The most important aspiration for most guys in their late teens is acquiring an automobile. It’s kind of like a girlfriend. You want a good looking one but sometimes you’ll just settle for what you can get.
In high school there were a few guys in my group who had brand new cars that their parents had bought for them. I hated them. Shortly after high school almost all my friends had cars bought for them from their parents. I hated them too. That is what can happen when you are not satisfied with your life. You hate on other people cause you’re so frustrated with your situation and don’t know what to do about it.
Definition of a hater from the Urban Dictionary:
-A person that simply cannot be happy for another person’s success. So rather than be happy they make a point of exposing a flaw in that person.
From time to time I’d comment on how they were spoiled buttheads. I felt shitty about not having a car and I made it my first priority to attain wheels.
From l998 to 1999, I painstakingly saved as hard as I could from my part time shitty wage job so that I could get a car and finally feel competent. I could have bought a beater but I wanted something respectable. At this time I was living in a different district than my friends so having a car felt absolutely necessary. I could have rented a place closer to them but I figured living at home for free and having a car would be the better choice.
In the summer of 1999 my dream was finally coming true. One of my friend’s worked at an auto mechanics shop and his boss was selling a car. It was actually a car I admired when I was in high school. The price sounded decent and I felt really comfortable that I was dealing with a connection from a friend. I saved up $9000 and it all went to the car that was made in 1993. It was all fixed up and detailed on the day I bought it. It looked almost brand new, inside and out.
I fell in love with this car. I couldn’t believe it was mine. Many years later I still loved driving it. It never really left me in a shitty situation like on the side of the road or stalled in the middle of traffic.
Call me sentimental or not being able to let go but I still have this car. I’m not driving it but it’s sitting in my mother’s garage. People always ask me why I don’t sell it and I slightly snarl at them. Even when I was still driving it, people would tell me to get a new car cause it was almost 20 years old. I’d say “no way” and asked them if it would be okay if their wives got rid of them when they’re old.
I remember being so motivated to get a car. That was the first and last time I was ever motivated to work for anything. My car had a bit of a revival of popularity a few years back when drifting and swapping engines became all the rage. To drift you need a car that is rear wheel drive and there aren’t many around that are inexpensive and that can be easily modified for better performance.
I have plans to fix it up one day but who knows what will happen. It’s worth about $2000 right now and I could find a buyer pretty easily but I don’t want to let it go. It’s funny. I bought this car the same day as Slash’s birthday.
1993 Nissan 240sx (picture taken just a couple years ago)