I gotta have a sunroof!!!

While on our recent trip to sunny Florida, Girlfriend and I were dicussing the possibility of replacing her car. It is getting a bit long in the tooth and her daughter will be needing something a bit more dependable than the '89 Buick she's currently driving, so this is a good time to start looking. Aside from an unreasonable infatuation with Japanese automobiles, her number one dealbreaker is, get this, a sunroof. A sunroof, now, not a convertible. A convertible I could understand, but a sunroof??? A freakin' hole in my roof isn't a benefit, it's a big frickin' leak. When I asked her why a sunroof, she said "I like to feel the sun on me". Okay, fine, I can understand that. But, should that really be a dealbreaker? For a guy, dealbreakers are things like performance, dependability and utility. For a woman, evidently, it's things like a sunroof. Because, feeling the sun is so much more important than the mechanical stuff.

This got me to thinking about how people in general view things like cars.  My dad, for instance, sees them as simply transportation.  Well, it seems he sees them that way for me.  The last few times I've bought a new ride, he's made the comment that I all I needed was a "dependable transportation" and recommended something like a Kia Sephia.  The Kia Sephia, if you're not familiar with it, is a Korean economy model that's little more than four tires and a steering wheel.  Very bare bones, it makes the old Ford Fiesta look like a luxury model.  Now, I say he sees automobiles as nothing more than a way to get from point A to point B for me and not necessarily himself because he never buys cars like that.  He's been driving Chevrolet Silveradoes for quite a few years now.  To be fair, he did drive more than his fair share of crap in the past.  A 1964 Chevy II that burned oil at an almost equal rate that it went through gas and had holes in the floorboard you see the road through; a '67 Catalina 4 door that was nothing if not dependable, but just no fun to drive at all;  and a 74 Chevy Kingswood station wagon that was only the second car my folks ever bought brand new.  Before that, we only had one car which Mama and Daddy shared.  The first one I remember was the coolest car we ever owned as a family: a 1955 Chevrolet Bel-Air.  There's a bit of story here, also.  My parents started dating in high school and got married with neither of them ever having another serious date.  That marriage has lasted around 54 years.  Impressive, huh?  Anyway, when they got married, Daddy was in the Air Force and stationed in Canada.  Right before that assignment was up and he was coming home, he told Mama to go buy them a car so they'd have one when he got back.  Now, Mama was about 19 and had gotten her driver's license a few months before.  It's safe to say that she didn't know diddly about cars.  But, my mother, being a very smart and pragmatic woman, got a trusted family friend to help her find a car.  What she chose was a 1953 Chevrolet 210.  A nice, dependable affordable car.  Unfortunately, the '53 models only came with a 6 cylinder engine.  And, that wasn't enough for my gearhead father.  It wasn't long after he got home that he traded the '53 for the '55 mentioned above.  You see, in 1955 Chevrolet introduced it's first V-8, a 265 cubic inch model.  Now, you could also get that engine with the PowerPack which had high-flow heads and a four barrel carburator, making it one hot little number and that's what Daddy got.  And, it would immortally fly.  Then, when that engine wore out, he got a 283 with a four barrel and a Corvette cam.  He's always said the 265 had more top end, but the 283 would crank 90 mph in second gear (it was a 3 speed).  And, he thinks he has credibility telling me to drive a damn Kia.

Viewing an automobile as a mere conveyance is like judging a meal solely on its nutritional value.  Sure, both views are valid on their face, but there's so much more involved.  If there wasn't, we'd all be eating Tofurkey and driving soulless econoboxes with vaguely Asian names.  But, an automobile is as much about how it makes you feel as what it does for you.  Whenever you walk out the door and get that first look at your car, if your pulse doesn't quicken a bit, you don't feel that little catch in your throat and the idea of getting behind the wheel and flogging the hell out of it never occurs to you, you've got the wrong car.