Young people have no idea …

I had a Celebrity wagon, third seat if needed, didn't seem safe. Was bringing home a car load of teens, third seat included, when the rearview picked up a car at a high rate of speed. We all say should've, would've, could've but I moved to the right exactly as that jackass passed by. And it has stayed with me. Easily 25 years ago.

 

My parents don’t have cellphones or the internet. We get along really well because of that sense of space.

The only thing that sucks is they can’t Zoom with their grandchild. But he hates having to do it with his other grandparents, having inherited my hatred of talking on a videochat and phone calls in general.

Otherwise, off-the-grid parents are the best. We have lots to talk about when we visit, phone calls are every two to three weeks and no surprise invites/comments on social media

Everyone should have at least one Mennonite parent.

 

Depends on the machine without power steering.

First vehicle was a 280Z with an aftermarket turbochargers and some other aero mods (because while Nissan had the correct idea, the front was a little too perfect a wing). Did not have power steering, but while its parking manners weren't perfect, it had a stellar, exceptionally stable feel at speed. And some of my friends – and one parent – think I'm really picky.

The turbo also was not quite as linear as the one in my current machine. Always warned anyone in the shotgun seat that at around 3,500 RPM in third gear, you might want to put the drink or whatever away ... that thing had a kick that would have thrown Chuck Yeager for a loop. But it was serious fun.

 

Three on the tree was one of my first vehicles, a stepside Chevy. That truck was so Mickey Mouse that I could work on it.

 

Your FIRST car was a 280Z turbo? Day-ummm ... What else you got?

 

Hey, it sounds good – and it was fun at times – but I got it near the end of its lifespan. Put it like this ... had to replace the oil filter every 1,000 miles, though it wasn't difficult because the straight-six for the Z mounted it on the side of the block. So the key was to put a pan under the vehicle and change it before heading to school or wherever in the morning. Usually didn't drop much of anything if you did it then, and you could easily put a little oil on the gasket to get a good seal.

But I was at our mechanics about every 30 days with issues that I didn't cause. The mechanics knew that, and so did my stepfather – the long-time caretaker of that machine. I wish he hadn't dealt it away a few months before I graduated high school ... if I could have kept it running through college, I would have restored that machine ... probably for a little less than for a new machine. Would have continued upsetting all the redneck rockets prevalent around here.

The current machine will do, though, and the redneck rockets don't like it, either. Sleeps a good bit more than a "Z," is highly dependable, low mileage, yet I was able to get a 65-inch boxed flatscreen in it to get it home.

Still want to test-drive the new "Z." But might have to go somewhere else to do so ... the local Nissan dealer so thoroughly POed my mother that she traded in her Frontier for a GM barge. I saw first-hand some of the garbage they were pulling ... one of them was trying to charge her more than $13 per quart of synthetic oil. Warned her that they were pulling BS ... she and her now-husband saw enough of it, too. Would take my future GT-R or Z elsewhere ... at least until I knew they were no longer acting like a stereotypical dealer "service department."

Never want to sound ungrateful ... but that Z, combined with driving and maintaining radio-control cars as a teenager enhanced my enjoyment of things automotive and appreciation of things that run correctly much more often than not, never mind being the son of a jet-engine mechanic who hammered home the importance of maintenance.

 

I wanted a Z real bad when I was just starting to drive. Got an old Mazda RX in college which was close enough in style, but that thing was a POS. The rotary engine ran like a scalded dog, but it used more oil than a Saudi wannabe hood from the 1950s. Not long afterward, I realized that sports cars like those were über-douchey.

 

Not sure I have ever heard more polarizing remarks than I do about Mazda's rotary engine.

There is a faction – not the smallest, I might add – who swear by them. Not sure I understand it, not when Mazda – and I mean Mazda, not when they were having to share stuff with FoMoCo – did a lot of mechanical good stuff. Shoot, I had a first-generation Mazdaspeed3 for a while... lot of fun with a six-speed until finally, after a year of research, a vehicle finally had enough boxes to check off – and flexing to dark grey from black wasn't the worst compromise – and was offered more on the trade-in than it was worth.

Going back to the rotary, though ... IIRC, even those who were part of the following, they acknowledged that they needed overhauls every 60,000 miles. Seemed far too high-maintenance given the other options out of the market that are a lot of fun.

 

I’m just a girl who liked a car that was a Mazda RX 7. So I bought one. 1985.
And then I found out I was pregnant. But I took possession of the the car and drove it until I surprisingly birthed twins. So six weeks (8... got a reprieve) later, when I needed to return to work, we bought and installed a rear seat that accommodated two child car seats. That lasted maybe a year, then traded or sold it for a Chevy Celebrity Wagon. Best car ever for a family. Why did the family wagon go out of style?

 

Because Lee Iacocca needed to save MoPar ... and he did so with the minivan.

Then someone decided that SUVs weren't just a niche vehicle, but needed to go mainstream. Manufacturers started getting premium prices for them and pumping up profits.

If you still want the wagon, get a Subaru Outback. Might be a little further off the ground than the family wagon you're envisioning – unless you somehow find a good first-generation model – but it should help restore the category's flavor.

 

It's a wonder that the K-car helped save MoPar ... some say that K-car, others said the minivan because they were the pioneers ... and the others were S-L-O-W to adjust. Funny enough, the Japanese kei cars were, in essence, minivan predecessors and were omnipresent during my time overseas (which coincided with Iacocca's great minivan intro to the U.S.).

With the Outback, you get the added advantage of AWD, though the manual option isn't as prevalent as it once was.

 

Audi and Volvo still make solid wagons, if not cheap. An import wagon with skis on top reminds me of the 80s prep aesthetic.