RichCaccese
15+ Year Contributor
- 98
- 1
- Jul 7, 2003
-
Staten Island,
New_York
I met a guy today, while at work who kinda made my whole day. I work as a waiter in a local family owned restaurant. It was pretty slow, so I was basically at the bar a lot watching football. This older (late 40-s early 50's) man came up to the bartender and I and asked, "Who's Talon is that outside?". At first I was thinking " yeah my alarm is probably acting up again" and I couldn't hear it from inside. So i responded " oh yeah its mine", started searching my pockets for my keys, and proceeded to get off the barstool and handle the problem. Before I even got a chance to stand up and halfway mutter "Yeah sorry, that alarm has been giving me....." , the man says " Wow, it looks amazing man".
It felt really really good. We the proceeded to talk a little; he explained that he has a garaged, '90 N/T laser, and is the original owner, drives it only about 3 or 4 times a year. I told him that I've had the car for about 2 1/2 months now. "Thats really really clean looking, I thought mine was one of the best looking on Staten Island, (one of the 5 boroughs of NYC where I live) but now that I saw yours I think you might have got one up one me" . He told me when these models first came out he wanted the turbo AWD version s badly, but wasn't able to purchase it, bought the N/T and still enjoyed it. I took him outside to examine my car a little more (parked right in front of the restaurant ^^).
My car is pretty much stock, the dark blue with grey trim exterior, with some light bolt-ons (K&N, ported 1g exhaust mani, A'pexi N1 turbo back). The paint/wheels are in excellent shape, and I try to take care of them as best as I can. I made it clear to him that I'm all about the stock look, and don't really plan on changing anything too radical, keeping it clean and classic looking. Keep the 1g legacy going, ya know.? He seemed really pleased that I wasn't one of these kids thats going to find a nice car and ruin it, that i see all too often around here. He marveled at the interior, and even the perfectly working stock cassette-cd player! he seemed skeptical about the large N1 muffler; started it up and let him hear the deep, "bassy" growl, I received nothing but smiles from him. He said its exactly how this car should sound.
The conversation moved to the car's handling in weather, and the "snow " topic came up. He said the Laser wasn't the greatest car in the snow, but me? well I'm in for a real treat. He asked me about snow tires. I planned on getting some around Thanksgiving. "Would you like to take mine off me? they are the stock 16" laser rims, with mounted snow tires, maybe used maybe 2 or 3 times over the past winter. I really don't drive the car in the snow (had a Duragno) and my wife would love for me to get them out of the garage." i was like, "sure how much are you willing to willing to let them go for?" He replied, "oh please, you can just take them!" (4 nearly new tires already mounted on stock rims, exactly what I was planning on getting anyway) Big smile on me, "thanks man, wow" . He then looked at my tires a little closer, "205's huh? i have some lower profile 225's that I haven't mounted yet, been sitting in the garage as well, taking up space. With those new shocks your getting (I explained to him earlier that I will be receiving AGX/Sportlines very soon) i think 225's will really compliment the new handling." I was almost in awe, but trying to hide it. I wasn't even worried about if the gear he wanted to give to me will be legit and as he says; he seemed to want to pass on these items to the "next generation". It just made me really really happy.
We went back inside, where his wife and sister where still sitting at the table wondering where the hell he went to, exchanged some info. He said he would just bring the wheel with snow tires and new 225's to the restaurant to drop them off this week., said goodbye, nice meeting each other, etc.
This totally made my otherwise very slow, boring day. (at work for 10 1/2 hours) Big ups! to the DSM world out there. I'm still pretty new to this, and had some compliments here and there. This is the first time however that some random person (not a car guy that I would see at the local gathering etc.) with some sort of (hidden) passion for DSM's, really showed his appreciation to me. Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed it...
-Rich
It felt really really good. We the proceeded to talk a little; he explained that he has a garaged, '90 N/T laser, and is the original owner, drives it only about 3 or 4 times a year. I told him that I've had the car for about 2 1/2 months now. "Thats really really clean looking, I thought mine was one of the best looking on Staten Island, (one of the 5 boroughs of NYC where I live) but now that I saw yours I think you might have got one up one me" . He told me when these models first came out he wanted the turbo AWD version s badly, but wasn't able to purchase it, bought the N/T and still enjoyed it. I took him outside to examine my car a little more (parked right in front of the restaurant ^^).
My car is pretty much stock, the dark blue with grey trim exterior, with some light bolt-ons (K&N, ported 1g exhaust mani, A'pexi N1 turbo back). The paint/wheels are in excellent shape, and I try to take care of them as best as I can. I made it clear to him that I'm all about the stock look, and don't really plan on changing anything too radical, keeping it clean and classic looking. Keep the 1g legacy going, ya know.? He seemed really pleased that I wasn't one of these kids thats going to find a nice car and ruin it, that i see all too often around here. He marveled at the interior, and even the perfectly working stock cassette-cd player! he seemed skeptical about the large N1 muffler; started it up and let him hear the deep, "bassy" growl, I received nothing but smiles from him. He said its exactly how this car should sound.
The conversation moved to the car's handling in weather, and the "snow " topic came up. He said the Laser wasn't the greatest car in the snow, but me? well I'm in for a real treat. He asked me about snow tires. I planned on getting some around Thanksgiving. "Would you like to take mine off me? they are the stock 16" laser rims, with mounted snow tires, maybe used maybe 2 or 3 times over the past winter. I really don't drive the car in the snow (had a Duragno) and my wife would love for me to get them out of the garage." i was like, "sure how much are you willing to willing to let them go for?" He replied, "oh please, you can just take them!" (4 nearly new tires already mounted on stock rims, exactly what I was planning on getting anyway) Big smile on me, "thanks man, wow" . He then looked at my tires a little closer, "205's huh? i have some lower profile 225's that I haven't mounted yet, been sitting in the garage as well, taking up space. With those new shocks your getting (I explained to him earlier that I will be receiving AGX/Sportlines very soon) i think 225's will really compliment the new handling." I was almost in awe, but trying to hide it. I wasn't even worried about if the gear he wanted to give to me will be legit and as he says; he seemed to want to pass on these items to the "next generation". It just made me really really happy.
We went back inside, where his wife and sister where still sitting at the table wondering where the hell he went to, exchanged some info. He said he would just bring the wheel with snow tires and new 225's to the restaurant to drop them off this week., said goodbye, nice meeting each other, etc.
This totally made my otherwise very slow, boring day. (at work for 10 1/2 hours) Big ups! to the DSM world out there. I'm still pretty new to this, and had some compliments here and there. This is the first time however that some random person (not a car guy that I would see at the local gathering etc.) with some sort of (hidden) passion for DSM's, really showed his appreciation to me. Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed it...
-Rich
MAO... good that gave me a good laugh 
..you got a clean 1g. So the f^ck what.
