Why a Roadster?
Why did a guy who's not a Car Guy get a Roadster?
I guess it's because of what came before, so bear with me– I'm writing this for no good reason other than fun and to maybe uncover why I got myself into this mess.
But first, one of the many reasons I'm disqualified from being a Car Guy, is because I've only owned 5 daily drivers over the last 37 years (and a brief stint with an important sixth car).
I reckon most of you have bought and sold that many cars in 2021 already.
My car history:
Car #1: Volvo
An early 70's mustard yellow station wagon my mother had bought new. It was handed down to my brother the race-car driver (much more about him later), then handed off to my other brother the drummer in a rock band, then on to my sister who is an angel, and finally on to me.
So, other than my sister, imagine what that poor car went through before it got to me – and I certainly didn't make its life any better.
It barely limped along by the time I got it, and was definitely not the chick-magnet a high school boy dreams about. As a matter of fact it was so ugly it looked like – well, it looked like a mustard yellow Volvo station wagon – it was
that ugly.
But it was a more efficient source of transportation than a skateboard, and got me to and from the San Francisco surf for a year or so – until I finally caused its premature demise – death of a thousand cuts – and by 'cuts', I mean crashes. Full disclosure: my nickname in high school was "Crash"– True story, and I earned it.
Car #2: Datsun 510
My race-car brother opened his first performance auto shop when I was 15 or 16, and after the Volvo passed away, my brother took on the task of finding me another car.
He called me one day and said, "I have a car for you. Come get it and bring $500". So, I took the bus to San Rafael, skated to his shop and saw this awesome 2-door lowered Datsun 510. With mags and Yokohamas. Orange, with a black-primer hood and, get this, 'Evidence Tape' across the doors and the hood and the trunk. My brother had a deal with a towing company who owed him some money, and they had impounded this 510 used in a bank robbery.
THIS was the chick magnet a high school boy dreams of!
Apparently my brother hadn’t really even looked at the car before I got there (I think he already had a couple of 510s). And when we opened the hood to assess it, he started yelling loudly: “Fudge! Fudge! Fudge!!!†(but he pronounced it with a lot less soft 'g', and a lot more hard ‘k’ sounds *).
Anyway, I kinda freaked out – figured I just blew $500 and bus fare.
But, actually what he saw was that the air cleaner was rubbing on the underside of the hood, so he immediately recognized it as the bigger engine from a Datsun pickup truck (L20B???). So he was cussing because he just sold his stupid little brother a cool 510 with an awesome engine… but he stuck to his word and the car was mine.
And that car was incredible. Super fast, and handled like a slot car. The closest I’ve ever been to being a Car Guy…
…and was likely the only reason I ever got a girlfriend.
It did have a perpetual gas fume leak though, which may explain some things.
5+ years later, and the 510 (“Brodie†) finally had enough. After moving to San Diego for college, my new neighbors filed a formal complaint about the blue smoke every morning – I was given a fine and a fix-it. Couldn’t fix it. So, sadly, Brodie went off to the junkyard… sigh…
Best $500 I’ve ever spent.
Car #3: 1979 Toyota FJ40
This was the ideal surf rig, and I drove it into Northern Baja Mexico weekly to go surfing, even a couple of times to Cabo.
When I reluctantly sold it, I found a handful of rotted $20 bills under the carpet. I had stashed them there to pay off the Federales every time they pulled over that long-haired gringo in a Landcruiser with surfboards on top. That actually happened a lot, probably every 3rd trip down, so the hidden twenties came in handy.
After graduating college, for years I commuted an hour each way to San Clemente in that car, and finally sold it when we had our first baby daughter… it just wasn’t the Family Truckster nor the Gas Efficient Commuter.
Sometime during that time we bought our 1953 Airstream trailer (for $1000!), so the next car I bought was:
Car #4: 1999 Jeep Grand Cherokee V8 with tow package.
Great car. Uneventful… other than the fact that we traveled all over the West - trailering, fishing, surfing, hunting, a couple trips to Cabo, and I never had a lick of trouble.
After about 200,000+ miles I upgraded to my current car:
Car #5: 2005 Toyota 4Runner V8 with tow package
I love this car to this day - even at 175,000 miles. It’s gotten me in and out of a lot of incredible places… I’ve trailered all over the west with it. I’d buy another one in a second.
And lastly, Car #6: A brief, steamy affair with a Chrysler Sebring convertible.
This proved to be a very important car.
My older daughter had just gotten her driver license, but we hadn’t gotten her a car yet, so she would drop me at work on her way to school, and then she or my wife would come pick me up - only a 4 mile commute.
One day, she came to pick me up and we had to get to a bank quickly to deposit a check that day. So, we navigate to the bank in time, but it’s closed because of a power outage, so now we’re in a real hurry to find another branch before it closes… she’s driving, I’m barking directions… not fun. And we miss the bank. We’re both cranky.
It was a quiet drive home, and I’m thinking I have to get this poor girl a car - for the sake of familial peace - and just then, as we drive past my neighbor’s – he’s standing out on the corner looking like a lunatic about to explode. We stop, I cautiously roll down the window an inch or two, and while he's pointing at a very tired looking Chrysler Sebring Convertible, he insists that I have to “Buy this fudging* car right now!!!â€
(He buys and sells cars and was helping us look for a car)
Story is he had just bought the Chrysler for his stepdaughter. She came outside, looked up from her phone, and said that it was ‘too ugly’, stared back down at her phone and walked back into the house.
Now you know why he was fuming.
So, I said, “What are you talking about??? No. That thing’s not even close to what I’m looking for. And it
is ugly.â€
Neighbor says, “Runs great. Power convertible top works. It’ll get you through the summer until we find your daughter a car.â€
“How much?â€
“$500
“I’ll be right back with cash.â€
I have very little shame.
Fast forward a couple of months – We bought my daughter a Prius, I got my 4Runner back.
But that Chrysler (I called it the ‘Sebring-It-On’) lasted two summers and was the second-best five hundred bucks I’ve ever spent.
Sebring-It-On was hideously awesome and was responsible for getting me hooked on a convertible.
You see where I’m going with this? Roadsters are convertibles.
But even more important than that is that my race-car brother actually owned a 1970 2000 Roadster when I was young… my favorite car he’s ever had.
Next up… the Search and the Find. And shorter, I promise.
* Extra Credit: Further research – nearly 8 minutes of gripping video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vqL9ivPb09A
vs.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6YJdNE8na9M
) about whether or not this forum has run its course, I feel a responsibility to contribute. 
