Emotional attachments

I don’t really get attached to guns. Sure, the guns my dad has given me for presents, the 10,000 round Colt; I’m attached to those. But for the most part, I get about as emotional about guns as I get about baseball bats. Obviously, not all shooters feel the same way, and some feel quite strongly about guns. I imagine if I had a 25,000 Italian over/under shotgun I might be a bit more emotionally attached to that. But you know what I do get attached to? Cars.

Fozzie

That’s my Subaru Forester. It is the third car I ever owned, and the 2nd car I bought with my own money. It followed a 1994 Mitsubishi Mighty Max pickup truck and a 1998 Ford Explorer Sport, all of which gave great service. I shed a single, manly tear when I traded in the Explorer for that car, and that’s okay because trading in a car that’s carried you for 150,000 miles is a perfectly manly reason to shed a single tear. That’s what really gets to me about cars – all our lives are just a journey from the point of our birth to the point of our death, and for so many of us our cars are linked to that journey. My Explorer carried me around during college, back and forth to Virginia, then back to Indiana where I eventually bought the Subaru. The Fozzie drove me to work, on vacation, to my first Bianchi Cup. It carried me and all my earthly belongings when I left Indiana to move to Washington. I met my wife in Washington, and she drove the Subaru for a time; when it was finally time to move to Sioux Falls, what car did I ship across the country? Not my Charger, no it was my loyal little donkey, the Fozzie.

Even today, 95,000 miles and 7 years later, it’s great to drive. It was never the fastest car, or the best handling, but you can’t drive it on a dirt road without feeling like the car is saying to you, “Let’s go faster! I am a rally car, I really am!” There is a plucky, undeniably joyful spirit that this car carries.

If you’re wondering what the point of this post is, well to be honest there isn’t one. Some people get attached to guns. I get attached to cars. If you’d like to share a story about your favorite gun, a car you loved, or something that you carried that you’d swear has a personality, please feel free to do so in the comments.

8 Comments

  1. I just lost my beloved 4Runner to an inattentive driver. When I settled down I sold nearly all of my cars and motorcycles to fund a house and all that jazz. The 4Runner was my first vehicle purchase that wasn’t for purely practical purposes. Two months into ownership, an out-of-towner turned left across my lane, totalling it.

    We can rebuild him; we have the technology. It’ll be much cooler when it’s all said and done, but it hurts to see it sitting there smashed up.

  2. I have a 2000 Toyota Celica, GT-S. First car I bought for myself. I’ve had it around race tracks, taken it apart completely and put it back together faster and better, and driven it 45 minutes to work every day for seven years. That stupid jump in the power band when lift engages still cheers me up every day on the on-ramp on the way home for work. I tell people the premium gas is still cheaper than therapy, and that’s exactly what the motorcycle-like whine of the little 1.8 L engine is for me.

    At the track or autocross, it’s nothing special. Just a cheap little car with too much understeer, wrong-wheel drive, and not enough power. But every day on the drive home I can at least pretend I’m the fastest thing on the road.

    I’ve moved entire apartments in that little hatch back, and get over 30 mpg in the same weekend that I place in the Sport Touring class in autocross.

    But… this year the paint decided it had had enough. The whole front lost the clear coat in our first winter storm, and my little bit of fun now looks like some teenager’s rust bucket. The cost of a proper repaint is worth more than the car is, with its 185,000 miles… I’m probably going to get something more properly fast when I finally get rid of it (sometime after my wife gets a new minivan to support our upcoming 2nd child), but I’m going to miss it. Even when I go out test driving much better, much faster cars… nothing feels as nimble as that little wee beastie.

  3. I too bought a Forrester. I bought it for my wife because of their safety and dependability. The wife calls it the Honey Badger cause it don’t give a shit. Highway, gravel, rough dirt roads, it likes them all. We don’t usually get a lot of snow but we did this year. The Forrester took that surefooted as everything else.

    Sadly, two weekends ago some asshat came across 4 lanes of traffic and tried to enter my lane with me in it. The HB took the hit and kept me, my wife and 4 year old son safe. It is being rebuilt now. It did make the wife cry and gave me a sick feeling deep in my gut to see it smashed. I guess we are pretty attached to it as well.

  4. I had this Subaru SVX. You know the car I’m sure. That thing was my favorite car of any I have owned. I had it for a few years and 40,000 miles, and it was well mannered in town, plus, if you felt like really pushing it, actually hit the 155mph advertised top speed if you really wanted it to. Sadly, I had to give it up when my wife and I had children, but the memory remains. Anytime I go car shopping, i secretly look for another, mainly just to see it. I seem to be emotionally attached to motorcycles of any stripe as well. for us gun nuts, guns may be a a symbol of freedom, but to me, that’s the ultimate in freedom and joy for me to ride.

  5. I’m still driving my first truck. I’ve had it 20 years now. Just dropped in a new motor with fuel injection. I don’t get attached to cars, really I’ll sell it, when I’m dead.

  6. Is that a 2008? I have the same car. Bought it last year with just 35K miles on it. Love it. Performed admirably during all the snow this winter.

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