Passion, Experience & Growth

My First Love

February 4, 2022

“In my car, I come alive” — In My Car (I’ll Be The Driver)

Within my first year of life, I was awed by Matchbox cars. The little blue and yellow boxes with the red words held magic. I can still faintly recall the thrill of discovering these magic boxes in the store.

Once I learned to talk, “car” and “red” were among my early words. My parents knew very early on that I loved red cars. In the ’80s, I fell in love with the red Porsche 944 after seeing the final scene in the movie Sixteen Candles. I wanted to be Jake Ryan; or if not Jake, at least I wanted to drive his car!

Before my budget could resolve the 944, the 1986 Mazda RX-7 was unveiled. It was close enough to the Porsche, considerably cheaper, and had an esteemed reputation within automotive circles. My Tornado Gray GSX model had a fantastic stereo system, and it was fun on the race track.

In 1995, as I walked through the executive parking area at our office, a bright red BMW M3 literally turned my head. I was in love. By the end of that year, after completing development of Legend’s PC game, Mission Critical, I had a black 1995 M3.

As mentioned earlier, she gave her life for me on November 9, 2001. December 22, I took delivery of my second love: a 2002 BMW 330i with manual 5-speed transmission. Black, four doors—more room for the kids—they loved it.

Playing Gran Turismo on the PS2 in 2006, I fell in love with the 2007 BMW M5. After a year of searching and discussions with our local BMW dealer, when the brochure featuring the Carbon Black 2008 550i with the “M” Sport Package on the cover showed up on top of the mail, I knew it was time. I was in love again.

By July 5, 2007, I had placed the order for the manual 6-speed. On September 30, 2007, punctuating our two week Disney Tours excursion through Italy, I took delivery of the 2008 550i in Munich, Germany. Joanne and I toured Germany and Austria, and I covered 1,000 miles on the autobahn over four days. Joanne asleep, smooth as silk, rolling into Austria at 200 KPH, on cruise control, on the way to Vienna.

She was an amazing machine; maintenance-free throughout the first 100,000 miles.

However, the trip to California in July 2018 marked the beginning of the end—a coolant system failure turned the last 800 miles into a struggle. Over the next eighteen months, 1,000 trips up and down Sunset Blvd made the situation much worse: I destroyed the clutch, broke two right wheels—three times—and blew out the front right tire.

After a \$3,000 battery replacement in February 2020 and two years of struggling with a slipping clutch that made driving increasingly difficult, it was time for a change. Of course, a lot changed in March 2020. And, everyone paused for a while.

Once relocated to Texas in 2022, after actively searching all types of cars for most of December and January, a 2019 BMW M550i with xDrive arrived at the San Antonio CarMax on Friday, January 21, 2022. With a 4.4 liter V8, twin-turbos, black with black trim, and black leather seats, how could I say no?

Monday, just four hours after closing on our construction loan, I arrived at CarMax for my 2PM test drive appointment.

I worried that at 149,241 miles, with over \$10K in repairs pending, no one would take my beloved 550i. CarMax offered \$3,000.

Two minutes into the test drive, I knew the answer. But I continued for the allotted 20 minute test drive; rolling back to the curb with no questions. Paperwork out of the way, I headed home in the M550i. 10/10. Flawless experience.

Will this be my last love? Probably not.

But ask me which car I love the most?

All of the above.