That’s a 2018 Dodge Challenger R/T Scat Pack. But that’s not me in the car. More on that in a minute, but let’s just enjoy this car for a moment, ‘kay? Ah, I feel better.
I was thinking about this little blog o’ mine and realized that there are two deep and abiding loves of mine that aren’t really reflected in these posts. The first is music, but I’ve got plans for that soon enough.
The other passion of mine missing is my love of cars. It isn’t just one aspect of cars, either. I love to drive, sure, but I love knowing what’s going on under the hood – I have a deep admiration for a well executed inline four, but I’d prefer the balance and low center of gravity offered by a boxer four. Straight sixes occupy a particular corner of my heart, be it the evolution of BMW 3-series motors, the nigh-unbreakable Toyota Supra engine, or the brand new Mercedes inline 6 I wrote about in the Five Things This Week a few weeks back. I’m not even going to touch on such amazing engines as banshee-wailing V-6 in the new Ford GT or the unbelievable complexity behind the leonine growling W-16 engines in the Bugatti Veyron and Chiron. The design of cars fascinates me, be it the gorgeous lines of a Jaguar E-type or the boxy new Jeep Wrangler JL. I even appreciate the more esoteric aspects of cars. I could likely bore you to tears discussing the moves Alan Mulally made in the years before the Great Recession that kept Ford as the only one of the Big Three US Automakers that didn’t fall into bankruptcy – and how those same moves cost him his job ten years later.
I can’t quite put my finger on when exactly I fell in love with cars. It wasn’t, as you might expect, my teenage years. I mean, of course I had a poster of some Italian exotic sports car on the wall — that’s required by law for teenage boys, I think. But I cringe at the memory of 14-year-old Jordy asking the neighbor with the stunning Fathom Blue 1968 Chevy Camaro SS why he didn’t just buy a new car.
Right?
But for someone who loves cars as much as I do, you sure wouldn’t know it by the cars I’ve owned. I was looking for an old picture in my first car – my family’s 1980 Volkswagen Rabbit Convertible. I loved that car. I will find a picture and I will share it and at least a couple fun stories at that point. But while that car remains special to me, I recognize it wasn’t that great a car. From the underpowered, undercooled, 1970’s holdover 1.6 liter inline four to its propensity to devour clutches on a regular basis… But if I could have that car again, you know I would – logic be damned!
After I sold the Rabbit to fund my freshman year at UCSC, I rode motorcycles as my primary transportation for nearly a decade. That’s a whole ‘nother post in itself, but after I broke my leg in a motorcycle accident (see! A WHOLE story in itself!) I had to go back to four wheels.
First, it was Marva, the maroon death-trap of a 1988 Toyota Cressida. To its credit, that car taught me how to conserve and utilize momentum when I would drive it at a break-neck speed over highway 17. When I drove home in a new 2002 Toyota Corolla, Marva never ran again. Literally, she wouldn’t start and was actually towed away. I’m not going to shed any tears for that beast, though.
Azurita, the blue Corolla served as the workhorse of my 30’s and my marriage. Anna and I drove that thing back and forth to grad school in Utah numerous times. When I last saw Az, she was just shy of 300,000 nearly worry-free miles. Trustworthy? Dependable? Hell yeah. Boring? Absolutely. But, you know…
The only flirtation with sportiness was when Anna and I bought her 1996 Honda Civic Si. I call that her car because it absolutely was, but I did drive it on occasion and bombing through the twisties around here a few times was enough for me to give her keys back. Oh, the car was a blast! Too much so: heel-toeing around the bends of Westside road was an intoxicating experience made all the headier knowing I was going to step back into my Corolla. Cue the sad trombone.
Anna sold the Si to go to China, and I’ve been driving my mom’s 2007 Pontiac Vibe since she passed. While it’s not going to set anyone’s pulse racing, it has been an amazing car and seen me through some fantastic times. Every time I take the Vibe on a new adventure, I imagine my mom is along for the ride – be it taking the long way home through Bodega Bay, or searching for Manzanita in the Presidio, traipsing through the Napa Valley, or visiting friends down San Luis Obispo way. The Vibe has been a boon companion and a trustworthy vehicle.
But what does quicken my pulse? That Challenger above, certainly. I fell hard for that car when it came out and I’ve drooled over it annually at the San Francisco car show since. Don’t believe me?

Me in 2008.

Me in 2009.

Me in 2010.
Ooh, love that “Plum Crazy” color!

You get the idea.
So, imagine my glee when this last November when Fern and I realized Dodge was offering test drives! Granted, it was only around a few blocks of SOMA, so it really only barely scratched the deep and abiding itch for that car. Buuuuuuut……

Yeah, that’s me in that same car at the top of this post. And that smile? That’s happiness.