Me and The Automobile
I started writing this post once and it turned into a "History of LP Cards Fan's Car Ownership." That's not really what I was going for.
My first wheeled transportation was a yellow Schwinn 12 speed that my parents bought for me in elementary school. We won't count the big wheel.
This was my mode of transportation until i reached the age the state deems appropriate to drive. But, just like so many other teenage boys, I loved the automobile long before getting my license.
Really it was in my blood. It was ingrained into my way of thinking. Sure, all my friends in junior high and high school were the same way. I got it from my parents though. In 1968 my mother settled on the gold Dodge Charger instead of the blue charger because the gold one had the bigger engine (440ci).
My father bought a Dodge cargo van in 1977 and did the interior converstion himself. Although he never got around to really finishing it. It even goes back farther than that. There are stories of my grandfather not understanding why all the teenage boys in Hannibal, MO, kept challenging him at stop lights. It turns out my grandmother was leaving them in her dust when she was out driving.
I still remember the first car I fell in love with. We were on a road trip to visit the grandparents when my Dad anxiously drew my attention to the car passing us in the left lane, a silver Ferrari 308 GTB. I suppose it could have been a GTBi but I wasn't enough in the know then to even look. It was just this beautiful piece of art speeding past us.
In high school I started buying car magazines and finally got subscriptions to them. I read Road & Track, Car And Driver, Automobile, Exotic Car Quarterly. You name it I probably had at least a half dozen issues of the magazine. I knew everything about them and studied them. At night a car could pull out behind me and I could identify the manufacturer by the headlight configuration.
After having my first "real job" for about a year I went out and got my first new car. I traded in my 1986 Buick Regal (power nothing) and leased a 1997 Nissan Maxima SE (power everything). Even though that Regal was plain vanilla boring - it had belonged to a "grandma" that drove it to church once a week - I was sad to let it go. I had owned it for 6 years and we'd seen a lot together. I was attached to that car.
Growing up my parent taught me that to be a proper performance car one must have three pedals, aka a manual transmission. With the Maxima I finally had one. It was the first time I had one for myself since I somewhat regularly drove my mother's sports cars. That lease was for 3 years and when it was up I leased a 2000 Maxima SE. Over that time I moved from the suburbs to Lincoln Park. In fact, I was living in LP when I leased the 2000. Over that time most of my car magazine subscriptions lapsed as well. If the old house hasn't been torn down to make way for a new McMansion, there are hundreds of car magazines boxed up in an attic on Chelsea Dr in Lisle.
Just about 5 years ago the lease was up on the 2nd Maxima. I turned it in and bought a 1999 BMW 323i. I still have it and I still LOVE this car. When they advertise "The Ultimate Driving Machine" they aren't kidding. It doesn't have the most powerful engine but it is plenty fast and will sit down and take a corner faster than just about anything. On dry pavement, I can take it through the LSD S-Curve at 50mph without the least hint of body roll. Damn, but I love this car. It has 94,000 miles now and still runs strong. It's about due for a water pump and probably needs new breaks. It's a BMW and I drive it like a BMW.
And I drive it 40 miles a week. One trip to Downers Grove and back for volleyball.
A few years ago I bought a 24 speed comfort bicycle. Last Labor Day I bought a road-hybrid bicycle. I ride everywhere. When a car pulls out behind me today I don't always recognize what it is. Even in the daylight. There was some rice burner parked on the street yesterday and I couldn't even correctly identify the make. Admittedly it had been highly modified and one of my other car enthusiast friends also was unable to make an identification.
Living in the city, where I bike or walk or take public transit, driving is just not a major component of my life and hence automobiles and my love affair have waned. Two weeks ago when the lottery was over $100M the same car enthusiast friend and I were "speculating" what we'd do with the money. He talked about needing a 5 car garage for all the cars he would buy. In the past I had similar thoughts but I just don't now. Don't get me wrong, if I were to win some ridiculous sum of money there would be a sleek little Italian sports car that costs stupid amounts of money in my garage. But there would just be one, and a daily driver.
And there would definitely be a ridiculously stupidly expensive road bicycle in the garage next to them.
