SO, TODAY I FOUND MYSELF SAYING " WHAT THE HELL ".Perhaps it's time for a new car?
I mean after all, it's been 9 months with this one. So i drive on over to
" STREETER IMPORTS " which is the local dealer in reno for nissans.
Well-- would'nt you know it, they have, right there- in the front of the lot- a brand new " BLUE 350 Z roadster, 6 Speed with the Touring Package" .WOOOOHOOO-- SEE IT
Excuse me while i wipe the drool of my chin
So, anyways i no sooner set one foot on the lot and BOOMLIKE A HEAT SEEKING-- LASER GUIDED-- SMART CHIPED MISSLE-- IT'S ON ME--THE DREADED SALES GUY---EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK--NO ESCAPE AND I LEFT MY 40 IN THE CAR--DAM IT. I close my good eye and stare at him with my bad eye--no effect, he's still comming--dam it. I could still go back to my car and get my 40--AHH THE HELL WITH IT--IT'S PROBABLY AGAINST THE LAW ANYWAY.
Then i had a
flash and i figured what the hell, i feel the need to drive this thing and that means i gotta deal with this guy--so be it.
So, i say hi and shake his hand and introduce myself as mark
( after all that is my name) and he says " so what can i do for you today boss " and i have another flash but this one is definetly x rated and probably illeagle as well, so i continue on my mission and say " show me what you have on the lot for a 2003 350Z.
At this point things started to look up. He pointed to the blue one i had allready spotted and another which i had seen as well but had no interest in and i thought to myself " hey-- he did'nt even need to get help".
So i say to john--( because it's his name according to him )i want to sit in it--is it open, and he says " yup "--it's open".. Cool.
I swing my but into position and relaxed my leg muscells as usuall and i go into freefall-- and land with a comfortable plop--dang this sucker is low to the ground.I close the door and put the seat belt on, depress the clutch and grin for it actually requires some leg effort and continue by slipping the shifter into first and if the throw had been any shorter ther'd be no reason to shift--aaaahhhhhhh--sweet
So, i get the short but all important necesary necessity check started--vanity mirrors--cup holders--interior lights-heated leather seats-remote controls for mirrors--bosse sound system-selectable seat adjustment with programable memory--vdc--cruise controll--what no remote controls on the steering wheel for the stero--weeping heavly now--and whats this --no arm rest on the door--how strange--and god damit where's the freakin door handle--OH GOD---some one help me--i'm stuck in this car with a sales guy--damit where's my 40--at this point i'll shot myself never mind him.
So, i put my pride aside and say " ok--where's the door handle and at that very instant i see it cleverly deigned into the door panell--hmmmm--sweet. So i let myself out and get to the next leg of this journey and say " you got keys? " i wanna drive it and was having trouble concealling my grin.
He asks me if i have a license because he'll need to make a copy and i think to myself--no i do not have a license and i've been driving around with this new maxima and have'nt got caught yet what makes ya think we'll get caught today???. But instead the fail safe function in my brain kicked in and i heard myself say " i'll be right back-- it's in my car>
Now at this point john really starts to please me ( allright get your heads out of the gutter for a minuete ). He produces the key---yesssss--the key--my PRECIOUS and informs me that he has to drive the car of the lot---yeh--whatever--hey--maybee if i lean over and poke him int the eye just as he leaves the parking spot he'll slam into that purty 350zx luxury model in front of us--NAH--i'll think of somethoing later.
So john drives to some predetermined location and navigates a turn into a parking lot and stops and i'm thinking--yesss--me me me me me me me--my turn.
The next thing i knew i was in the drivers seat and the car was in 1st and taching 3 grand and i was wondering where in leapin lizards that stupid hydraulic clutch would engage but at 3 grand who cares the car was not about to stall--maybee lurch but definitely not stall--yeh-definitely not stall.
Well we did lurch (and who cares). I snapped 2nd gear and bounced into traffic, sllipped into 3rd gear and messhed with the traffic--john remained cool.
I found the on ramp for 395 right where it was yesterday ( thank god they got rid of those moving on ramps )and tooled up the ramp and hit 6th gear as we meshed with all 4 lanes-john remained cool. GOOD boy john.
The off ramp was comming up quick and so was i ( sorry )so i says to john i'll grap the next exit and head back on Virginia.John says why don't you grap the one after that and i'll take you to some roads with some really tight turns.
OK--so this time i put a bucket under my chin to catch the small river of drool that was running down my chin and adjusted a body part (sorry) and decided not to poke john in the eye--damit--i really did want to do that.
I saw the exit sign comming up for the next off ramp and glanced down at the speedometer--80 mph and noticed the car in front of me was breaking hard which meant i had to break harder. oh-yehhhhh--fast down shifts and mashin the brakes. i muttered some obsenity at the car in front of us and john calmly says " it's probably something to do with that cop car parked on the highway "--yeh--whatever as we sliped down the ramp and came to a stop.
Now-- i gotta admitt this is where the test drive really lit up.
I wasted no time finding the floorboard with the gas pedal ( john remained cool )dam, i was impressed with john. The 1st corner was comming up quick and i decided not to screw with the brakes but instead droped it into second and saw the tach jump to 6 grand and hung the corner and the true nature of this car
exposed it self. The z took that corner so sweet.We came out of the corner and i hit 3rd and saw that stupid Suburban in front of us and john says--PASS EM-- and i had allready made that decision but his statement and my execution of my own decision seemed to sync flawlessly. We no sooner passed the Subrban and had to navigate another hard turn. This time i did not bother with any down shifting or braking but instead powered up through the turn and again the Z took that corner and yawned and john and i must have looked like those weebles that wooble but they don't fall down.
So, right about now i know i am at the limit of my driving skills and decide i have enough of what i needed to know about this car and start to up shift and just chill and shift into 4th and and bring the tach down to 2 grand. Well at this time john starts muttering something about thosE two harleys getting in front of us and the likely hood of this being true is high- seeing as our street t-boned with another with one of those red signs that says stop.
HMMMM---what the hell--one more time. The more corners i took with this thing the more in love with it i fell.So,after negotiating that last turn where i had momentarily forgaten how to read i knew exactly where we were and decided john had been more that accomodating on this test drive so i whispered to all those 277 horses under the hood to go home and make sure we go by way of that ridiculous 90 degree turn--hehe--what can i say????
The remainder of the ride was uneventfull and i parked the car in the lot and got out. i no sooner got out and some one else got in--popular car for sure.
John in the meantime was doing his best to reel me in--so i set him straight but john had a card up his sleve and sicked his boss on me---DAM IT--WHERE'S MY 40---------------------
MACRO FLASH MEDIA NEEDED
QUICKIE
