Unseen Evil

It happens so fast.  One minute life seems a place of nearly unbearable normalcy, the next you are turned on your head (sometimes literally).  It’s a difficult position to find yourself in:  the forced decision to purchase a vehicle in a short time frame.

Sometimes the cause is a faulty head gasket; other times it is a faulty head.  In my friend Gordon’s case, it was the latter.  He was waiting patiently in his Mazda Miata for the traffic light to turn green (he has no other method of waiting, as he’s been accused of having “no concept of urgency” by some very close to him) when he was rear-ended by a Nissan Pathfinder (whose driver evidently had a very real sense of urgency).  They both climbed out to assess the damage, went to the back of the car, and quickly realized  that it did not look good for the little roadster.  That’s it.  Done.  Game over.  In an instant, he had to find a replacement.

I sensed what was coming next.  He, in a momentary lapse of judgment, asked me to help him seek out another car.  (I blame undiagnosed head trauma from the accident.)  This tends to happen often when you’re pigeon-holed as a “car guy.”  I’ve always found this a bit unfair since I also consider myself a  guitar guy, motorcycle guy, dog guy, coal stove guy, Greenland kayak guy, and–most certainly–an boutique/vintage amp guy.  Somehow people always seem to focus in on the car aspect of my limited knowledge base and attempt to employ me in their quest for The Perfect Car. Read more