The two most significant cars in Pancho's prehistory

"PanchoVilleneuve ST" (PanchoVilleneuve) 08/05/2015 at 01:46 • Filed to: Stay awhile and listen, Life of Pancho

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The first is my dad’s 1970 Fiat 850 Spider, pictured here when he was finally getting rid of it. In college, my dad wanted a sports car, so he sold his sensible, reliable VW and bought this. It was a piece of shit. He had it for a little less than a year, and estimates that it was working for about two months of that. It particurly loved to suddenly and violently spray enough oil to nearly cause starvation all over the engine compartment when driving uphill, a major problem when living in the Bay Area.

My dad had been friends with my mom since they were in high school, and they wound up going to the same college. Because the Fiat’s lack of reliability made it as useful as a springless pogo stick as a commuter vehicle, he’d rely on my mom to get him to and from class. They got closer and closer in the extra time they spent together, and eventually started dating.

If this car had actually worked, I may not even exist. Speaking of me existing...

This is his 1977 Datsun B210 2-door sedan (which is the coolest one, since it looks like a shrunken Kenmeri Skyline), and it’s the car I was brought home from the hospital in. I’m pretty sure my first car ride being in this (along with the yellow AE86 SR5 my mom daily drove when I was a kid), is why my brain causes me to obsess over vintage Japanese cars.

My dad currently drives a pre-facelift, current gen non-SHO AWD Taurus, which is pretty much the state of the art in boring dad cars. It’s disappointing, given his history, but he did wind up buying my xB off of me when I got my FoST. He said it’s to haul garbage to the transfer station. A job I’ve only seen it do once. It’s also parked in a different spot every time I see it and he recently replaced the head unit. He’ll never admit it, but I’m pretty sure he’s driving it because it’s fun. And that makes me proud.

Berang > PanchoVilleneuve ST 08/05/2015 at 06:25

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My father had two of those Fiats and said neither of them ever worked right. My mom had a Datsun that I believe was a B210, but I’d have to see if I can find any picture of it to verify.