On Thu, 30 May 1996, Will Zehring suffered a mini-midlife crisis and wrote:
> thing the first: last night a member of my car-guy support group stopped by
> to show me his new/used 1993 RX-7 (a car we can all agree is a classic in
> the making). Black with a red leather interior. Drop dead good looking
> car, and cosmetically in great condition. Awe-inspiring performance for the
> price of a new Miata. I want you to know that it soured my evening, even
> tho my beloved and I were watching an inspiring Disney movie about sled
> dogs. Later that night I pulled Olde Whitesides into the driveway and
> started to think what a frumpy car it was (the MG, that is). There, I said
> it. Of course I don't really want a three year old RX-7, with the
> associated costs, but it is a great car.
Now Will, get a grip. Classic in the making, my backside. Think what
that RX7 is going to be like 20 years from now, when all the little tiny
hoses are rotted, and nobody knows where they went so you can't replace
them, and nobody is making new transmission parts for the 6 cars that have
not yet succumbed to rust, and only one person knows how to install new
rotor seals and she (got the she, Denise?) is in Japan, but it doesn't
matter because not even one person knows how to resurface the housing.
The thing to do with something like an RX-7 is to buy it new, if you can
afford it, run the pee out of it, and then sell it to some unsuspecting
fellow like your car buddy. Pity him; do not copy him.
It is one thing to oogle Pamela whatsername on Baywatch; it is quite
another to decide to get divorced and pursue her.
> particular car has lost its 5th gear synchro after only 28k miles (???).
> Figure that one out. I drove it "around the block" and was surprised at the
> mushyness of the shifter. That made me feel a bit better.
If you knew Pamela whatsername, you would also probably be surprised by
the mushiness... oh, never mind.
> thing the second: the commute has been **horrendous** lately, and I almost
Would it be more fun being stuck in traffic in a black RX-7?
> Deeeetroit. Has the world spun off its axis?
> Seriously: What does a car guy do when its no fun to drive !!??
I drove 100K miles on the Dan Ryan expressway in Chicago, reputedly the
most dangerous highway in the nation. While driving home in the snow one
evening, I counted 17 freshly wrecked cars. At 70 mph, I once came upon
an outboard motor boat abandoned in my lane. This was not the place for
an lbc; the only (partial) cure I could come up with was a new car with an
unburstable cooling system, a good heater, an air-conditioner, and a
decent radio. I carried a paperback book for heavy traffic.
Why do you think I put up with the weather in Vermont?
Ray
Ray Gibbons Dept. of Molecular Physiology & Biophysics
Univ. of Vermont College of Medicine, Burlington, VT
gibbons@northpole.med.uvm.edu (802) 656-8910
|