TRIBUTE TO A FALLEN FAMILY MEMBER.

THERE'S A DOOR OPEN FOR YOU UP THERE GOOD BUDDY...

    We usually don't get into politics of family matters, but today I found out that one of the people who had a major impact on my automotive insanity has passed away.  I won't divulge their name, but I will say a bit about them to pay respect to someone who helped launch me into the world of automobiles.

​    Back when I was only four (4) years old, around the time I started getting an allowance and had the ability to purchase my own cars, I was introduced to a movie that would change my life forever.  Sure this movie did spark my interest in that stainless steel DeLorean, but it was my cousin who really changed my life that day.  They had introduced me into the world of the future, with that gleaming stainless steel DeLorean and pearl black Tacoma.  Before that day I was only interested in my diecast cars and now I wanted to own that Tacoma and DMC-12.  Sure I still don't have either, but my cousin did go onto to get their own Tacoma.
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    At the time they only had "Back to the Future" on video cassette and it was taped from television, as was the norm back in 1987.  But from that day forward any time I visited them I wanted to watch that movie with them.  They would teach me about the cars of the movie and the history about DeLorean.  It was a great time for me and I'll never forget watching that movie and learning so much from them.  But that wasn't all that they taught me.

   It was the late 80's and personal computers were becoming more and more common.  As with most households of the time my cousin did have a computer, they had a "Commodore Amiga 1000", but it wasn't the cool new computer that I loved most.  It was the amazing games that they had.  Who doesn't remember the original "Test Drive" and "4x4 Off Road Racing", two games that I still love to this day.  Those two games helped push me further into the automotive world as I asked my cousin questions about the vehicles within the game.  They answered and helped me learn even more.
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   As time went on and we both grew older, our tastes in vehicles grew with it.  They had helped me learn more than I could off of the package of a "Hot Wheels" package.  And as they helped me learn even more, my interest grew even greater for the automotive industry.  Soon I was asking them questions that even they couldn't answer.  But what did you think was going to happen as I have become somewhat of a car nut by now.

   Over the years we seemed to grow apart, but that is something that was expected as we are quite a few years apart in age.  But even with an age gap we still were always able to talk about cars. 

    By the time I hit my teens, they were already driving and teaching me even more about vehicles.  During their high school days they were driving their parents old 87 Honda Civic.  But it wasn't that car that they taught me about, well they did a little, it was the "Pioneer" stereo they put into it.  This stereo is one that they later moved from that civic into their own Toyota Tacoma SR5.  I remember back in high school when we took a drive from a family members house to the beach.  We had the stereo cranked and by this time that stereo was over six (6) years old.  Pretty good stereo I thought.  This may have been my turning point into the aftermarket industry.
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    As the years went on and we both moved on with our lives and had families, we still never lost track of what we had in common.  And after all of these years we were still able to talk about our love affair with that stainless steel beast from one of our favourite movies.  But for now I must move as this is tribute to my fallen cousin and together we will never get to ride in that amazing piece of automotive history.  To my cousin I hope that the door to the DeLoren is open for you and I hope to see later.  Go have some fun in our car as I will never forget what you taught me.

Love you Good Buddy, and remember that "you don't need roads"

Everett J.
#AutoLooks, @icst88, AutoLooks.net