Better Beaters - Building Cars and Daily Drivers

 What have I been searching for all these years with cars and motorcycles?

photo from the Web.
I might have had something like this as a child.

Transportation of course, but there was something more. Something that made me a lifetime enthusiast.

I think that it was the idea of freedom of movement. With a car almost anyplace is accessible to you. Years ago I read a book about an adventurer that wanted to drive from the tip of South America all the way to the United States. This was back in the 1920's and this was a Grand Adventure. There were no highways, only wagon and horse tracks. trails only previously traversed by foot. Across the jungle there weren't even those. The book recounts how at some points the car was disassembled and was carried by hand across some rope bridges!

By the time the team had arrived in northern Mexico the roads were well paved and they did not expect any problems once they crossed into the U.S. 

1907 Thomas Flyer
New York to Paris race winner in 1908.
Around the World in 169 days.

It got me to thinking that the highway system in our hemisphere was like a system of rivers, creeks and brooks. The banks of this grand stream starts right at the end of my driveway, and I have the freedom to navigate anywhere in North America and beyond. 

All I have to do is throw my dinghy in the water!

As a grade school kid I don't think that my vision was as grandiose as that, but I had a hunger to go places and see things, especially behind the wheel of my own car. Or in the saddle of my own motorcycle.

My family didn't take a lot of vacations when I was growing up. My parents were more focused on trying to establish a good life for their family.

I wanted go somewhere, everywhere, ...anywhere.

This is the primary interest that I've maintained all my life.

While the car or motorcycle itself was important to me, it was how it was used that made all the difference. Sometimes both areas overlapped and I was able to take some trips on a vehicle that I had a connection with. 

I had more exposure to motorcycles initially. The Honda 50, which could barely drag me around the neighborhood, gave way to the Honda 160 which allowed me to explore the East Bay Area back roads. There had been an article in Cycle magazine that year entitled "Scenes of desolate beauty, a trip up the Coast highway." That article and those pictures fired my imagination and I knew that it would only be a matter of time.  When I got my Honda 305 in Junior year, I was finally able to reach the fabled Coast Highway, California 1 in Sonoma county. I was a still a kid in high school and I wasn't that comfortable yet with going alone too far from home. I remember stopping alongside the highway near the little town of Marshall, under the shade of the big roadside trees and declaring to myself, "The Road belongs to Me!" ( Maybe grandiosity is a part of my personality!) Then I turned around and found my way home. But the die had been cast. 

A year later in my Senior year, I would complete the California 1000 motorcycle rally on my own. 

As a loner, a motorcycle can fill the need, but I had a good buddy that I recruited into the ranks of motorcyclists and we took many memorable long trips together.

Well, it felt like this.

Though I might not like to admit it, cars have also been a distraction as well as a short term goal. 

I have never been a sports fan, someone that follows and watches the fortunes of their favorite team, or teams. Someone that loves to discuss the problems of the current season or the prospects of the coming seasons. Many fans love to immerse themselves in the minutia, recounting changes to team line ups, batting averages and field statistics from player's past seasons. I am always amazed when fans will recount a certain portion of a past season game, identifying the specific year, the specific game, the quarter or inning that the critical play was made by specific players on their team. That always seems incredible to me. Why would they bother cluttering up their mind with all that...stuff? 

Yet...

My Wife has pointed out that we'll be driving down the freeway and I'll point out a certain car and start babbling about it's history, development, specific changes made during it's production run, and how it fit into emerging trends in automotive preferences and sales. Why would I bother cluttering up my mind with all that ...stuff?

I answered that my interest and love of cars is something that sweetens the bitter taste of life. I just wanted to say something dramatic. Actually my life has been pretty good, better than I had anticipated or hoped for. Maybe it's more accurate to say that it lends a certain flavor and anticipation to the sometimes prosaic meal that is life. Cars are something to think about, dream about, and hope about. I suppose that it is my version of building sand castles in the sky. Something to distract yourself from the daily responsibilities of your life.

Cars are also something that have been a necessity.

I celebrated the 50 year anniversary of having a driver's license last year.  That period spanned my years in high school and college, my young adulthood, my years of marriage and family responsibility. I drove what was best for the family during those years. Minivans may not be exciting in themselves, yet they are exciting when you use them to share experiences with your family, hopefully ones that they will treasure fondly in their memories. The kids are now grown and gone, involved in living their own lives. My marriage I am happy to report is still firing on all cylinders.

For me it always come down to the driving.

Last month my Wife asked if we should go somewhere for my Birthday. I suggested that we go go to the new Academy Award museum in Los Angeles. It's actually just across the street from the Petersen automotive museum. She quickly made plans and we left in three days. An off the cuff driving trip, something that can easily be done when you have a newer car. I've told her that I think that I'm starting to like that trip prep with the car is just getting it washed and filling the gas tank!

I plan to keep at least one late model, low mileage, newer car in the stable. I want to be able to drive off on a long trip at a moments notice. This is going to be a priority for me. I'm not getting any younger and it will always be about the driving, until it can't.

To quote Peter Egan's Wife: "There are only so many Summers left." 

 Todd and Buzz, I shall see you out there!