[juicersr]

Hey guys, sorry that i just stumbled onto this thread so late, but i dont come over here very often, and was following something else when i ran into it.

First off, Jim, thanks for that humbling nomination. I am truly honored u guys. Like everyone here, i love the hell out of these cars, but was always bothered by not being able to drive the one nearest and dearest to me for an extended period in the fashion in which the good Dr meant. I have travelled through Europe in crappy rental cars, and done two motorcycle tours, including one from London to Bulgaria/Ukraine and back. But never in my favorite piece of transportation machinery. Maybe i watched too much autobahn and Ring vids on youtube. Maybe it was all the speeding tickets that i had gotten in my own country for being 5 miles over the already ridiculously low speed limit. Maybe it's that i am continually coming up with hair-brained adventures and then attempting them just to see if what is imagined can become reality. All i can say is that if i felt that if i had never gotten a chance to truly drive the one car i cherish above all others, on the open road as she was meant to be, i would have forever wondered what it would have been like.

LOL Jim. She truly is bastardized, like a pair of old work jeans that have been patched too many time, added this and taken away that. But like the jeans, or a mutt you take in as a stray in college, it stays with you through dozens of girlfriends, in lean times and fat. Many times the SC took my mind off a greuling medical residency filled with death and disease, by giving me brilliant, mind clearing drives in the mountains or nights spent tinkering. I thought that since she had provided me with such satisfying memories, the least i could do was allow her to spend the second half of her life in the land in which she was born to be driven.

And yes, it truly was everything i imagined it would be, and perhaps even more. Even at age 42, when the 'gee whiz' factor is starting to wear off a lot of things, i felt just like i did when i first got my driver's license. It may sound crazy, and maybe it was just my imagination, but the SC seemed to be a whole different car in Europe, more alive, more vibrant, more amazing to drive than i had ever know in my 15 years of ownership. Yeah, the new 3.2SS and rebuilt suspension had a lot to do with that, but Europe, despite encroaching regulation, is still truly a driver's environment.

Anyhow, if any of u guys get a chance to do this, or something similar, don't even hesitate... trust me, the memories will put a smile on your face every day for the rest of your life.

Cheers to all.