Tonight, on a beautiful clear evening with the sun setting in the west, I took my BJ8 out for a cruise with my 17 year old daughter. After, pulling into our church parking , my daughter got her first lesson driving a stick. She really surprised me with the ease at which she caught on to the clutch and accelerator. She very quickly demonstrated tHat she could handle the clutch, so out on the road we went! With a little coaching, she worked through all the gears, 1st to 2nd, and then to 3rd and 4th. Of course overdrive was a snap. I sat back and admired the look on her face- a look I'll never ever forget, smile from ear to ear, and a giddy laugh all the while singing a little song.
What better memory could I have shared with my daughter? I told her she will never forget the day she learned to drive a stick - in an Austin Healey! We as keepers and caretakers of these machines we had better pass on our love of these LBC's to the next generation. I know we get a lot of time and money in these cars, and in doing so we get so protective of them, and might never ever consider letting a kid drive them, but that look on her face was worth way more than the car. In these days of social media, it didn't take long for her to be texting and Facebooking her friends - especially her male friends - that she could now drive a stick, and not just any stick but an Austin Healey!
What better memory could I have shared with my daughter? I told her she will never forget the day she learned to drive a stick - in an Austin Healey! We as keepers and caretakers of these machines we had better pass on our love of these LBC's to the next generation. I know we get a lot of time and money in these cars, and in doing so we get so protective of them, and might never ever consider letting a kid drive them, but that look on her face was worth way more than the car. In these days of social media, it didn't take long for her to be texting and Facebooking her friends - especially her male friends - that she could now drive a stick, and not just any stick but an Austin Healey!