Need For Speed - Parts 2 and/or 3

Matt had started to race the red RX7 in local time trial events and was driving the wheels off of it. He quickly became an expert at repairing the RX7 and my garage quickly became his personal auto shop. Even with all the stuff he was accumulating he needed to replace all sorts of parts, including engines. This meant we had to have more RX7s to part from or maybe put parts into-he wasn't quite sure. He started looking for another RX7 and eventually found one that he was wanted to get for $600 or so. He showed me a picture. It was blue, same year I think. It looked ok in the pic. He said he was thinking of taking the guts out of the red RX7 and putting them into this blue RX7 because he liked the interior in the blue one better and thought the body was in better shape. When I asked where the car was I was kind of surprised to hear "It's in Knoxville, TN dad. It's only a short drive from here. It'll be fun". Now Matt and I were just starting to get to a place where we wanted to be in each others company and I was a little leery about an entire day in a car with no escape from each other, but his enthusiasm for the adventure was infectious. (Reflecting on Matt I now understand that most of life is about the adventure, not the end result) I thought we were driving there, getting the car, and coming home. Wasn't that simple. We were driving there with a car trailer, which I had no idea how to use, much less where to go get it, loading a car onto it, driving home, unloading it, and returning the trailer. "And, Oh, Dad, can you cover the trailer? I'm a little short". Off we go, me driving with a trailer for the first time. I was a nervous wreck by the time we got there 5 hours later, especially up and down through the mountains. When we did get there we had to back the trailer in at a sharp angle into the dirt driveway. Looking back now, it was very comical for Matt and the guy selling the car to see me attempt it. At the time I thought it was more like a nightmare. I had no conception of the physics involved with backing up a trailer. Matt was running around telling me which way to turn the wheel and getting very frustrated with my lack of understanding. I think I finally gave up and let him do it. When we finally saw the car it was a huge let down. One side was dented, the windshield was cracked, the interior that looked so nice in the picture didn't look so nice in person - and it didn't run! I wasn't happy at all and didn't want Matt to pay even $600 for it. Matt was disappointed too, I could see it in his face, but he wasn't going to back down. He wanted that car. I think it was a matter of pride. We discussed it some more and agreed to offer the guy less. He didn't budge at first and Matt wanted to just give him the money and leave - he was mad by now. I told him we had to push the guy a little more so we went back over to him laid out our sob story about how we drove 5 hours for a car that was not what it was portrayed as (he said Matt had only heard what he wanted to)and it didn't look like anyone was beating down the doors to buy it. He finally relented and knocked of $100 or so. Loading it onto the trailer was something else since it didn't run. After about an hour of more we had it strapped on and headed back home.

It wasn't more then a week or two and Matt had taken both of the RX7s apart and was rebuilding himself a new car. I am still amazed at that. I would watch and pretend to help but mostly got in the way. So now he had a car that was running and a lot of spare parts in our driveway, basement, and garage where they would remain for years as yet another RX7, black this time, found its way to our house. Eventually, when he was at Elon, all the parts were hauled away - the RX7s themselves had been long gone as he moved on to the Miata.

Completely on his own he learned everything there is to know about an RX7, find suitable cars for parts, and build a car! This is a prime example of what Mark said in his eulogy speech about Matt's approach to life - learn about it, find it, and made it happen - not to mention the adventure that went along with all of it.