My first wheeled transportation was a yellow Schwinn 12 speed that my parents bought for me in elementary school. We won't count the big wheel.
This was my mode of transportation until i reached the age the state deems appropriate to drive. But, just like so many other teenage boys, I loved the automobile long before getting my license.
Really it was in my blood. It was ingrained into my way of thinking. Sure, all my friends in junior high and high school were the same way. I got it from my parents though. In 1968 my mother settled on the gold Dodge Charger instead of the blue charger because the gold one had the bigger engine (440ci).
My father bought a Dodge cargo van in 1977 and did the interior converstion himself. Although he never got around to really finishing it. It even goes back farther than that. There are stories of my grandfather not understanding why all the teenage boys in Hannibal, MO, kept challenging him at stop lights. It turns out my grandmother was leaving them in her dust when she was out driving.
I still remember the first car I fell in love with. We were on a road trip to visit the grandparents when my Dad anxiously drew my attention to the car passing us in the left lane, a silver Ferrari 308 GTB. I suppose it could have been a GTBi but I wasn't enough in the know then to even look. It was just this beautiful piece of art speeding past us.
In high school I started buying car magazines and finally got subscriptions to them. I read Road & Track, Car And Driver, Automobile, Exotic Car Quarterly. You name it I probably had at least a half dozen issues of the magazine. I knew everything about them and studied them. At night a car could pull out behind me and I could identify the manufacturer by the headlight configuration.
After having my first "real job" for about a year I went out and got my first new car. I traded in my 1986 Buick Regal (power nothing) and leased a 1997 Nissan Maxima SE (power everything). Even though that Regal was plain vanilla boring - it had belonged to a "grandma" that drove it to church once a week - I was sad to let it go. I had owned it for 6 years and we'd seen a lot together. I was attached to that car.
Growing up my parent taught me that to be a proper performance car one must have three pedals, aka a manual transmission. With the Maxima I finally had one. It was the first time I had one for myself since I somewhat regularly drove my mother's sports cars. That lease was for 3 years and when it was up I leased a 2000 Maxima SE. Over that time I moved from the suburbs to Lincoln Park. In fact, I was living in LP when I leased the 2000. Over that time most of my car magazine subscriptions lapsed as well. If the old house hasn't been torn down to make way for a new McMansion, there are hundreds of car magazines boxed up in an attic on Chelsea Dr in Lisle.
Just about 5 years ago the lease was up on the 2nd Maxima. I turned it in and bought a 1999 BMW 323i. I still have it and I still LOVE this car. When they advertise "The Ultimate Driving Machine" they aren't kidding. It doesn't have the most powerful engine but it is plenty fast and will sit down and take a corner faster than just about anything. On dry pavement, I can take it through the LSD S-Curve at 50mph without the least hint of body roll. Damn, but I love this car. It has 94,000 miles now and still runs strong. It's about due for a water pump and probably needs new breaks. It's a BMW and I drive it like a BMW.
And I drive it 40 miles a week. One trip to Downers Grove and back for volleyball.
A few years ago I bought a 24 speed comfort bicycle. Last Labor Day I bought a road-hybrid bicycle. I ride everywhere. When a car pulls out behind me today I don't always recognize what it is. Even in the daylight. There was some rice burner parked on the street yesterday and I couldn't even correctly identify the make. Admittedly it had been highly modified and one of my other car enthusiast friends also was unable to make an identification.
Living in the city, where I bike or walk or take public transit, driving is just not a major component of my life and hence automobiles and my love affair have waned. Two weeks ago when the lottery was over $100M the same car enthusiast friend and I were "speculating" what we'd do with the money. He talked about needing a 5 car garage for all the cars he would buy. In the past I had similar thoughts but I just don't now. Don't get me wrong, if I were to win some ridiculous sum of money there would be a sleek little Italian sports car that costs stupid amounts of money in my garage. But there would just be one, and a daily driver.
And there would definitely be a ridiculously stupidly expensive road bicycle in the garage next to them.
Labels: Autos
posted by LP Cards Fan at
7:45 AM
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