Ok gang, I finally had a chance to write out my info too, as the kid is
home sick with strept throat and I am currently playing "mister mom."
First, despite my tag, I am NOT VICKI... that is my wonderful Roadster
loving wife of 6 years (she's the one getting the '68 VG30 Turbo). I am
Greg Burrows, also known as Greg "I must be losing my mind" Burrows, etc
etc. I'm 38 years old, married twice and divorced once (what a learning
experience that was). I have a "step" child of 7 years, though she
feels like mine as I was there since she was 5 months old. Her name is
Kennedy, and she is a great kid, a true Roadster lover, and all around
crazy child ("Papa, go over that bump at 100 mph again!"). I keep her
in line by telling her that, unless I can trust her, she will NEVER be
able to drive the Roadster. She straightens right up after that. My
wife works as a paralegal for a large firm in Tacoma (now up in
Seattle). She is handling a lot of those nasty Priest related child
sexual abuse cases here in Washington, so she works a lot of hours, but
it is important work. In addition to being primary feeder of 5 cats and
one super dog. I work as a therapist/counselor for teenagers in juvenile
detention, mostly handling suicidal ideation and a variety of other
mental health issues ("Bugs! I see big bugs!"). Pretty fun really, as
I love teenagers, and they have a hard time arguing with you that they
are doing just fine when they are enclosed in concrete walls ("And so,
let me get this straight... you thought that it was OK to steal the car
and drive it into the pond because you were mad at your mom... and
everything is OK now, despite the bust for the crank and the pot, and
the fact that you are 14?"). It is fun to turn it all into a learning
experience while helping them take responsibility for their choices and
behavior. I often use my love of Roadsters as an example of a natural
high, and how that can be useful in helping them transition out of the
chemical ones. Unlike so many of the others on this post, I have not
owned a large number of cars. My first was a toyota pickup, which soon
died and was replaced by a cool '73 Datsun pickup. It had a Weber carb,
and that was the beginning of my mechanical/performance experience. I
did everything that I could to that truck... lowered it, put on a
header, dual SU's, MSD, cam, 200sx 5 speed, canopy, and did up the back
so that my girlfriend and I could go "camping" (another one of those
natural highs). It hauled me and my drums (I play the drums) all over
Washington from age 16 to 23, and I put over 250,000 miles on it (3
engines too). In fact, I was in it when I saw my first Roadster... my
67 2000, as a student out at Washington State University. I was just
driving along, going nowhere in particular, when this car drove past me,
and I was so taken, I turned around and chased it down. It was stopped
at a local repair shop, and the owner of the car was in the process of
selling it to the passenger. To seal the deal, the potential buyer was
getting it inspected at the shop. Man I wanted that car! I drove off,
thinking I would never see it again. Well, winter came several months
later, as did the snow. Everything was covered. Cars were like big
white bumps in the snow. One day, for no particular reason, I decided
to walk home on a road that was somewhat out of my way... why? I have
NO idea. As I walked along, I noticed some funny looking tail lights
poking out of this one white hump... it was the Datsun! Well, to make a
long story short, I found out that the sale had fallen through and the
car had sat there, one block away from my house, for the better part of
a year. I got hold of the owner, negotiated a price and pushed it to my
house. I thought it was a '69, as I thought that '69 was the first year
of the 2000. It was not until I got the title and talked to Dan at
Rallye that I realized it was a fairly rare car. The car itself was
shot... engine, brakes, rust, etc. The chrome and some other stuff was
decent, as were the seats. So, that summer I dragged it back across the
mountains to Seattle and started working on it. I ended up taking the
body off the frame and going though the whole thing to the best of my
ability. That was 17 years ago, and I continue to modify and work on
it. Cars have taught me a lot about life: how to have patience, how to
plan, how to be creative and solve problems. Some of my friends don't
understand why I love the Datsun so much... there are other cars that
are quicker, handle better, are more comfortable, etc etc. That does
not matter, I tell them. The Datsun represents that time in my life
when I took a walk off the beaten path and found something unique,
something special to me, that was mine and that now reflects me... not
perfect by any stretch, always growing and being "modified" by life,
trying to be better, faster, cooler, and ultimately, having a damn fun
time doing it.
Greg Burrows
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