I got to do something tonight that was fun and a childhood dream.
We all know that Back to The Future is a great trilogy of movies. The acting is good, the storylines are good, and the car is, well – the car. That car added a degree to the films that was special, and as a child from the 80’s I loved that car. It was so cool looking. It had those great gull-wing doors. It was bare metal. I was a car kid as well so I always found the car interesting. (as I got older and learned more about them they lost some of that appeal, but it was still a cool car). For those of you that don’t know, that car was a DeLorean.
Where I live right now in Chandler I have a neighbor that owns a DeLorean. He has had it since I moved in. During most of that time the car hasn’t run. I have seen him work on it, and he even had to sent out a few times to get work done on it. In the last few months I noticed that he has been driving it (ok, just a few times total). A week ago I thought to myself, “If I don’t do it now I may never get the chance again.” Do what? Well, I decided to ask my neighbor if he would take me for a drive in the DeLorean.
He was surprised that I would ask because he didn’t realize that I would be interested in getting a ride in it. He had never thought that I might be interested, even though I owned an old car (as he put it). He readily agreed to find a night before I left to take me around in it.
That night was tonight. The kids are gone, and my wife is still in Idaho so I figured tonight would be good for me, and I asked him and it was good for him. So, at 8pm we met up and he took me around the area. He got out onto the main roads to get up to 45mph, but mostly we spent time in the neighborhood. We got a chance to chat about cars, jobs, and life a little. It was fun.
But then as we were heading back into the neighborhood he said, “Hey, you know how to drive a stick shift, would you like to drive it the rest of the way home?” I was like, “Oh yeah! Absolutely!” So, he pulled over and let me drive it the rest of the way home. Talk about amazing! It was so much fun.
Now for the car as a whole – The AC worked great! Which was nice because it was still 107 degrees when we headed out at 8pm. The seats are terribly uncomfortable. I don’t have a big butt, and my butt was too big to fit well in them. The car was a bit stiff as well. The car is heavy so the acceleration is nonexistent (and I drive a VW Beetle), and the steering (not power steering) was a workout.
But so much fun! I can check a bucket list item off the list (if I had a bucket list that is, and if I did I am sure this would have been on it). I am thankful for nice neighbors. I will miss them. I didn’t get to know them that well, but they have always been very kind and pleasant.