This group is by no means homegenous. We are composed of young and old, liberal and conservative, religious and agnostic, and on and on. The love of cars and car stuff unites us. But, as much as we all love cars, it's the people behind the cars that really defines the mutually-shared addiction.
Some of us are more verbose than others, some more willing to share personal reflections that made us the way we are. But all of us have those core memories of other car folks. Of course, not all our car memories of others revolve around the truly good and selfless folks we occassionally run across. Like most of you, I have known car characters that were an extremely odd combination of good and evil, cheap and generous, kind and mean-spirited. When you wanted to learn from a master, however, you accepted that person, warts and all. Remember that sense of pride when the old grouch gave a very reluctant compliment? Man, oh man, what a rush!
Even with that backdrop of reality, though, car folks are special. Haven't all of us broken down somewhere truly inconvenient, just to be rescued by another car guy who couldn't pass us on the side of the road without stopping? I have stopped for others in the same circumstance, trying for a karma payback, I guess.
So, for Dana's buddy above, good on ya! You treated your buddy right. You don't have to be a wrencher, or an engineer, or know all the tiny differences between the T-1 and T-2 body. You just have to be a little goofy about cars. Sounds familiar and kind of good, doesn't it?
