Who doesn't love feeling like a boss? How can i feel like a boss? What do bosses feel like? Yeah, these are common questions that we, as Americans, may commonly contemplate. Well in my particular case, my 1969 Roadrunner is the answer to all these inquiries. Twenty six foot of streamlined steel encase one of the most durable four inch reinforced frames ever manufactured. This is my baby. My pride and joy. The key to the ignition sparks my imagination far before the belts turn and pistons forge back and forth in the stroked cylinders.
The Roadrunner is more than just a childish guilty pleasure. Plymouth Roadrunners have been the objects of my affection for as long as I can remember. The rumble of the three hundred and eighty three cubic inch engine made my mouth condensate like cold glass on a summer day. The satellite lamp covers and phantom grill, both ahead of their time, transformed this humble machine into an angry beast. The car is made to be the opposite of eco-friendly. It was designed to burn fuel and rubber like no other all for that instant gratification of knowing, for one, that my car looks cooler than yours and, in sequence, that my car is point blank faster than yours.
For me, the opportunity to call one of these machines my own was the culmination of all those childhood dreams and hours spent drooling over my fantasy car. This machine belongs in my driveway like a bum on a beach.
Every morning when I leave and afternoon when I return home, I strum my fingers over the unrefined body from trunk to front fender. This car makes me feel like I was always meant to have it. It is more than just a car to me; my Roadrunner proves that I am a boss. All those long wasted hours turned into me having the thing I had always dreamed of in my grasp.
You do a good job of mentioning the definite problems of having that particular kind of car even though you clearly have a strong attachment to it. I like the line "bum on a beach," it makes for a good voice.
ReplyDeleteThe reader is definitely able to sense the narrator's love for the car and the fact that this car is more than just a vehicle for him. There is great detail in describing the physicality of the car as well.
ReplyDeleteThe tone of this piece is definitely the stregnth of it-- I can imagine someone saying this. It is funny and irreverent, which I like. However, I do somehow wish it was "bigger"-- that is, that it focused on more than just the car. Maybe you could frame it differently, talk about your lifelong quest to bosshood, from childhood up, maybe some failed attempts at being a boss before you perfected the art--and how this car has lead you to the promised land. I also think that you should define "boss" in this piece-- I understand it, but I think that it could give this more humor and dimension.
ReplyDeleteBut I liked it.
A car makes you the boss - but not any car, it has to be your car. This piece demonstrates that from the view of the narrator, the Roadrunner is what does it for him. It comes off fairly well, and if the goal is to convince your reader that you are a boss, you've done a fairly good job convincing me.
ReplyDeleteI like that you tried to keep the theme of being gay for cars instead of women as per the piece we read in class. "The key to the ignition sparks my imagination far before the belts turn and pistons forge back and forth in the stroked cylinders," just reeks of the sexy language the other author used to describe his hands penetrating the hood and fondling his car's inner parts. Loved this post, but I read this line and was like.....wat. "The rumble of the three hundred and eighty three cubic inch engine made my mouth condensate like cold glass on a summer day"
ReplyDelete