>Okay, funny (true) demographics story follows.
(snip)
>Shasta 1998. I was up on the mountain at the All-Datsun Meet and had just
>parked
>the car a few minutes earlier. I was checking out one of the few other
>roadsters
>up there when I got talking with this young kid. He was 20-ish, spiky yellow
>hair (not blonde, yellow), tank top, big colorful tattoos on both shoulders
>(very nicely done, too) and multiple body piercings including lower lip.
>Probably a lot of people would have avoided him on the street, even in
>Seattle.
>
>He said "Is that black roadster yours? I saw it come in." I admitted it was.
>"Man, that car is so beautiful!" And off we went up the lot babbling cars
>a mile
>a minute. He had a nice 510 (that matched his hair color) with some really
>unusual touches like factory air. We had a very nice several minutes
>comparing
>cars and agreeing how cool Shasta was. No feeling of difference.
Gordon told me about this right after it happened, remarking about how
much he enjoyed it, but there's a bit of an epilogue, too. That night at
dinner at the Masonic Lodge, Elayne and I sat across from this young lad,
Nathan Smith. During the course of the evening the subject of his
conversation with Gordon came up. He said Gordon was "really okay and
pretty cool..., for an old guy"! <G>
This past July we enjoyed the diversity even more, realizing going in
that we had a strong common interest with everyone there. Take a look at
the pictures (the 4 on the left) that I shot on the ZCCD website at
<http://zcarmag.com/webspecial/shastapics.html>
This was this guy's first project and I can't begin to tell you how
shocked he and his wife were, and how proud his folks were, when he won
one of the top awards. Anywhere else we probably would have avoided this
couple who are very much into Goth (Gothic) scene. All black clothing,
bright purple hair, MANY body piercings, the whole thing. The black &
white paint on the car reflect this, too. Different and strange (to many
of us anyway), but we still shared a common interest that helped us look
beyond that.
Oh, Yeah. 53 next week, gray hair (what little's left), full beard.
Another "old guy", like Gordon. No Roadster (Currently, but bought the
one we had new in '70), two 510's, looking for a '91-'93 SE-R for a
commuter.
FWIW,
Ron
Ronnie Day
------------------
Dallas/Ft. Worth
------------------
'71 510 2-dr (Prepared Class Autocrosser)
'73 510 2-dr (Street Toy)
|