Diesel Temptation

Success!  The point of this blog, in part, is to keep me from buying a new car every time I feel the urge.  I am happy to report that I made an important step towards breaking my car trade-in habit recently:

I test drove a car I REALLY liked... and I did not buy it.

Fahrvergnügen!

In this post, I finally complete the long journey through all of my car purchases.  This entry covers the German-made cars that we have owned.  I say, "we" because these are the cars that my wife has driven.  

Rise of the Subaru

I think I've finally settled on a car brand.  (For a guy who has made an average of one car purchase per year for the last fifteen years, that's no small achievement.)   What brand is that?  Subaru.

What kind of Guy was I?

So far, I've covered those first and memorable cars from the beginning of my 20+ year string of constant car-changing.  I've also walked you through the seven Honda vehicles I've put in our driveway.

The Honda Parade, Part 2

Here, now, I'll continue documenting my apparently unending process of buying new cars.  Hopefully, this process results in some self-introspection that makes me understand why I change cars as often as some of you change underwear (you know who you are).  On the other hand, this blog might just be feeding the automobile obsession that turned me into a serial car buyer in the first place.  Let's hope for the best.  

The Honda Parade, Part 1

As I approached graduation from college, lending institutions began inundating me with offers to help me get myself properly in debt.  Among these offers was a car-loan that let me put off my first payments until months after graduation.  Awesome!  Like free money!  (Clearly, I was an idiot who did not understand the mechanics of loan interest.)  I jumped at the opportunity to spend somebody else's money and launched myself into a journey with Honda vehicles that would last for years afterwards.

The Festiva

During my freshman year of college, while I was driving the Maroon Marauder, my parents decided to buy a car for me.  It was a completely unexpected gift, and I am forever grateful.  

The Maroon Marauder

Although Grandma's car was the first automobile that I "owned," this was my first car: "The Maroon Marauder."

Grandma's Car

My first car was my grandmother's.  She died when I was in high school.  She was a quirky, funny old lady with a quick wit.  I wish I had gotten the opportunity to know her better.

Robin Masters knows cars.

I don't know why, but the red Ferrari 308 from the TV series "Magnum, PI" will forever be my holy grail.

Maybe it's because I watched the TV show. You have to admit, Magnum PI was a great show.  Great location, great cast, and great characters.  Sure, there's a bit of 80's foolishness in the story-lines, but by the standards of the day, this was great--definitely better than anything else on screen.  And, of course, there was the Ferrari.  Magnum would open each episode by giving you that cool look of his, right before popping the clutch and laying tracks on the side of the road as peeled away in that awesome car as the guitar riff played.   (The guitar riff started in season 2--go back and watch the first season for a much more lame opening theme music.)  And he didn't even have to BUY the car, because the shadowy Robin Masters was apparently cool with him zooming all over Oahu with it. 

I was smitten.

Also, there was something cosmic about the Ferrari and me.  I wasn't a car-guy as a kid.  I didn't collect hot-wheels or have other car toys.  I didn't even know much about cars.  But I did, as some point which I can't remember, get a matchbox Ferrari 308.  It stayed with me for years, getting tossed around in that box of miscellaneous stuff that kids seems to collect and keep.

In fact, I think that the toy pre-dated my watching the show.  I was such a car-rookie that I didn't probably make the connection between the show and the toy until much, much later.  But I loved that toy car, and it was the only one that survived from the half-dozen or so that I did have in my childhood.

BECAUSE THE FERRARI 308 RULES.

Just look at it.  Perfect proportions and classic Pininfarina design.  Beautiful.

Over the years, I've thought about buying one.  Ironically, if I had kept my car-buying compulsion in check, I could have gotten one years ago--a topic I'll cover in other posts.  The prices of this Ferrari, among all others, dropped lower and stayed down while the rest of them quickly ascended to lottery-ticket heights.  Almost as if the universe was trying to let me know: "Hey, this is your chance!  Get one!"  Now, as it passes 30 years old, collectors are getting wise.  Classic car magazines have started to write articles about what a great car it was and it, and prices are on their way up.  By the time I'm in a position to get one, it may be too late.

So, I'll start this blog, which I hope will focus my car-enthusiasm away from the dealership lots, by paying tribute to the most awesome care that ever was.