Ah, Boulder. As soon as you come over the hill on 36 and get the first glimpse of the city, you also get to drive past a green Suburu. This year they are a touch different, in that they have Obama stickers on them as well as “Dog is my pilot”, “My karma ran over my dogma”, and “Impeach Bush”.
When back in Colorado, I get to drive a 1972 International Scout. Think of a Jeep that was made by a company that made tractors and the like. Oh, and it is banana yellow.
Here is Sam enjoying driving it:
It can take awhile to warm up and get started, it doesn’t handle great, and you don’t want to put your foot down in it, and these are reasons why I love it. It slows you down. The mountains slow you down. It is also interesting to think about it is a car that doesn’t have 500 computer chips in it, and you could open up Car Mechanics for Dummies and actually do something with it.
As I drove the Scout to the airport I not only nodded as I had the Suburus go by, but I also saw a disproportionate number of VW Passats, just like years ago when I lived in Boulder. I remember test driving one and thinking about getting it. You know, the Audi without the price tag and the stigma. I decided against it, and turned out to be very glad as this was just when the VW plants were moved south of the border to save money. Quality tanked, and we quickly saw less and less VM Passats and Jettas, as Toyota kept on marching along.
If you ever see me with a dog in the front seat of a green Suburu, remind me of this post and shout loudly at me :)
July 29th, 2008 at 8:58 am
When I was in high school, I dated a guy who drove a Scout. His was more “pale dirt” than “banana,” though. Four-cylinder, and if you made a sharp right (left? I forget) it stalled out because, he explained, the four-cylinder was really half an eight, and all the gas went to the side of the engine that wasn’t there. (Surprisingly, that’s almost correct.)
I think half his (very small) graduating class had bets on whether he’d take me to prom in it. He didn’t; he borrowed his folks’ K-car instead (oh, I just dated myself, didn’t I?) which, as a result of unfamiliarity, resulted in a spectacular prom arrival: while attempting to signal the turn into the parking lot, he honked the horn, turned on the wipers, washed the windshield, and flashed the brights. We lacked only a guy walking in front of us waving a red flag and shouting “THE NERDS HAVE ARRIVED!”
July 29th, 2008 at 9:37 am
That is a cherry scout!!! I am jealous. I had a 1972 medium olive green K5 Blazer that I wish I would have never sold.
You hit the nail right on the head. You have to slow down in it. I don’t think mine would have done 70. It had 4:11 gears in the axle and physically couldn’t turn any faster.
July 29th, 2008 at 9:46 am
Funny how our fingers get so used to typing certain things that they develop a mind of their own. I’m guessing you deal with virtual machines so much that your fingers are determined to type VM instead of VW. Either that, or VMware now manufactures the Passat and I missed the news.
July 29th, 2008 at 10:18 am
@Karen
Ahh, he should have taken you to prom in the Scout!
@Bryan
Mine gets to 70 once it warms up, but it isn’t happy, and there isn’t a rush anyway!
@Kelzer
Doh, thanks. amazing how I type X and think I typed Y.
July 29th, 2008 at 10:27 pm
Ha Ha ..I simply love the scout……
July 30th, 2008 at 8:56 am
My first car in high school (6 years ago) was a ‘72 Scout. At the time I didn’t appreciate it much because it needed a lot of work and I wasn’t that interested in cars. Now, I’d love to get another one as a project car.
July 31st, 2008 at 7:45 pm
Well, but I’m showing my age if I point out that Back Then, it was Not Cool to be a geek/nerd.
(I just looked him up, and hey, looks like he owns (and probably founded) a $25mil/year company. Not in our hometown, though, so I suppose none of the jocks work for him now.)
Not that a K-car (station wagon, as I recall) was much higher on the totem pole than a Scout, but Back Then, the Scout was merely oldish and not yet venerable.
January 26th, 2009 at 6:38 pm
i had a 74 grand torino 351 cleveland … it was the bomb… i see clint eastwood has a 73 in his new movie …..