This whole subject is frightening and amusing at the same time... as my
daughters are turning 15 and 13 shortly.
Kate, my eldest, has had an interesting journey in her automotive tastes.
(Don't s'pose I should take any of the blame on this, huh?) She starts
driver's ed this summer.
Her first "must have" car that she claimed she'd drive when she got her
license was a Lamborghini... :). Then, she decided on a Stealth Turbo. We
were getting closer to reality when Jim Donato's brother John, a Chrysler
engineer brought a hand built right hand drive second generation Neon to the
race at Grattan a few years ago. She got a ride during track touring, and
that soon became the car she said she would get when she got her license.
Lately, as a high school freshmen, she's been bopping around with her
friends in a Toyota Rav4... and inevitibly it has become her favorite.
Last week, I explained to her that my '84 BMW 733i was likely to be the "car
she would be allowed to drive" as opposed to "her car". Of course this was
met with all sorts of protestations. I announced my one concession on her
"free ticket to ride" would be that if she kept it clean, and learned to do
minor maintenance, I would put a CD player in it for her.
I also explained that her mother and I both drove $100 cars for the first
few years of our marriage, which was all we could afford. I also explained
that back in 1971, my first car was a 1948 Plymouth Special Deluxe Club
Coupe... a 23 year old car. In 2002 when she gets her license, the BMW will
be a relatively young 18 years old.
My thinking is this very stout, well built, heavy, safe, 4 wheel disc brake,
well engineered, (crush zones... not just marketing hype) sedan was a far
better choice than some POS lightweight newer econo car, even with the
addition of airbags in more "modern" cars. (First time I ever catch her or
her friends driving without seatbelts, the car gets put away for a month.)
WST
(My father's best advice ever... "Boy... if you've got a girl or a car...
you've got a problem!".)
-----Original Message-----
From Glen Byrns <grbyrns at ucdavis.edu>
To: James Kleemeyer <jkk@adams.net>
Cc: spridgets@autox.team.net <spridgets@autox.team.net>
Date: Thursday, March 08, 2001 9:49 AM
Subject: Re: First Day Over, No LBC
>day 1 daughter gets license
>day 2 daughter gets beat to sh** Tercel given to me by friend
>day 3 dad yells from garage "Hey, you wreck that POS yet?"
>day 100 daughter gets first speeding ticket (thats my girl!!) dad throws
>her a map to local court
> and says "Fess up, pay up, shut up."
>
>Regards,
>Glen Byrns
>
>> Sunday- Daughter turns 16
>> Monday- One day reprieve (DMV closed)
>> Tuesday- Take Daughter to get her license
>> Wednesday- Let Daughter take V-6 Probe to school, worry all day, get home
>> and nonchalantly walk around car twice. While eating supper, Daughter
says
>> to wife, "Did you ever notice how gray Dad's hair is getting?"
>>
>> Jim K.
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