July 25, 2003 16:39 | Stories

My father's eyes

MB-BMW-eyes.jpg

My eyes are actually my mother's. One of the few traits of hers I inherited. Her dark eyes, as well as her love and ability for driving. Fast. (Not in the least reckless, by the way, as some of you may have concluded. I'll explain that in another post sometime.)

My father, however, had blue eyes and loved Mercedes-Benz. He drove Mercedes for almost all the years between my birth and his death. It was a matter of pride for him, and his family. They come from Stuttgart afterall.

BMW was poopooed. Not outright, but it was just not something that was wanted.

I learned to drive mostly in my mother's Saab 9000 Turbo: a front wheel drive. My father's E300 at the time was rear-wheel. Very different. I didn't like it. It did unpredictable things, though I understand one learns to drive differently depending on the drivetrain. In any case, the bloody thing's rear end would fishtail anytime it got air (yes I would loft cars over nice rolls in the road on Bord-Du-Lac road on Ile Bizard, where I grew up), and I never got the hang of it for handbrake spins.

BMW's are mostly front-wheel drive. And they are soooo sex. Merco's are more "distinguished gentleman"; Audi, too "executive". BMW's are sex.
And BMW's come in 4 wheel drive too. Which around here is a damn good thing. Try getting a rear-wheel drive out of a 4 foot snowbank sometime.

Now, I am nowhere near being able to afford either of them (I *could* swing a lease on a low-end model, but naaaahhh... I'd die of starvation and exposure to the elements), and I am by no means a car freak (really! I swear!), but poking around every now and then on the companies' respective websites and seeing macked out M3's and AMG's all around me, I can't help imagining.

And so I wonder... Sex? Or Distinguished gentleman? Which will it be, if and when the time comes?

It breaks my mother's heart that my dark eyes are turning blue on the edges...

Comments
1- Boris Anthony

Arck! Francis! You are so right! And I remember discussing this with you last year!

For the record BMW does not do front-wheel drive, as far we know... ;)

So if anything, I guess it'll be a 4wheeldrive Beamer! ;)