caaaaaar

I blame Mark. (my brother Mark, that is.) Nearly a year ago, he put up a blog post entitled "I'm a year older, and my car is getting the presents," in which he, innocently enough, changed the brakes on his car. Which set off a chain of events in my brain, a very long chain of events, culminating in what happened yesterday.

See, I thought, well if Mark can work on his car, I can work on mine. (disregarding completely the *point* of his post, which was, take your car to the mechanic.) But somehow, this morphed in my brain into, not only can you work on your car, but you can buy a car for the express purpose of working on it. Because, you know, I need that type of thing in my life.

Aside... Truth to be old, I *do* need that type of thing in my life. I can't exist without a project, or two, or ten. I would shrivel up and cease to be. What would I research as I sit on the couch, ostensibly watching TV?

Probably, you see where this is going. Perhaps it's a surprise. Not so much to my loving, long-suffering, and incredibly understanding wife, who has, much to her dismay, seen this coming for some time now.

An admission. I've been shopping for a car, on craigslist, ebay motors, autotrader, and cars.com, for months. Many, many, months. I didn't make a big deal about it, because, well, I didn't have a real good reason for doing it, and so it was easier not to bring up.

So yeah. Enough with the beating around the bush. I bought a car.

A 1998 BMW M3, specifically. I wasn't going to make a big deal about it, but cars are a little hard to hide, and there's nothing to be ashamed of, right?

Ordinarily, no. People buy cars, nothing wrong with that. But I still do feel kind of furtive and secretive, and yes, a little ashamed about this particular purchase. Let's just put it out there in the open, shall we? It's a BMW. Picture an asshole. A Wall Street Banker, say. Makes too much money. Likes to flaunt it. What does he drive? You know the answer as well as I do. There's a sizable contingent that goes out and buys a brand new Bimmer for the sheer point of showing everyone else that they can. And I hate those guys just as much as you do. More, even, perhaps.

But here's the thing. Beyond being a status symbol for tools, they're also pretty nice cars. People that like to drive, like to drive them. When I went autocross racing last fall, there were a whole mess of people in BMW's, because they make fantastic race cars. Of course, so does a 1989 Honda Civic, but I digress.

What I'm getting at is, please forgive me for driving an asshole-mobile. That's not why I bought it. And it's not like it's brand new. It's eleven years old. I spent less on it than any car I've ever bought, and you know I'm not that type of person. Right?

(wow, I sound really defensive just there. Calm down Steve. Calm down. These are your friends.)

One of the reasons Lara wanted me to blog about the car is because anyone she tells asks her questions for which she has no good answer. This might be because there *is* no good answer, but I'll give it a whack. Here's a quasi-FAQ, feel free to nominate new questions to be answered:

A BMW M what-again? I thought BMW's had numbers, like 328i.
They do, mostly. An M3 is a sportier version of a normal 3-series, like a 328i. wikipedia on the m3

So is it fast?
It's fast enough.

Are you going to race it?
Yeah, I'd really like to. I had fun racing the Jetta last fall, and I'd really like to go more. It's a big part of why I bought the car.

What's wrong with it?
Not so much. Okay, some. Being as it's a 11 year old car, and being as I was looking for a bargain, and being as I sort of liked the idea of a project, it needs a little attention. Nothing huge, it runs fine, and is perfectly safe to drive, but the suspension needs a little work, and the interior has seen better days. One look at the seats will banish any lingering thoughts of "luxury car". Oh, and the liner for the driver's side door is falling off. :)

And you're going to fix all of these things? When?
Umm, while the kids are napping on weekends? After they go to sleep in the evening?

If you're looking for a new project, that must mean you've finished the basement finally, right? And the deck?
Ah, umm, well... Mostly?

Are you nuts?
Yes, yes I am. But I suspect you knew that long ago.

And Lara's okay with this?
I wouldn't say she was wild about the idea, but she's been very understanding.

How did you find it?
Through the above-mentioned months and months of obsessively scouring craigslist, etc. This one showed up on ebay. It was in Denver.

So you're selling the Jetta, right?
Sadly, yes. Not just yet, I want to fix a few things on the new car before I depend on it every day, and having the Jetta takes some of the pressure off, but yeah, I'm selling it. Which is a little sad. It's a good car, and I really like it. I'm going to miss having a station wagon. Want to buy a car?

Have you even sold the Passat yet? You have four cars now?
Technically we haven't sold it yet, but that's just because Lara's aunt hasn't come to get it yet. She's coming out this week, so we'll only have four cars for, like, a couple of days.

Didn't you just buy a car?
C'mon, that was months ago. And that was for Lara.

So Lara gets a van, you get a "new" sports car?
Doesn't look good, does it. What can I say? She can drive the M3 anytime she wants, although I'm not sure she'll want to. And it's not *really* a sports car. It has a back seat. It even has four doors!

Is this some kind of midlife crisis thing?
Gosh, I hope not. I'd like to live to more than 62. I think of it more like failing to ever really grow up. Most guys go through their fast car phase in high school, get a Camaro, and grow out of it. Apparently I have yet to grow out of it.

Why white?
Yeah, that wouldn't have been my first choice, but it's hard to get exactly what you want in an old car. But it's not all bad. I could add flag stickers and pretend it's a four-door M3 Lightweight

Do you really have two refridgerators in your garage?

No. One's a freezer.

And one extra special question, just for Travis...

How in the heck are you going to get up to the trailhead in that thing? It looks like it has an inch of ground clearance.
I'm not. Thanks for buying that jeep!

Any other questions? Wanna help me name the car? I've never named a car before, but for some reason, I feel like this one needs a name.