fatcircles
01-29-2008, 03:34 PM
http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showpost.php?p=20916062&postcount=1
Everything you need to know in life can be learned form a Datsun 510
I have always been a gear head. I can remember loving to have hot wheels with me wherever I went. I use to read every article on every car in every magazine I could get my eyes on as if my very being was defined by my encyclopedic knowledge of cars. The sickness began the first time I let out a clutch and felt the inertia of a flywheel propel me forward in what seemed like a rush of unabated joy and excitement. That feeling is still rooted deep in my being. As all things evolve, my knowledge of automobiles grew and changed based on need. I learned to turn a wrench on cars out of a need to get to work and school. Just keeping things running was a challenge and an education. Cars can teach you everything from humility, to economics, to shame, to pride. From my hand me down salvage title Datsun 510, to my moms 83 tercel, to my lateral G inducing 74 Trans Am, all the way to my STI, each car has taught me valuable lessons and were instrumental in shaping my views on cars and people along the way. Sure there were also other cars along the way that were notable, but I when I look back, I can still recall my Datsuns vague 4 speed and its impossibly narrow bias ply tires. I can still remember rebuilding my moms 83 tercel carb. I will never forget my 74 trans am and the countless hours adjusting the valves and working on the engine of what was still the fastest straight line car I have ever been in. Currently I am in my STI, which is no doubt the best all around performance car I will ever own in my life time. Each was like a chapter, and I can easily divide my life into what car I was driving at the time. Basically cars are as part of my psyche as hemoglobin is to my blood. I am a car nut. And I would wager many of you are as well.
I remember a time when I would argue over tenths of a second and lose sleep at night if I did not pull on that Mustang like I thought I should from the light. I can recall days of building small blocks to be able to beat the guy in town with the hemi, whoever he was. I would obsess over every little detail to the n’th degree from wax to air pressure. I can recall a day when my happiness was directly tapped into the way my car was running that day. Many a night I spent pissed because I bogged a bit on that one race.
I see people on this board doing the same things I use to do. Arguing to the death about this car is faster than that car. And this car can out corner that car. When in the end, it really just does not matter. In the end you drive home what you can afford and it’s just fine. You can easily make do with less if you had to. But we don’t want to. We are car guys/gals. When a car guy ages, a few absolute truths become more and more apparent. This is wisdom that cannot be just read, it is something that becomes true and one day it hits you in a moment of clarity. Now this is only for real died in the wool car guys here and all the rules apply in varying degrees, but the best I can figure, here they are:
No matter how good of a driver you think you are, there is somebody else that will be better than you.
No matter how fast your car is, somebody else’s car going to be faster.
There is an inherent beauty to buying a car and learning to drive it stock, as the further away you get away from stock, the more lopsided and unbalanced your car can become.
If your enjoyment of your car comes from the opinions of others, then you will never truly be happy behind the wheel. And if you’re not happy when you drive, you have completely missed the point of driving. There is a bus waiting for you.
The fastest way to enjoy driving more is to become a better driver. Realize that you are probably the cars weakest link and work on getting better. Every step you take towards becoming a driver takes you one step away from being a commuter.
The amount of HP your car has does not directly equate to the amount of fun your car is to drive.
I hear all the bickering of people on this model STI vs this model EVO X, it echos back and forth the ghosts of conversations of the 04 STI vs 04 EVO, and the Bugeye vs RS. It’s always the same argument over and over in which there is no real winner. There are only people who place large amounts of their happiness on a cars performance numbers printed in a magazine. I have been there, I have held up my copy of motor week defiant to anybody who would not sing the praises of my 1999 Integra GSR….VTEC yo. It is just an argument not worth having. Get in the car, turn the key and enjoy the music. Learn what the car has to teach you.
Long before I knew what Pwned meant. Long before I could even has a cheeseburger, I was a car guy. Before I put on my first flame suit and disagreed with a moderator the first time, I was a car guy. Before I even LOL’ed I was a car guy. All those who magazine race for a living need to realize that in 4 years it won’t matter. Enjoy what you drive and learn to appreciate it for what it is. The measure of your worth is not measured what you drive, more it’s measured in how much you enjoy driving. Cars come and go, and today’s magazine queen will be tomorrows 5th place comparo result. The auto industry always puts out bigger, better, faster, meaner, pricer, etc. Nothing is stagnant. Enjoy the now, the present, and don’t sacrifice it over what will be here tomorrow.
Before you prepare yourself to do battle and argue over a tenth of a second here or there, ask yourself if it really matters. In the end of a day, the guy who enjoys his car the most is the real winner. My slow poke datsun 510 taught me that. It was slow, and I knew it. But I never closed the door and walked away without a smile on my face. Much faster cars never brought me that much joy.
