Goodbye, RS.....

Sometime tomorrow afternoon the new owner of the RS will be arriving from Virginia to take possession. I'm excited that the car is selling after three months of effort, but also sad to see such a piece of 'Brett' history go. It was my first car, my first project, and there are a lot of memories tied to it through college and beyond. It was on this car that I learned all things mechanical, for better or for worse. I'll miss the car, but mostly for what it represents. In the past few years it just hasn't been the top of my interest. Who could compare it to the Corvette? And later the Trans Am? Good as the engine is, the suspension, brakes and the fact that it had an automatic instead of a stick put it out of competition.

A collection of memories with the car....

Black ice sliding onto the lawn at Albertus Magnus.

Filming of 'The Purple Heart Sword'

Night before I got the new rims and tires installed, Rob and I backed the RS into a parking spot and did the most HELLACIOUS burnout!!! The tires had smooth strips and bubbles, the curb and pavement were melted down, and there was a THICK choking cloud of tire smoke that slowly drifted out over the field staying just 10 feet high. It was awesome!

The next day before getting the new ones put on, I took Adam for a rip behind Domenican and did a rolling smokeshow from the back corner to the basketball court. Everyone in the dorm got a room full of tire smoke!! =)

My first organized drag race for cash.... and winning!

Dell and I scaring the heck out of Joanne and Kerry en route to the haunted cemetary.

Brian, Eric and I taking the car for its first LT1 run around the neighborhood with open headers one January night at 11pm. With no alternator hooked up, the battery died at the top of Valley View and we had to push it. Eric almost got frostbite!

First time I turned the key for the 355 and fuel went everywhere.

Smacking my nose with the torque wrench at 2am under the car. Sequence: smack nose, head goes forward into bottom of car, rust falls into eyes, head goes hard back into pavement, unbridled fury in my head but nothing I could do but sit there, LOL.

Dell, Arden and I going for a top-speed run on Research Parkway. I put the windows up at 110mph. I'm wondering why the passenger window isn't closed yet when a HAND comes scraping past my face. I look over to see Arden, leaning forward from the back seat with his head no trapped between window and T-top like a vice at 110mph. Garrett was doubled over in the passenger seat laughing his ass off. Chris' eyes were a LITTLE bloodshot after that. LOL!

But my FAVORITE memories were my first drive home in this sleek red car with the awesome suicide dash and what was a 'big V8' to me at the time. That was magic.

The other favorite was just being young and driving around with the tops off in the Fall. That cold but warm feeling you have in the breeze, enjoying the shadows on the road and the fresh air. Nothing closer to zen than that.

RS, we'll always remember you fondly.

And who's this young devil?