While I do try to keep F31club about F31s, I also try to post personal stories around the cars. Since F31club has been some what an extension of me and my involvement things outside of F31s, I wanted to share my recent personal tragedy.
My father passed away from a fishing accident. My dad was an accomplished fisherman and was fishing at a beach where we’ve been going to since I was a kid. He was knocked unconscious and his incompetent fishing partner failed to get him before he was dragged out into the water, where 40mins later, the park ranger was able to retrieve his body.
So how does this tie in with F31club? Well, in 2018, Jim P. gave me an M30 vert with door damage and an door itself!
The vert’s home base was my parent’s house in Olympia. So I drove it there and had the spare door in the storage shed behind my house.
My dad was part of the rockabilly era with Elvis. So he was into cars back then. I didn’t know this until my uncle told me while we were going through his pictures.
My dad was a mechanic in the military, but he stopped taking care of cars after his Mustang hit a patch of black ice and he drove off a cliff in the 80s.
Years later, when my EG civic AT transmission was failing, he said just junk the car, but I swapped in MT and he was impressed. He also let me store and work on my 240sx and RX7 at the house.
The 2020 summer plan (pre covid19) was to get up to Vancouver BC (where the vert is) and drive it back down to Olympia. My dad and I were gonna work on the door a bit.
That would have been our “father and son” project.
I also wanted to take him cruising in Project Leopard when it was done and also the vert too (he drove it as well).
My heart has been hurting and I will never have that “Father and son” project with him. I wanted to take pictures with him and the vert and cruise with the top down with him.
I’ve always wanted to integrate my dad into F31club some how and that project would have been a good story.
RIP Dad.