SCRAPPYDO
I think that is something that a lot of you are trying to say but can't write it out clear enough
Everything you need to know in life can be learned form a Datsun 510
I have always been a gear head. I can remember loving to have hot wheels with me wherever I went. I use to read every article on every car in every magazine I could get my eyes on as if my very being was defined by my encyclopedic knowledge of cars. The sickness began the first time I let out a clutch and felt the inertia of a flywheel propel me forward in what seemed like a rush of unabated joy and excitement. That feeling is still rooted deep in my being. As all things evolve, my knowledge of automobiles grew and changed based on need. I learned to turn a wrench on cars out of a need to get to work and school. Just keeping things running was a challenge and an education. Cars can teach you everything from humility, to economics, to shame, to pride. From my hand me down salvage title Datsun 510, to my moms 83 tercel, to my lateral G inducing 74 Trans Am, all the way to my STI, each car has taught me valuable lessons and were instrumental in shaping my views on cars and people along the way. Sure there were also other cars along the way that were notable, but I when I look back, I can still recall my Datsuns vague 4 speed and its impossibly narrow bias ply tires. I can still remember rebuilding my moms 83 tercel carb. I will never forget my 74 trans am and the countless hours adjusting the valves and working on the engine of what was still the fastest straight line car I have ever been in. Currently I am in my STI, which is no doubt the best all around performance car I will ever own in my life time. Each was like a chapter, and I can easily divide my life into what car I was driving at the time. Basically cars are as part of my psyche as hemoglobin is to my blood. I am a car nut. And I would wager many of you are as well.
I remember a time when I would argue over tenths of a second and lose sleep at night if I did not pull on that Mustang like I thought I should from the light. I can recall days of building small blocks to be able to beat the guy in town with the hemi, whoever he was. I would obsess over every little detail to the n’th degree from wax to air pressure. I can recall a day when my happiness was directly tapped into the way my car was running that day. Many a night I spent pissed because I bogged a bit on that one race.
I see people on this board doing the same things I use to do. Arguing to the death about this car is faster than that car. And this car can out corner that car. When in the end, it really just does not matter. In the end you drive home what you can afford and it’s just fine. You can easily make do with less if you had to. But we don’t want to. We are car guys/gals. When a car guy ages, a few absolute truths become more and more apparent. This is wisdom that cannot be just read, it is something that becomes true and one day it hits you in a moment of clarity. Now this is only for real died in the wool car guys here and all the rules apply in varying degrees, but the best I can figure, here they are:
No matter how good of a driver you think you are, there is somebody else that will be better than you.
No matter how fast your car is, somebody else’s car going to be faster.
There is an inherent beauty to buying a car and learning to drive it stock, as the further away you get away from stock, the more lopsided and unbalanced your car can become.
If your enjoyment of your car comes from the opinions of others, then you will never truly be happy behind the wheel. And if you’re not happy when you drive, you have completely missed the point of driving. There is a bus waiting for you.
The fastest way to enjoy driving more is to become a better driver. Realize that you are probably the cars weakest link and work on getting better. Every step you take towards becoming a driver takes you one step away from being a commuter.
The amount of HP your car has does not directly equate to the amount of fun your car is to drive.
I hear all the bickering of people on this model STI vs this model EVO X, it echos back and forth the ghosts of conversations of the 04 STI vs 04 EVO, and the Bugeye vs RS. It’s always the same argument over and over in which there is no real winner. There are only people who place large amounts of their happiness on a cars performance numbers printed in a magazine. I have been there, I have held up my copy of motor week defiant to anybody who would not sing the praises of my 1999 Integra GSR….VTEC yo. It is just an argument not worth having. Get in the car, turn the key and enjoy the music. Learn what the car has to teach you.
Long before I knew what Pwned meant. Long before I could even has a cheeseburger, I was a car guy. Before I put on my first flame suit and disagreed with a moderator the first time, I was a car guy. Before I even LOL’ed I was a car guy. All those who magazine race for a living need to realize that in 4 years it won’t matter. Enjoy what you drive and learn to appreciate it for what it is. The measure of your worth is not measured what you drive, more it’s measured in how much you enjoy driving. Cars come and go, and today’s magazine queen will be tomorrows 5th place comparo result. The auto industry always puts out bigger, better, faster, meaner, pricer, etc. Nothing is stagnant. Enjoy the now, the present, and don’t sacrifice it over what will be here tomorrow.
Before you prepare yourself to do battle and argue over a tenth of a second here or there, ask yourself if it really matters. In the end of a day, the guy who enjoys his car the most is the real winner. My slow poke datsun 510 taught me that. It was slow, and I knew it. But I never closed the door and walked away without a smile on my face. Much faster cars never brought me that much joy.
SCRAPPYDO
I think that is something that a lot of you are trying to say but can't write it out clear enough