Apparently I have been a car enthusiast nearly my whole life

"FKA-RacecaR" (FKA-RacecaR) 08/19/2014 at 10:10 • Filed to: ramblings of an old man

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As I lay in bed wide awake at about 2 in the morning this past Saturday, I started to think about random things. Of course, my thoughts ended up with leading me to cars. I began to remember cars I grew up seeing. I then realized, even then, when I was a kid, I had a love of cars. All this time, I had thought my car enthusiasm came about in my teens, shortly after I began to drive.

My mother used to have a 1990-something, white Chevy Corsica. I beat the hell out of that car when I started driving. I put a ton of miles on it as I drove around aimlessly with my friends on the weekend. Once it was decided that I was to get my own car, I was excited. I bought a '93 Pontiac Sunbird (with some help from my parents), and I commenced to beat the hell out of that car. That was when I really learned how to handle a car. I drove recklessly on back roads covered in loose gravel and dirt. I did a lot of dumb things in that car.

But I then also begin to find things online about modifying cars. Of course I was not going to modify the Sunbird, but my buddy had a 1st gen Neon. We began to get our hands dirty with things. Changing air intakes. Changing out suspension parts. Looking at exhausts to swap out. Shortly after that, I purchased a '98 Mitsubishi Mirage and realized its close family ties with the Evo. I wanted the Mirage so I could build an Evo out of it. Working at Walmart, that of course never happened. But all of that is the "middle" of my car loving story.

As I was saying, I was going over things in my head while wide awake in the middle of the night. I began to remember playing with hot wheels, a lot. My brother and I, along with a couple neighbor kids, would play with them all day on some summers. We built "tracks" and "garages" in a hill across the road from out house. We spent days digging out parking spots. It was great. But it went beyond that.

We also played with slot cars a lot. We began to try to figure out ways to try and make them go faster. Making them lighter. But then they would fly off the track. Weigh them down a little, but not too much.

Again, these are normal kid things. Hot wheels. Matchbox cars. Slot car race tracks. Most kids did that, and are not all enthusiasts. But then I started remembering cars from my youth.

There was a family that lived on the road behind our house that had two Triumph TR7s. One never seemed to move, and the other they drove from time to time. I did not really know what they were at the time, but always liked checking them out. There was something about them that drew me in. I learned about them later in life when talking to my older brothers. The kids next door, their aunt drove an FB RX7. I always thought it was a neat little sports car. One of my older brothers had a Mustang II Cobra. I loved that car. He always promised to give me a ride, but never did. There was also a family down the street that drove a Tercel Wagon. Not sure why that sticks out, but it does.

It is not the cars themselves as to why I am saying that makes me a car enthusiast. It is the fact that I can remember them so vividly. Hell, while I was growing up, my mom and dad owned some very non-enthusiastic cars. We had an Oldsmobile station wagon, a Chrysler 5th Avenue, Buick Regal. But I remember them.

Cars excited me, and still do. Sure some of that writing above is just nostalgia for me. The thought of the cars reminds me of a simpler time when I had very little responsibilities (or none at all). But going through my memories, I think of the more than average cars, and how they made me feel when I saw them. When I saw those cars, I knew there was more there than just going to the post office or the grocery store, like we did in the station wagon. There was something special. Something different.

All images grabbed from GIS/Wikipedia.

norskracer98-ExploringTheOutback > FKA-RacecaR 08/19/2014 at 10:21

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I drove recklessly on back roads covered in loose gravel and dirt.

That's not reckless driving, that's called rallying.

TwinCharged - Is Now UK Opponaut > FKA-RacecaR 08/19/2014 at 10:30

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I was a car person even as a baby - my dad tells me that whenever I used to get cranky and couldn't go to sleep, he'd take me downstairs to his TA40 Celica and go for a drive with me in the child seat. I'd quickly pipe down and fall asleep much more easily.

davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com > FKA-RacecaR 08/20/2014 at 22:02

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My girlfriend/fiance/wife had one of these in college, and I swear, to this day, it's the worst car I've ever driven. Nowhere to go but up from here!