(Here is a little observation that I've always found as funny as it is pertinent. A friend of mine once said to me: "You know what?" "No" I said. He replied : "You know what? Listen to this: Whoever we are; whatever our age, origin, our ideas or point of view, we will always find that those who drive slower than we do are stupid, and that those who drive faster than us are crazy)...
Mmmh....Now let's think...
Today, I intend to bear my soul. It is not easy; I will have to step on my pride, but the time has come to face my own destiny. You see, I am a heretic. In spite of the fact that our religion clearly dictates us what guidelines to follow, I have decided to go against them. I cannot be silent anymore. And I am ready to face the consequences.
Vive la révolution!
Sure, I have long been an adept of the precepts at the base of our automotive religion. In fact, like most people, I have followed all those unwritten, traditional directives that our faithful embrace. I obeyed the road commandments that you yourself surely all know and follow most of the time.
A reminder. What are they?
- Thou shall go faster than the legal speed limit.
- Thou shall ignore the reserved lanes.
- Thou shall stay to close to the vehicle in front of you.
- Thou shall do whatever else you want while driving.
... and there are others I forget.
I confess...
In the past, I have been a road delinquent. It have often exceeded the speed limit. I can even say that I was what some call "A crazy driver."
I grew up in a family with a father, uncles and cousins who loved powerful cars and to drive them fast. My father once owned Ford Galaxie 500 / 7 litres. That car had the particularity to have been equipped with the Shelby Cobra's powerful engine in this 5-passenger version. Needless to say he enjoyed accepting other drivers' invitations to race at the lights, with me on board, naturally.
My uncle Fernand often used to take care of me when I was little. He owned an Oldsmobile Cutlass 442, then a banana yellow Plymouth Duster 340. He too loved to speed when we would go for a drive, just for fun. And I must admit that I loved every breath-taking second of it.
My 2 cousins, Marcel and Richard, owned a few Mustangs, some Datsuns 240s, 260s, 280s and other little sports cars that they also drove fast. So, all these people gave me a taste for speed ever since I can remember.
As early as 16, I got myself the old wheels that my father had kept for me. It was a gigantic 1972 Olds Delta 88, with a 455 in.3 engine with 4 barrels. This car, amazingly powerful and fast for its size, was an incredible gas guzzler. Just imagine that when I used to be a student, I worked for an oil company that gave me a rebate on the price of gas. Yet I had to get rid of the car because I couldn't afford its consumption... and this was in 1980!
I remember giving a lift to a French hitchhiker in 1979. He was mystified by the fact that a kid like me could be driving such a huge car. When he asked me its fuel consumption, we did the effort of making the conversion and the result blew him away. This car's numbers were around 30 to 35 litres per 100 kilometres! It took me a few years to understand his reaction and how crazy this was...
Ecology, environment protection, pollution or global warming were not terms that were part of my preoccupations at the time. I remember having heard in my first ecology course, back in 1974, my teacher Mr. Langlois talked to us about the car that would run on water. It would run, after an electrolysis process separating hydrogen from oxygen, in a way that would be non-polluting. That was 30 years ago... In the same token, I have an article about airbags. That one dates back to 1972.
Mmmh....Now let's think...
Today, I intend to bear my soul. It is not easy; I will have to step on my pride, but the time has come to face my own destiny. You see, I am a heretic. In spite of the fact that our religion clearly dictates us what guidelines to follow, I have decided to go against them. I cannot be silent anymore. And I am ready to face the consequences.
Vive la révolution!
Sure, I have long been an adept of the precepts at the base of our automotive religion. In fact, like most people, I have followed all those unwritten, traditional directives that our faithful embrace. I obeyed the road commandments that you yourself surely all know and follow most of the time.
A reminder. What are they?
- Thou shall go faster than the legal speed limit.
- Thou shall ignore the reserved lanes.
- Thou shall stay to close to the vehicle in front of you.
- Thou shall do whatever else you want while driving.
... and there are others I forget.
I confess...
In the past, I have been a road delinquent. It have often exceeded the speed limit. I can even say that I was what some call "A crazy driver."
I grew up in a family with a father, uncles and cousins who loved powerful cars and to drive them fast. My father once owned Ford Galaxie 500 / 7 litres. That car had the particularity to have been equipped with the Shelby Cobra's powerful engine in this 5-passenger version. Needless to say he enjoyed accepting other drivers' invitations to race at the lights, with me on board, naturally.
My uncle Fernand often used to take care of me when I was little. He owned an Oldsmobile Cutlass 442, then a banana yellow Plymouth Duster 340. He too loved to speed when we would go for a drive, just for fun. And I must admit that I loved every breath-taking second of it.
My 2 cousins, Marcel and Richard, owned a few Mustangs, some Datsuns 240s, 260s, 280s and other little sports cars that they also drove fast. So, all these people gave me a taste for speed ever since I can remember.
As early as 16, I got myself the old wheels that my father had kept for me. It was a gigantic 1972 Olds Delta 88, with a 455 in.3 engine with 4 barrels. This car, amazingly powerful and fast for its size, was an incredible gas guzzler. Just imagine that when I used to be a student, I worked for an oil company that gave me a rebate on the price of gas. Yet I had to get rid of the car because I couldn't afford its consumption... and this was in 1980!
I remember giving a lift to a French hitchhiker in 1979. He was mystified by the fact that a kid like me could be driving such a huge car. When he asked me its fuel consumption, we did the effort of making the conversion and the result blew him away. This car's numbers were around 30 to 35 litres per 100 kilometres! It took me a few years to understand his reaction and how crazy this was...
Ecology, environment protection, pollution or global warming were not terms that were part of my preoccupations at the time. I remember having heard in my first ecology course, back in 1974, my teacher Mr. Langlois talked to us about the car that would run on water. It would run, after an electrolysis process separating hydrogen from oxygen, in a way that would be non-polluting. That was 30 years ago... In the same token, I have an article about airbags. That one dates back to 1972.