Tuesday, April 27, 2010

hey batta batta sa-wing

my first car was a 1964 volkswagon squareback. factory sun roof with an aftermarket leak. it was the eighties, so i had to lower it for the look. 135’s in the front with positive camber in the rear for that squatty stance. added dual exhaust to improve that v-dub purr, converted it to 12 volt for the alpine stereo cassette deck, installed a hurst shifter with the trigger lock for safety (hindsight i should have had the e-break fixed), put on roof racks for functionality and covered the rear seat with a mexican blanket.

i thought i was cool. so cool that i didn’t need to change the oil.
only right now are the similarities of driving and baseball becoming apparent. between parallel and park, hit and run, distance and accuracy, eyes on the ball/road, throwing a ball or a rod… {until now, i wasn’t even sure i’d be able to tie the two together.}

train of thought - if you’re still with me: the title reminded me of ferris bueller’s day off which was right around the time i started driving. coupled with a recent conversation about first cars and since i typically open a little wordy... i thought i’d rattle on for a bit and while i may still have your attention.

here’s how the baseball event played out
hitting
n.g. 1st
j.b 2nd
t.d. 3rd

throwing
d.f. 1st
n.g. 2nd
s.m 3rd

scoring
n.g. 1st 5pts
d.f. 2nd 4pts +1 discretionary point for bring beer and coordinating the event
j.b. 3rd 3pts
s.m 4th 1pt + 1 discretionary point for placing in an event
t.d. 4th 1pt + 1 discretionary point for placing in an event
a.l. 5th 1pt
j.s. 5th 1pt
f.g. 5th 1pt
p.n. 5th 1pt
j.w. 5th 1pt

cheers david

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Shawn, I can't compete with your cool first car status as mine was an a used Ford Ranger I bought in '87. I only have 4 significant memories of the car:
1) it never broke down.
2) at UCSB, I always had to pick up the keg.
3) i had a Kenwood stereo and Infinity speakers in the truck and since the cab was about 5 square feet, I could blow out some ear drums in that thing.
4) a year+ removed from college, I got my first pharmaceutical job and i sold the truck to my new boss' son. This is memorable because they lived in Phoenix and the truck did NOT have AC. And of course he started having mechanical issues about a year or two later. Surprisingly, i am still good friends with him today!

Neal

Anonymous said...

My first car was also a VW but a slightly cooler model than Shawn’s – a sky blue Volkswagen Scirocco. The registration number was 99 PIK, traveling trough Holland was a source of amusement for the locals since “Pik” is the dutch equivalent of “Prick”. I had a different oil problem, after changing the oil one Sunday morning I took the car for a drive in the countryside. When I got home there was a horrible smell of burning oil and on opening the bonnet (as it is called over there) I found 4 quarts of oil covering the engine instead of inside it. No permanent damage but I omitted to mention it to the guy who bought the car from me later – sweet car to drive
-by f.g.