"George Richardson" (tnwagn)
01/05/2014 at 23:19 • Filed to: Honda, Wagon, #oppositelock
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"George Richardson" (tnwagn)
01/05/2014 at 23:19 • Filed to: Honda, Wagon, #oppositelock | 1
| 0 |
After seeing the thread earlier today ( !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! ), I felt compelled to share my story as well.
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I remember (barely) going to the dealership with my parents way back in 1991, the first year Honda produced the Accord Station Wagon. At the time, I was more interested in juice boxes and not wetting the bed, but my parent's decision to purchase the Cobalt Blue Pearl estate would have a big impact down the road for me.
When I started driving the car at 16, I felt like the biggest idiot around driving that car. It was rusting, had clear coat falling off everywhere, and had the curb appeal of a 50 year old dried up mistress of the night.
Back then Jalopnik had just been registered as a domain and I barely even knew how to turn the ignition key, much less appreciate the wagon for its quirks. Soon, though, I realized the wagon was good for exactly 2 things; Flying under the radar of every police officer ever born and providing the perfect area for stupidly large speakers.
That was about the time I found a website that catered to the 4th Generation Accord and those dumb enough to want to modify them (I.E. me). This led to a slew of modifications to the car, pretty much all of them focused on handling and weight reduction because, in true Jalop fashion, nothing makes more sense than a wagon with no interior.
While the car was terrible on paper, even after several thousands of dollars worth of performance upgrades, in my mind there couldn't have been a better car ever built. Like !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! said in the comments of the earlier thread, being a true Jalop has much more to do with your love of automobiles rather than what's parked in your garage.
I think it also has a lot to do with the other things that come with the automotive scene. I have traveled all over the Southeast to go to events with people I've met through the car scene and I have friends all over the US that, without a shared mutual interest in cars, would likely have never crossed paths with me. I also picked up photography after getting into cars and that hobby itself has led to an incredible amount of fun, friends, and jobs.
While I no longer have the car, its legacy still lasts in my mind. A lot of people like to focus on the best, most powerful, most expensive, or rarest cars. While those are all fine things to have interest in (who doesn't want a McLaren P1?) I think people can draw just as much joy out of whatever they are driving around in, even if it is a mass produced grocery getter.