He drove what?

With the stunningly patient and mighty fine SML out West doing a host o'things like getting CAL settled in her new digs; spending time with her parents and the Awesomes, and most importantly, buying a mess of tortillas from Costco (our WASPy state doesn't seem to allow them - I still blame Martha Stewart for this travesty), the Boy and I are enjoying some cool quality time together.

I'm not being snarky about that.  I am one blessed, lucky Dad.  I've got a teen-age son who, in spite of a life full of activity, doesn't seem to mind hanging out with his parents.  And more importantly, he doesn't seem to mind talking to us. We had some fun conversations today and one took us down the path of the cars my father drove as I was growing up.

My dad was a serious man.  He was an attorney who took enormous pride in the dignity of the profession and was appalled by lawyer jokes.  He was a dedicated servant in Church and to God.  As I described him when I spoke at his funeral, "Dad was the kind of man who would have been more comfortable mowing the lawn in a suit."  So it's no surprise, in answer to the Boy's question, I said, "Sedans.  Big, American sedans like Ford LTD's and Buick Park Avenues." Thanks to the miracle of the interwebs, as we sat in a restaurant pounding down crabcakes, swordfish, and lobster rolls, the Boy pulled up a couple images of said 1970's era land yachts.  Then I told him, "Well, there was the one year when he drove a Datsun 280ZX."  Once I explained that Datsun was Nissan, the Boy's jaw hit the ground.  "He drove what?"  And within seconds, he had an image of the car.  "You mean, Grandpa drove this?"

Yep, Grandpa drove this, son.

If only for one year, Grandpa had the closest thing his personality allowed to a mid-life crisis.  He drove a black Datsun 280ZX with a 5-speed transmission. This action was totally incongruous with who he was.  I think the stocks of both Ford and GM fell several percentage points the day he leased that Datsun.

I was ecstatic about this car.  Dad was in the habit of leasing a car every three years and I was 13 when he got this and it took about two seconds for me to do the math.  I'd be turning 16 when he would return the car.  I decided then and there that I would launch a one-man effort to make sure it would be my car. Even at 13, weighing about 90 lbs and with puberty still a ways off, I knew if I had a cool car when I was 16, I might have a chance with the ladies.  As information, I was an idiot then.

Suffice to say, Dad took a ribbing with pretty much everyone who knew him when he got this car.  It only lasted one year in the family garage.  He would be back in a Buick by early 1980.  My dreams of getting the ladies with my 280ZX were shattered.  Dad's fondness for the OMC, or Old Man Car, lives on with me today.  I have an OMC and I'm fine with that.

What I'm really fine with was the good time the Boy and I had talking today.  It was great to relive some of those memories of growing up and sharing some stories with him about my Dad.  It was fun to see him processing the image of his Grandpa driving a sports car.  Most importantly, it was good to have the time with my son today.  Like I said, I'm pretty lucky.