posted 04-11-2002 09:48 AM                  

But it was love at first sight last August when I was on a business trip of sorts. I had to drive up to San Jose to pick up a load of used optical test equipment for my start-up business. Rather than make the 700-mile round trip myself, I decided to take the family and make a weekend mini-vacation out of it. We decided to spend the night in Monterey.

We reached Monterey late afternoon and took the kids for a walk to see the sights around Cannery Row. As we were walking back to hotel, we noticed that Monterey was hosting a small auto show. We didn’t go in, but we saw some pretty unique and exotic cars through the chain-link fence. It wasn’t at the car show that I saw the car of my dreams, but rather on the way back to the hotel.

I don’t know if it was the romantic atmosphere of Monterey, with its quaint little shops and charm, or if it was my relaxed mood, or if it was the way the late-afternoon summer sun glistened off her beautifully polished body – but there, across the street, was parked the most beautiful car I ever saw. It was love at first sight. I stopped dead in my tracks and admired the way the sunlight brought out the deep tones in that burnt orange Prowler. I had never seen that color before – I loved it – and on a Prowler! I think my wife noticed it and felt the same way I did, as I noticed her footsteps slowing before I stopped.

Well, a few weeks passed and thoughts of buying a car like that had long since left my mind, when one Sunday afternoon, out of the blue, my wife says “How ‘bout we go down to the dealership and test drive a Prowler?” After I picked my jaw up off the floor, I couldn’t get out of the house fast enough.

At a height of 6’7” it was a tight fit, and coupled with all the other impracticalities -- no trunk space, only room for 2 people (for a family of 5), it was hard for me to justify such a purchase. But I couldn’t pass up an opportunity like this (getting the green-light from my wife). Unfortunately, all they had at the dealership was a silver one; but we negotiated on, of course, a burnt orange one – sight unseen.

A week later, she was in our driveway. End of – scratch that – beginning of story. So if any of you with a burnt orange Prowler attended the Monterey Auto Show on August 18, 2001, it was probably your baby I was ogling at.

-- Tarzan

posted 04-11-2002 08:10 PM                  

Next time you're in California, drop by the southern end. We'd love to meet you. (And I guarantee you'll see another orange prowler).

-- Tarzan