOT. Not even a little. Sorry
