How did you get your first....

[area53 at validpath.com (Jeff Toomasson)]

When I was in high school, my thing was the BMW 320i. I probably would have 
settled for a 2002. My two step-brothers drove VWs - one had a '77 Dasher wagon 
that was cool, but a HUGE POS and the other had a clean Rabbit S (which he 
wrecked  >:(   So, I had some familiarity w/ the marque. But as I got closer to 
obtaining my DL, it became painfully obvious that I wasn't going to get any 
help from my parents. So the 320i remained a pipe-dream.

On my 16th b-day in May, my grandfather offered to let me work in his tire-
recapping plant in BFE Jerome, Idaho for the summer to earn some cash for a 
car. He also promised to take me to this huge periodic auction he knew of in 
the LA area. My Dad was to then fly down and help me drive back whatever I 
bought (because I had zero experience driving a stick (which was mandatory!)) 

I grew up a city boy, but my summer in Jerome, Idaho was filled w/ some 
strangely-cool memories...

Anyway, after my tour of duty came to a close, my grandfather and I rolled down 
to LA. We got to the auction and the first car I remembered seeing was a white 
80S. It was clean and my allegiance started to turn. But my 320 side snapped me 
back and I told myself I had to find one. Not soon thereafter we were all 
kicked off the premesis by the police. The auction was being shutdown for 
fraud!!!  I was SO bummed. I was positive I was going to leave that auction 
with SOMETHING...

So we're rolling down the street in IIRC Anaheim, when I spot this grey VW that 
had a for sale sign in it. It was a cirrus grey-ish mk1 and it looked pretty 
clean to my untrained eye.

I told my grandfather to pullover. $1100 and it had tinted windows and a 
fiberglass copy of a Kamei spoiler. I was hooked. We called the guy who owned 
it and ended up picking it up for $900.

That car was such a POS - the paint wasn't original we called it Franken-Rocco 
because it parts from so many dead souls in the yards. After year plus or so, I 
hooked up with a mechanic who sold me a JH/2H combo. He had a sick mk1 that was 
built for the track (which is a long story in itself). The tranny SM'd a MONTH 
after I paid to have it all installed. He ended up selling me his Schrick 272 
and Supersprint Race exhaust system. After a while, he felt so bad for me for 
all the money he had "taken" from me, he taught me how to work on A1's. The 
rest of my history is even more boring   :)

JT