By special request

Loyal follower Susan wrote from Australia to ask for a pix of me and my favorite car. This is a Polaroid shot from 1984. I bought the car new in 1971; it’s a ‘72 Porsche 914. Powered by four mighty fuel-injected cylinders, it had a 5-speed manual tranny, 4-wheel disc brakes, removable top, and the owner’s manual started with the sentence, “This car is made to be driven fast.” That part is what I actually did and got a ticket for my effort (only once!). One weekend Karla and I drove it from Hollywood to Nelder Grove north of Oakhurst and back on a single filling of the fuel tank. It worked out to almost 50MPG (4.7 liters per hundred km). If I wasn’t worried about mileage, I liked to drive it at 80MPH whenever I could since that was when it was happiest. Sadly, that wasn’t always possible.

I still own it, but unfortunately it’s in need of refurbishment. It should get a complete overhaul and new paint and interior. The reason I stopped driving it was the poor condition of our road, which caused the car to bottom out on some of the rough spots. Not wanting to ruin it, I parked it and it got ruined. Oh well.