I'm sure a lot of you know I've been a Model X signature holder. Trying to help out where I can (mostly the Model X tally). I did get to meet a few of you at last years conference so this is overdue. My mind went down memory lane today and I thought I make ya all suffer through it. :tongue:
I'm an independent IT Management Consultant / Developer specializing in Oracle ERP financials originally from "the Goulds" (a small farming/suburb town; now part of St. John's, Newfoundland). But for the past near twenty years, I'm now living in the just as lovely, Vancouver, Canada.
Pre-history
While growing up there was tons of trains, cars & motorized toys around as my Dad was a heavy and light duty mechanic for the National Railway (CN) until its demise in 1988[SUP]1[/SUP]. We always had cars and trucks, dirt bikes, snowmobiles, and all-terrain vehicles (3 and 4 wheels) for all year round transportation. I also worked at the family gas & service station from 1982 to 1990. There I've got to see and drive just about anything on the Avalon Peninsula that passed through our small town and stopped in to refuel or get repaired. (Driving / lots of pushing them into the bays and re-staging the lot to make room). Funny, I recall the Plymouth Reliant K / Chrysler/Dodge Aries "K-cars" as the one the most common thing seen, but I'm sure that's because they were brand new and so popular at the time as they were dirt cheap.
I also have to mention a pair of cross country skis, as on occasion, that was the only way to get somewhere during a blizzard. Why the hell do you have to be somewhere in a blizzard? Well I guess being used to awful weather, you didn't let gale force winds, blowing snow, sleet, fog, rain, freezing rain, ice, 12' snow drifts across the only road stop you! LOL. But boy did I have a strange obsession with space to carry things & my love for manual transmissions.
29 years of Motor-Evolution from 1k to 100k..
Sorry long winded... bolded the plane, cars and motorcycles, so you don't have to suffer through it!.
Just e-signed the papers for the Model S! Found myself reflecting on all the vehicles I've owned over the years. The Model S is #9 on the 10 known list, since I'm still waiting for the Model X. But there were 8 others before it....
#1 - In 1985, bought a brand new black 1985 Honda Rebel 250cc. motorcycle. Sold to a friend in 1991. Little Rebel... the freedom of the open road. Sadly, summer was only 2 weeks of the year, but managed to drive it using rain gear to get 3-6 months out of the year. Mind you frost made me spill the thing several times in late Spring and late Summer (yea Summer).
#2 - In 1986, went to visit my aunt in Nova Scotia (where you can get your driver license at the age of 16, instead of 17 where I lived). Got my license in a blink of an eye with the easiest test I've ever taken to date). When I got back my older brother moved up to a truck and I bought his blue 1982 Honda Prelude, manual transmission. What a piece of junk and no space. Was always needing repair. Didn't bother with that for long, despite "free" mechanics at the family service station. And couldn't carry squat.
#3 So later that year went to a Ford auction to find something better that I could put all my friends in (very few my age owned cars) and also to carry goods from a gas company & suppliers to our station as part of my job at the service station. End up being the sole bidder on a red 1982 Ford Escort Station Wagon, manual transmission of course. Paid 1k!
#4 1988 almost out of high school, after my gear shift cracked off, I continued to drive it until the engine went after 150,000 kms. I was just starting universtity and couldn't really afford much so my friend's dad had a used car lot just up from our station and got a peppy blue 1986 Pontiac Acadian hatchback with manual transmission. Fine for university right? Didn't fair too well in the 2 winters it faced.
#5 1990 Half way through university I got a job with the IT department and could afford something, again still needing lots of room but something cheap I went to a GM dealer to get the "university grant". Got a brand new blue 1990 Pontiac Lemans, manual transmission hatch back. Wow was it ugly. It had these black plastic with holes things where the rear side windows are usually located behind passenger doors these days. in 1993 a friend had borrowed it and they got t-boned (took the front of the car right off, they were ok thankfully).
