In 1991, a friend and I drove all of the US states in my 1978 Toyota Corolla, "Rocinante," after Don Quixote's horse. I slept in her for three months—versus, in the right corner—needing no introduction... the 2011 WRX, the crystal meth of cars. Emphatically not made for sleeping in—but boy, talk about looking good and beating everything off the white line.

I've had some 30 vehicles from motorcycles in Iraq, a RV, a Russian Lada Niva 4x4, a Soviet Lada Signet, four identical Ford Foci, and many cars in between - I haven't had this 'amber alert for my senses' over any machinery since - and to see them together trips me out.

Loving a car goes both ways - here "we" are in Wyoming (1994)

I've never married or had kids, but what I 'feel' is an epic enough 'love' to cover a multitude of girlfriends past. I didn't know I'd ever feel the same about another car, and whatever love-interests I had ever suffered through, were faded into the unrecognizable parts of myself, and stuck in mental storage lockers of time.

An aggressive clean-air policy took several of my cars off the road and I never had time to get to know them, it was 'work' between me and my cars. The AirCare program in British Columbia ran from 1992 to 2014 and its the reason few of the old classics are on the road now. The thing was, if your car failed, you had three months to get the emissions dealt with or the car was scrapped. So I seldom invested $1500 in a new clutch or wheel bearing, if it was likely to be taken off the road by the unseen emission demons. So, few cars were ever running at 100%. I'd be wiser gambling that $1500 on another car.

I used to ride back and forth across Iraq - this is my first Iranian POS ersatz motorcycle, across from the American Consulate in Erbil, Iraq. A week after I left, ISIS bombed the Consulate and accidentally killed two people at this cafe.

But when I found the old picture of me, my Toyota, and a friend who betrayed me by totaling the very car he I drove him around in, I had crop him out and post it on Reddit's Toyota site, but they don't accept photos, of course, why would they ever think people might want to post pictures? I found a fan's Corolla site, and pasted it in.

This was an Autobahn accident in a fatal accident

And why didn't I drive across Canada? Canada didn't hold the value, wasn't exciting enough, had several boring provinces to 'get through,' didn't have huge cities, huge experiences, or huge ROIs for travelling. I did hit eastern Canada on the lower 48 trip, and I went into Mexico too. But it took until 2000 that I drove the breadth of Canada, at an age more prone to feeling I'd 'come of age.' And from that trip, I gained a whole other respect for Canada. But it was always America first.

Two of my four Ford Foci (Focusses) - in an automotive world, I would keep buying these!

When I brought up the dashboard, it showed the Toyota picture in my profile, which houses an image of course, of my 2011 WRX. As you can imagine, it was awkward. My anthropomorphic realities met in virtual reality. Seeing these two icons of my vehicular life—a life that's nearly killed me several times driving in 19 countries—is too profound not to share. Maybe you'll see this in your workings online, maybe the internet will offer up this chance coincidence, but if not, follow my interest vicariously.

These cars span forty years and in-between were many cars I couldn't love, many I didn't know long enough to be in a relationship with.
The 1996 Lada Niva 4x4


Brent Antonson 
brentantonson@gmail.com
48.43° N, 123.41° W
Saanich, Canada

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