There's nothing better than sharing something
you enjoy with someone you love. Susan came with me to our Mont Tremblant
track event this summer. It was her first track event and my first time
at Tremblant. It was a wonderful trip, but I'll let her tell the story,
which you'll find elsewhere in this issue of the NOR’EASTER.
Last month I brought my three boys to
Crane Beach in Ipswich for the annual "Sand Blast" which is a sand sculpture
contest. As you can imagine, these creations go well beyond your typical
sand castle. Some of the creations included a giant hot dog, a miniature
golf course and a shark attack scene. I asked the boys what they wanted
to build. My 6 year old wanted to build a big hole. My 15 year old wanted
to build a toilet. After shoveling a large pile of sand, we agreed to build
a 1973 Porsche 911 Carrera RS 2.7. Passers-by often remarked, "Oh, a car!"
or sometimes, "Hey, a racecar!" and even occasionally, "Look, a Porsche!”
but nobody said, "Hey look, a 1973 Porsche 911 Carrera RS 2.7!" I'm not
sure why, because it should have been obvious from the ducktail spoiler
on the deck lid. I guess my sand sculpture skills must need some work.
We built the car approximately quarter-scale
and had to shape the proportions from memory (or lack thereof) and a notable
shortage of talent. I was thinking that next summer, we should make a club
effort at the event and build a full-scale sand Porsche. Is there anyone
out there with some artistic or engineering talent?
I think a club effort sand sculpture would
be a lot of fun, plus being a great opportunity for the club to do something
more family-oriented. By the way, adjacent to Crane Beach is Castle Hill
where this month is the Concours d’Elegance on Sunday September 23rd.
It's a great event, so stop by if you have a chance, and bring the whole
family! This is a very popular event so I recommend arriving early.
I always look for ways to share my automotive
interests with my boys. I was not fortunate enough to grow up in a "car"
family. My father was not into sports cars at all. He drove vans and station
wagons and all sorts of big, boring American sedans. Although I remember
a black Dodge Dart with pushbutton transmission on the dashboard that I
thought was pretty cool. Another impressive feature many of their cars
had was a hidden gas cap. Sometimes there was a secret panel that opened.
One car had the filler hidden behind the license plate. The plate was on
a hinge and you had to guess that the plate hinged down so you could fill
the car. We'd park at the filling station and be entertained watching the
poor attendant running around looking for the gas cap. Sometimes he had
to ask us where it was, then we felt like we won the game. It certainly
would have been more fun if Dad drove a 356 Cabriolet or something, but
I had to settle for getting my jollies out of a gas cap. I don't know if
there was really a point to this hidden gas cap feature, other than the
entertainment value.
My oldest brother, who was somewhat of
a hippie, had some pretty cool cars though. He'd put on his thick-rimmed
glasses, which nicely complemented his long hair and sideburns. Then he'd
hop into his customized van, which was painted like an American flag. I
think he got the idea from Peter Fonda's motorcycle in movie Easy Rider.
My brother would shove an 8-track into the deck and drive off listening
to "Born to be Wild". The best car he had though was a metal-flake
gold Mustang Mach I. It was a wicked cool muscle car. I remember the dashboard
being very high and not being able to see out the windshield because I
was too little. Later, he got married and had a purple metallic Toyota
Corolla. Wow man, a little Japanese car! That was pretty wild back then.
My other brother was pretty normal; long
hair, but no sideburns. However, by the late 70's, he actually had a '68
Camaro Rally Sport, which I thought was pretty cool, especially after I
got my license and was able to drive it a few times. At his wedding, his
friends used shaving cream to write all sorts of lewd, but funny comments
on his car. ("She got hers, now he'll get his", etc.) The next day
(presumably after "he got his"), my brother washed his car, but found that
the shaving cream bleached the paint and you could still read all the words!
Another life lesson learned. |
