Zed...or Zee to you American cousins.
When a baby is born it imprints on the face of the mother. Something happens in those first few moments that intertwines two souls. It is this sort of relationship that wrote the inevitable conclusion that I would one day own a Z.
When I was around 4 or 5 my uncle Larry bought a green 240 Z. The colour was odd in that it was that typical 70's green that seemed rather dull in colour even thou it was new. From the moment I saw the car I loved it. Even thou I had no concept of lust at 4 years old I did know that just looking at the car made me feel something inside. According to my uncle I loved to watch whenever he washed the car or worked on it. I liked to ride in the cargo compartment instead of the front seat. I remember that distinctly. I remember what the car looked like inside and out. A few years later he traded in the 240 for a silver 260 Z. It wasn't soon after that he sold the Z. I remember myself crying when he told me and I made him promise that he'd buy another one. The story of the demise of the Z remains a mystery. I seem to remember my uncle getting too many speeding tickets, not being able to renew his licence. My mom says that his new wife made him sell it. My uncle says he can't remember, but he thinks that he didn't have the money to keep it. I counted down the year to when my uncle would buy another Z. That year past, and so did many others until I forgot about it.
Over the years Datsun became Nissan. After the 260 model came the 280. My 7th grade teacher had a 280 as did my friends dad, thou it was a 2 plus 2 variety (yuk). In high school my first car was a shit brown Datsun 510 wagon nick named 'Duck Poo'. I once had an argument with a girl on the bus that Datsun and Nissan were the same company. At one point the Z became the ZX. One of the bad girls in the cartoon M.A.S.K. drove a 280 that turned into a plane. My oldest brother almost bought that same model, but it was an automatic. He bought a Mustang instead, another car I imprinted on. Soon the 280 morphed into a pseudo super car, the 300 Z twin turbo which quickly priced itself out of existence. So for about 5 or so years there was no Z.
Then in the early millennia there were whispers that Nissan was gearing up to resurrect the legendary name. Early indications were that the styling would be retro to recapture the magic of the original 240. I was getting all excited because finally the opportunity was there for me to one day own the car of my dreams. But in a change of strategy the new cars styling would be cutting edge and stay away from the retro. I was crushed. There would be no way I would find it in my heart to love this new Z. And the early photo's of the tail lights and door handles made me think that they were designing a space ship and that the new Z wouldn't deserve the name. Early conceptual spy drawings had it looking like the gladly departed 300 twin turbo. And then I saw her. Hello sunshine...
From the moment I sat in her I knew I was home. Some of the retro touches of the early design had remained in the interior. It looked like an evolution of the original Z.
With my cousin Lei Lei in from Kingston we decided to chill at the Reagle Beagle last night. According to her and her brother, their dad, my uncle Larry couldn't stop talking about my car. He had walked into a Nissan dealership a week previous and had unknowingly picked out the exact car that is Jessica. And when he first saw her as I pulled up to his gate I saw the look on his face that must have been the same look I had as a 4 yr old looking at the Z for the first time.
This morning before I drove home my Tito Larry made my Tita Lillian sit in the Z. She had the look on her face that she knew she was being sold on something. "See Lillian it has the Nav and it looks like my old car and it...take it for a drive...and it's even the same colour I want...take it for a drive..." As she sat there she just kinda smiled and asked Leonard when he was graduating. As it turns out they may need a new car next year.
Rhoel
posted by R @ 6:12 PM
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