#6 Didn't replace the Lemans right away. I just graduated university and got a full time job with IT (was already there part time) and lived very close to it. So walked during the summer, but of course winter came quickly... So thinking back at what I liked before, I really loved my Ford Escort, so went and bought a new green 1992 Ford Escort 2 door hatch back, manual transmission. Tons of room!
#7 now 2002, bought a motorcycle to relive those Rebel days! haha.. Feel in love with the new Honda naked bike, the blue 2002 Honda CB900F 919cc motorcycle. This thing is like a jet engine! Very popular in other markets as the "Hornet". Still have it! Don't get to ride much these days, but if it fits in my X or if I can tow it, it's road tripping with me.
#8 2004 Got a contract in Montreal during Winter. They wanted me to be on site more than just 4 days per week, so I decided to do a short term relocation. Ended up taking over a lease of a blue 2002 VW Jetta 1.8T 5 speed manual. My favourite one ever!
I always wanted to know how to fly. In 2008 I became a student pilot and flown a Cessna 172. Proved to be a very expensive hobby and work hours didn't let me get enough practice time in, so I've let this slip. Perhaps once its 100% electric I'll take flight again. However, didn't quite have the same love I have for the open road.
#9 Ten years later, now its 2014. After the 2014 Q1 Tesla earnings Q&A call, I was besides myself. I really wanted a new car and I wanted it to be 100% electric. I just couldn't wait any more, why not get a lovely metallic grey 2014 Model S 60 while I wait. Thanks Bonnie for the hint... it helps when you already have one in the garage, dam it, LOL. I'm sure it will trade in nicely when the X arrives.
#10 Sometime in the near future, 2015 Model X (a signature colour or it'll be .... yea blue!)
Footnotes
1. My dad was also the union rep and worked with transport minister at the time (the great man, John Crosbie) on the "Roads for Rails" deal. Some of the rail was made into even more narrow gauge (3') than already norrow 3'6" gauge railway it was. Fun Fact: Some of the rail cars went to White Pass and Yukon Route, now a heritage railway, So a part of Newfoundland is in the Yukon! I got to be on the final last train ride with CN employees in one of those original passenger cars from the early days. Was a wonderful experience.
I'm an independent IT Management Consultant / Developer specializing in Oracle ERP financials originally from "the Goulds" (a small farming/suburb town; now part of St. John's, Newfoundland). But for the past near twenty years, I'm now living in the just as lovely, Vancouver, Canada.
Pre-history
While growing up there was tons of trains, cars & motorized toys around as my Dad was a heavy and light duty mechanic for the National Railway (CN) until its demise in 1988[SUP]1[/SUP]. We always had cars and trucks, dirt bikes, snowmobiles, and all-terrain vehicles (3 and 4 wheels) for all year round transportation. I also worked at the family gas & service station from 1982 to 1990. There I've got to see and drive just about anything on the Avalon Peninsula that passed through our small town and stopped in to refuel or get repaired. (Driving / lots of pushing them into the bays and re-staging the lot to make room). Funny, I recall the Plymouth Reliant K / Chrysler/Dodge Aries "K-cars" as the one the most common thing seen, but I'm sure that's because they were brand new and so popular at the time as they were dirt cheap.
I also have to mention a pair of cross country skis, as on occasion, that was the only way to get somewhere during a blizzard. Why the hell do you have to be somewhere in a blizzard? Well I guess being used to awful weather, you didn't let gale force winds, blowing snow, sleet, fog, rain, freezing rain, ice, 12' snow drifts across the only road stop you! LOL. But boy did I have a strange obsession with space to carry things & my love for manual transmissions.
29 years of Motor-Evolution from 1k to 100k..
Sorry long winded... bolded the plane, cars and motorcycles, so you don't have to suffer through it!.
Just e-signed the papers for the Model S! Found myself reflecting on all the vehicles I've owned over the years. The Model S is #9 on the 10 known list, since I'm still waiting for the Model X. But there were 8 others before it....
