always remember that racecar spelled backwards is still racecar

Thursday, February 25, 2010

No one forgets their first......car


Truer words were never spoken. People, especially guys, treat their first cars a lot like their first love interest. They want their buddies to know which one 'belongs' to them, they talk about them all the time, and they believe the relationship will last forever. I certainly fell into this life category with my first (well, close to the first) freedom machine. As the old saying goes, 'If I only knew then what I know now'.

I absolutely loved this car. It was a 1971 Datsun 1200 (or B110 for you Datsun heads). It started out with the stock 1200cc engine until an opportunity presented itself to drop in a mildly pumped-up 1300cc power-plant which had only seen one season of racing in my Datsun 1200 mini-stock race car. This racing was done on a 3/8 mile dirt oval in Fremont, California circa 1980 to 1985. Everything about my street car was as straight as was humanly possible (thanks Dad). Even with the hotter motor and lightened fly wheel this thing never got less than 40 MPG. Of course the monetary savings at the pump were offset by my frequent attendance of traffic ticket classes.

The more I think about it, the more I can appreciate the similarities between first loves and first cars. They constantly compete for your attention while appearing to be doing nothing at all, they have a scent that you can't forget, you're constantly changing your plans to be with them and they always leave you broke. As embedded in my memory as all of those things are, they pale in comparison to the biggest and most exciting experience I ever had in my chariot. Going all the way......to 100 mph.

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