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kleinbl00  ·  1317 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Pubski: August 19, 2020

The cars I lusted for and couldn't afford, contemporaneously, were modest. A friend's little sister was straight up gifted a Subaru XT Coupe at sixteen while I was running carbs through the dishwasher to try and get my donor RX-4 running. We used to haunt the car lots because it was something to do and there was just something about the perpetually-unattainable Mazda MX3. DOHC 1.8L V6, y'all.

A kid showed up at college. His dad had bought him one for graduation. He was a nice enough guy but forever a spoiled brat in my eyes.

Another kid in school had a family tradition where Grandma and Grandpa gave them $15k towards the car of their choice the minute they turned 16. I had very carefully calculated that to be more than enough money to buy a 1982 Lotus Esprit and put a Rover/Buick 215ci V8 in it with either a Porsche or ZF transaxle. Fucker bought a Prelude. I drove a '77 Buick that I had purchased for $125 because its oil seal was leaking. Ended up fixing the oil leak and driving the fucking thing because the car the mill was supposed to go into took a whole lot longer without the promised parental support. Another buddy got a cherry '67 Camaro that he wrapped around a lamppost within a month while racing his buddy with the '67 Mustang Fastback that he wrapped around the same lamppost a month later, rebuilt, and wrapped around a different lamppost six months later. Meanwhile the TR-7 I spent forever fixing was eclipsed by a different kid whose dad gave him a choice between an '81 TR8 convertible or a '74 Elan. TR8 was dead in eight months, so he also got the Elan.

I probably drive a Porsche convertible to avenge my high school self. I doubt I'm the only one.