Memories of Sammy...
I was browsing through some pictures tonight, and came across this picture of Sammy The Samurai (RIP):
You know, I loved that little $hitbox. I still remember shelling out $400 to buy it, and thinking what a hoot it'd be if I got a year out of it. I dumped another $500 into it to make it legal, and then I whipped it like a red-headed stepchild for 4 years straight. Sammy the Samurai was a faithful friend, a stout sidekick and a reliable mule. It saw me through some of my favorite adventures, missions and fiascos.
See, the beauty of a REAL $hitbox is that it owes you nothing. Every day is a bonus day, so you can whip it mercilessly knowing if it blows up, you've still made out OK.
It's a good thing I was born in this century, because if I treated a horse the way I treat a truck... I don't think I could sleep at night. My heavens, I was a hearless ba$tard to that thing.
Sammy the Samurai's "greatest hits" include:
- Helping me *cough* obtain a genuine MacAvity fire hydrant
- Climbing my pile of firewood evey year
- Taking 1200lbs of shingles to the dump in ONE trip
- Being rear-ended twice in two weeks without *quite* being able to distinguish where they hit me, even when the other car had to be towed away.
- Sliding backwards through the stop sign at the bottom of the Vincent road, in the rain, with Greenie the trailer jacknifed and overloaded with sod.
- Being flipped onto its side at the dump, with Greenie in tow, and having to have one uf the dump's bulldozes pull us out
- Pulling 12 fool logs up the beach at the peninsula, and having it tailgate pulled off (picture above)
- Drowning in the Kennebecasis while launching MS Fortune, and then getting CPR by being towed around West Beach estates by Herb Hegler (trial by water)
- Burning to the ground in the driveway after an electrical fire that I handled a bit too casually (trial by fire)
It's comforting to know that Sammy's happiest days were in its final year... its perforated body all welded up solidly, its wheezy 1.3 engine replaced with a VW turbodiesel. It was ugly, obnoxious and Too Much Fun. I took it everywhere, even when it wasn't really welcome.
I loved that little truck.
