Miata Mailing List: December 1999, Message #107

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I guess I'm fortunate to have a car savvy family then.

My Dad was into cars as young as age 15 when he worked at a garage where
"Bondo" was molten lead (!) that was washed (OK, splashed may be a better
word... ) onto an imperfection and then sanded down for repainting. My first
memory of my Dad and a car was with a TR-6 in our garage that badly needed
restoration that never got done. He would spend hours behind the wheel
making vroom- vroom noises with me in the passenger seat (top down of
course). I wonder why I have a Miata... Everry time I get into my car after
it has been sitting in the sun with the top up and I smell the musty canvas/
vinyl smell it brings back a flood of memories.

He got both of my older brothers involved in car projects with VW Bugs back
in the early and mid '80's when a poorly conditioned one was selling for
$100 and one that ran was only $400. He would buy three or four at a time
and build one good one out of it. My brothers would hep him (they actually
did quite a bit more work than he...) and their payment was to keep the
finished car. We probably owned 9 or 10 bugs over that time span. In fact,
if anyone needs VW/ Porsche/ Audi parts in the Philadelphia area, I cant
recommend East Coast Imports highly enough. They are in Pheonixville. (FWIW,
Pheonixville was where "The Blob" was filmed. I went to quite a few good
movies in the same theater that was in the movie!)

For a while I didnt show much propensity for cars (much to my dads chagrin),
and he was less than happy when I told him that my first vehicle was a
motorcycle. Now that I have a Miata I seem to have redeemed myself car-wise.

Needless to say, I am never lacking for car conversation when I get together
with my family. Only my mothers eyes glaze over, and out of respect we just
dont do it in front of her...


----- Original Message -----
From: <Lakasis@aol.com>

>
>  and even the guys that i know...what's the big deal if a girl knows more
than
>  you about cars???  ha ha...one time i was talking to one of my friends
cuz he
>  started talking about his car, and then when he saw he couldn't keep up
with
> the
>  conversation, the lights in his eyes dimmed and he changed the
subject...not
>  that i'm a terribly savvy car babe, but the truth of the matter is, my
> friends
>  know nothing about their automobiles other than it gets them from point a
to
> b.
>   >>
>
>     I complete know what you mean, Marisa!!  The only person in my whole
> extended family besides my boyfriend (who got me into cars in the first
place
> God bless him) I can talk to about cars is my 10 year old cousin!!
>
>
> Tina Risner
> '99 Black
> "The Pod Racer"
> Grand Rapids, Michigan
>