Four wheels of Love... My Car Obsession

Some people love cars and others tolerate them, but I think most people "like" cars. Since I wrote about the Motown Meltdown, I thought I would share with you my car obsession.

Lets start with my FIRST car. The four door, lime green, 1972 Buick Le Sabre. (ABOVE) Every teenage boy LOVES his first car. I loved my Buick. I picked up girls with this car...I got around town, I listened to Cheap Trick and Queen (with some really bad speakers I paid for with my afterschool job at MacDonald's. I drove all over Ohio in this baby... and I also forgot to put oil in it. (No one told me about the oil). One day, the engine exploded. And that was the end of my first car.

Move a decade later and I am r-o-l-l-i-n-g in a Suzuki Samurai! I'm (amazingly, picking up girls with THIS thing) , I am all over Houston with this puppy. I even remember to add oil once in a while. This was not a comfortable car. The AC barely worked! Slightly cool air coming out along with mostly hot air from the engine and Mercury like Houston, Texas. It was like a motorcycle with four wheels...No, skip that, it was like riding a horse through the desert...but I was happy.

And life got better... way better. I was blessed to drive some of my dream cars (which I'm about to share). At the time, the Samurai was a dream car to me, and it got me around town, and come to think of it, the little thing was great on gas.

This was my first 911. This was like my "Barack Obama" moment of Cars. "Yes I can!" When they gave me the keys, I simply couldn't believe it. I wanted one these things since I was a kid, and this one was mine! I was only 30, so you couldn't call it a mid-life crisis. I have had cars much nicer than this since, but very similar to the feelings of getting my first car, my first Porsche was crazy exciting...I couldn't wait to drive this thing. Remember Tom Cruise driving his Dad's Porsche in "Risky Business"? Tom did donuts in an empty parking lot. Just like Tom in the movie, I drove to an empty lot and did donuts (driving the car backwards in a continuous circle of joy). I really did that...and probably shouldn't admit it, but, it was one of the happiest moments of my life. There is a smell that these older Porsche have, that the new ones seem to lack and Purist call it the "Porsche smell". This 911 also sounded better than the newer ones I bought. It had what they call a "Whale tail". Truly, this was a street legal race car. Worth every penny. I didn't try to pick up girls with this car, it WAS the girl. I was in love with this car, and she was not a cheap date. I didn't mind.

And then we come to the most Beautiful car I've ever owned. This is a 1963 Porsche 1600 S. Mine was silver (like this one) with a red leather interior. The only car I ever bought on e-Bay, and the ONLY car I sold for more money than I paid for it. As beautiful as it was, I could only drive it to a few places. I also had to carry jumper cables and it leaked oil a little bit. I didn't have the mechanical skills, and I take that back. I had the skills, I just didn't enjoy working on the car. Looking back, I think I would really enjoy working on the car, just like now I enjoy cooking. At the time, I wasn't ready to own this kind of car. I regret selling it though. Oh do I regret it. Maybe one day, I will get another one. Super special car. Stunning... A Stunning car.

The 1998 Ferrari F355 Spider. This car was my Dot Com Car.

The Nation was on a giant drug called the NASDAQ. This was my gift to day trading. I didn't tell my friends about it because I was never comfortable "owning" a Ferrari. The stereotype associated with owning this car is so not true. The Ferrari folks I have met are the nicest people. Not arrogant, not flashy. They just loved these cars. I've had two Ferrari's. (Not at the same time but over time) The silver 355 and a Rosso Firoano 360 Coupe (a very rare colour) I even made the trip to the Ferrari factory in Maranello, TWICE to tour the plant and the public Museum nearby. In the end, I couldn't stomach the constant attention. The attention was constant. I did like that I could park this car just about anywhere and not worry about a ticket, but I didn't like there were almost ALWAYS people near the car when you would come to drive off. Maybe if I lived in Cali it wouldn't have been an issue. Who knows? In Seattle, its an attention grabber.

This was the best sounding car I ever had. There is the unmistakable whhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiine" of a Ferrari, and the 355's had that sound DOWN! The car was a rock star of sound. No need to listen to the radio...the car made its own music.

So what the hell am I driving now?

I'm not going to say. We all need a little mystery...and I'd like to hear your guesses. But what ever "it" is, I'm still driving around town, and I'm still rocking to Cheap Trick and Queen, and ok some Kanye, (this time on some really fantastic speakers). And instead of picking up girls, I will pick up my wonderful girl of a Daughter, from Montessori school.

Ah, progress. :)