#1 - In 1985, bought a brand new black 1985 Honda Rebel 250cc. motorcycle. Sold to a friend in 1991. Little Rebel... the freedom of the open road. Sadly, summer was only 2 weeks of the year, but managed to drive it using rain gear to get 3-6 months out of the year. Mind you frost made me spill the thing several times in late Spring and late Summer (yea Summer).
#2 - In 1986, went to visit my aunt in Nova Scotia (where you can get your driver license at the age of 16, instead of 17 where I lived). Got my license in a blink of an eye with the easiest test I've ever taken to date). When I got back my older brother moved up to a truck and I bought his blue 1982 Honda Prelude, manual transmission. What a piece of junk and no space. Was always needing repair. Didn't bother with that for long, despite "free" mechanics at the family service station. And couldn't carry squat.
#3 So later that year went to a Ford auction to find something better that I could put all my friends in (very few my age owned cars) and also to carry goods from a gas company & suppliers to our station as part of my job at the service station. End up being the sole bidder on a red 1982 Ford Escort Station Wagon, manual transmission of course. Paid 1k!
#4 1988 almost out of high school, after my gear shift cracked off, I continued to drive it until the engine went after 150,000 kms. I was just starting universtity and couldn't really afford much so my friend's dad had a used car lot just up from our station and got a peppy blue 1986 Pontiac Acadian hatchback with manual transmission. Fine for university right? Didn't fair too well in the 2 winters it faced.
#5 1990 Half way through university I got a job with the IT department and could afford something, again still needing lots of room but something cheap I went to a GM dealer to get the "university grant". Got a brand new blue 1990 Pontiac Lemans, manual transmission hatch back. Wow was it ugly. It had these black plastic with holes things where the rear side windows are usually located behind passenger doors these days. in 1993 a friend had borrowed it and they got t-boned (took the front of the car right off, they were ok thankfully).
#6 Didn't replace the Lemans right away. I just graduated university and got a full time job with IT (was already there part time) and lived very close to it. So walked during the summer, but of course winter came quickly... So thinking back at what I liked before, I really loved my Ford Escort, so went and bought a new green 1992 Ford Escort 2 door hatch back, manual transmission. Tons of room!
#7 now 2002, bought a motorcycle to relive those Rebel days! haha.. Feel in love with the new Honda naked bike, the blue 2002 Honda CB900F 919cc motorcycle. This thing is like a jet engine! Very popular in other markets as the "Hornet". Still have it! Don't get to ride much these days, but if it fits in my X or if I can tow it, it's road tripping with me.
#8 2004 Got a contract in Montreal during Winter. They wanted me to be on site more than just 4 days per week, so I decided to do a short term relocation. Ended up taking over a lease of a blue 2002 VW Jetta 1.8T 5 speed manual. My favourite one ever!
I always wanted to know how to fly. In 2008 I became a student pilot and flown a Cessna 172. Proved to be a very expensive hobby and work hours didn't let me get enough practice time in, so I've let this slip. Perhaps once its 100% electric I'll take flight again. However, didn't quite have the same love I have for the open road.
#9 Ten years later, now its 2014. After the 2014 Q1 Tesla earnings Q&A call, I was besides myself. I really wanted a new car and I wanted it to be 100% electric. I just couldn't wait any more, why not get a lovely metallic grey 2014 Model S 60 while I wait. Thanks Bonnie for the hint... it helps when you already have one in the garage, dam it, LOL. I'm sure it will trade in nicely when the X arrives.
#10 Sometime in the near future, 2015 Model X (a signature colour or it'll be .... yea blue!)
Footnotes
1. My dad was also the union rep and worked with transport minister at the time (the great man, John Crosbie) on the "Roads for Rails" deal. Some of the rail was made into even more narrow gauge (3') than already norrow 3'6" gauge railway it was. Fun Fact: Some of the rail cars went to White Pass and Yukon Route, now a heritage railway, So a part of Newfoundland is in the Yukon! I got to be on the final last train ride with CN employees in one of those original passenger cars from the early days. Was a wonderful experience.
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