| Confessions of a Car Collector | ||||
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accelerator of the 1962 3000 "tri-carb" a few times, I push the starter button and the engine starts, at first tentatively. After a few seconds, the engine gets into its rhythm, and the characteristic rumbling roar reverberates against the stone walls of the fence.
In a few minutes I am out of the neighborhood and speeding through the deserted curving roads among ranches and farms. The early morning sunlight reflects on its brilliant red paint and rechromed surfaces. I push a button on the dash, and the car slips into overdrive. The Smiths gauges, the leather, the typical smell of a British sports car – ah, how |
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sweet! As I drive along, the landscape becomes less west Texas, and seems more like mainline Philadelphia, at least in my mind. The year is 1962. I am not 57, but 21 again.
However, unlike my own wheel-less state in college, I can afford the car I lusted over in my youth. My time warp lasts an hour or so until I put the Healey back in the garage. A wonderful way to resolve the stresses of my practice.
 Click to view 61kb image of HealeyII I had resolved not to attend the auction – NO, NO, NO! Whom was I kidding? I could not resist. We were due to return to Texas from vacation the very next morning, but today I would attend the |
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Ft. Lauderdale Kruse Collector Car Auction. I mean, I’m an adult – I can do what I want. I already owned a plethora of cars. As I tried to sneak out of the hotel room, my wife opened an eye and lifted her head from her pillow.
"Leave the credit cards here!" "Yeah," I responded, "Have a nice day. I’ll see you this afternoon. Don’t worry, I’m just going to look!"  Click to view 50kb image of Packard The auction was being held at the War Memorial Coliseum, a short walk from our hotel. The grounds of the auction were covered with probably one thousand cars of every type – from early 1900 brass vehicles to flamboyant |
| © R. J. Broselow, 1998 | Back to Techman Kanata IDEAS ||| HOME |||
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