Slipstream - October 2020

The Red Car
by Betty Perrine
I read an old book titled “The Red Car” when I was 16
years old. It was about a young boy who had acquired an old
British sports car, fixed it up with the local mechanic’s help
then after a lot of trials and tribulations, entered it in the ‘Big
Race’. I was officially hooked on cars! My Dad didn’t quite
understand his eldest daughter’s new found love for cars, but
he never laughed at me for it – he supported me. That was all
that mattered.
After a few years I had finally saved enough money to buy
my own car and of course it was going to be a British sports
car! Sadly, the only ones I could find in my price range were
projects that were waaaay above my skill level. Once I had
accepted it wasn’t going to happen, I started looking for a
Japanese sports car. Unfortunately every car I found was too
expensive or had been abused. One day in May, I drove out to
look at a car I had found in the Auto Trader. When I arrived
it wasn’t there, but there was a really different looking car
sitting off to the side. “That’s a 1974 Porsche 914” the seller
said. “Would you like to test drive it instead of the other one?”
“Really?” I replied, “that Z car isn’t going to be back anytime
soon? Well, ok, at least I can say I’ve driven a Porsche.”
Walking up to the car, so many things started racing
through my head. “It’s orange - I don’t like orange! It’s so
short - it has to be impossible to get in and out of!” Once I’d
sat down in it, I had to figure my way through the first real
challenge – how to release the darn park brake. I conquered
that, figured out the shift pattern, backed the car out of its
parking spot and started creeping to the end of the driveway.
During that short journey, all of the negative thoughts that had
been churning around in my head began to float gently out the
rolled down driver’s window.
“Ya know… sitting in here you don’t see much orange at all.
It being so short means it’s gotta handle great!” I stopped at
the end of the driveway and oh, so carefully creeped out onto
the residential street. I was hit smack dab in the heart with
LOVE AT FIRST TURN! I consider myself to be a practical
person, I don’t believe in love at first… anything, but there
I was, crawling along in first gear, rationalizing away every
single negative thing I had been thinking just minutes before.
I drove that 914 around three or four blocks, rolled back
photo provided by author
into the seller’s driveway and parked my new car, but nobody
else but me knew that yet! I came back a few days later and
bought him (yes, he’s a boy) with my parent’s financial help.
That was a little over 35 years ago.
Over the years (and over 400,000 miles) we raced in our
first autocross together; where I met my future husband as I
sat on the ground taping numbers on the doors. We even rode
in him on our first date. That car and I stormed to second
place in our class
in the local SCCA’s
Autocross Region
- in the men’s class
I might add. He
drove my husband
and I home from
our wedding.
Because of that
car we found
PCA’s Maverick
Region and all of its wonderful people. That car was present
for countless other happy (and not so happy) family milestones.
He is a member of our family, he’s one of our ‘metal children’.
He represents power, control, skill and freedom to me… he is
my happy place.
30 September