My Son who was only 4 when we got this car, had spent as many hours in this car as I had, so there was good reason for him to believe that he was going ot be able to drive it when he turned 16. I lost 10 years off my life in that year. I was very protective of Russell and up till now only a few close friends had ever driven this car. I never have let shane take the car out on his own, as I feared that he would surcome to peer pressure and try showing off in it. It was a handful to drive at the best of times. It could get out of shape real fast on you and had to pay full attention to operate it.

In the top picture I had painted the red down the side during the week while he was at school and he only discovered it when I asked him to take off the car cover and bring the car around front of the shop on a friday night.

Shane was very excited when he got his learners, I had to wait till the end of the day before I could let him drive because one of us was too nerviuos. ME. After a long day in at the shop I threw him the keys, and he got to drive home. Over the next few weeks he more often found himself too tired to drive and would say " No thanks Mom, you drive, it's too much like work!" He was a very good driver and it was obviuos that he was going to beable to drive this car with out any major damage to it. I did however put a lighter clutch in it during this time. It had a ceramic button clutch and had no forgiving nature, it was either in or out. This was the major reason for our #1 Rule No open beverages of any kind in the car except water! I took full advantage of being a passenger and asked him to drive often, I got to ride in the back seat for the first time. (Did you know the cars sounds different from back there)

He was pretty used to driving by now, it was just after getting his licence, and to top it off he worked at the drag strip at that time and was getting that racing bug into his system. One day I let him put his foot into it, he was calmly cruising about 25 mph on a nice wide road, he was in second gear, I told him to bring the rpm up to 3000 slowly ( so he wouldn't break the tires loose) then when he did I said ok now ...to the floor and shift when it hits 6000, well... he almost shit himself , he got so scared that he forget to shift, he backed off the throttle and almost put both of us through the front windshield, but on the good side of things he also never that again. I tried not to laugh but It was pretty funny. Another time he gave it a little too much throttle in the rain and the car went sideways on him while entering the on ramp to the freeway, after that episode he always kept his cool.

He is 21 now and thinks that because I have a new baby on the way, that I will just give the car to him, HA! yeah right!