From Mazza to Shazza

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For those of you who don't know, when I left Australia I had to give up my first (and only) car of 10 years. The faithful little Mazda 626 that we'll call Mazza for the story's sake (real name not used) had to be handed over for minimum value after almost hitting the 400,000km mark. It was an emotional day giving up my good companion. Sure she had her problems, but I was the only one who understood and accepted them. I was so caught up in heading off overseas I didn't realise how much I'd miss her until I was gone. She probably got picked up by some alcoholic who needed a vehicle to get to the bottlo quicker, or even worse gone to the scrap yard. At least I have the memories.

When I went car shopping in Seattle a couple of weeks ago, I wasn't seeing much that interested me, until I came across a little ‘97 VW Golf. I was immediately attracted to her dark complexion and petite body. The small engine suggested she would be inexpensive to keep running and hopefully low-maintenance. The only down side is she had been around a bit, with 180,000 miles (300,000kms) and had been treated pretty rough by her last owner. Since the two front seats were worn down to the support bar on the outsides, I'm guessing the owner and friend were a little on the heavy side. Regardless, I was confident we could make things work and a quick check of the inside and out from the local mechanic revealed I was correct. A deal was struck and the first stop was to treat her to an oil, spark plug and air filter change. Like parents that don't name their kids straight away, I didn't immediately come up with Shazza. I originally called her Pixie (her number plate is PXE), and Tim even tried to name her Derek! Born from German bloodlines, but raised in Washington State, I decided she needed a true Aussie name to accompany me and Shazza was born.

From there we hit the road, bound for stop one- Vancouver, Canada. Our first day was a little awkward- I am right handed, she is left. It was like trying to throw a ball with your opposite hand. Soon enough I got used to her and we spent our first day checking out Bruce and Bandon Lee's graves and the largest volume building in the world- the Boeing plant, on our way up to Vancouver. I parked Shazza for a week while I got ready for the big drive across the continent.

Next up: Shazza and I hit B.C’s wine region in the Okanagan Valley, before heading up to The Rockies. Will Shazza perform and live up to Mazza’s reputation- you’ll have to wait to find out.

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Photos

Shazza and me
On our first day at the Boeing Factory

The Boeing Factory
Largest volume building in the world

Lee's graves
Bruce and Brandon Lee's graves- Seattle

Large
The USA has the highest obesity rate in the world, but its not just the people that are big

Stickers
The start of the sticker hall of fame on Shazza's back window, as well as sign of what Shazza would look like if she was a human.

Comments

[Tim]

Shazza?????
I thought the cars name was Derek, and if it was human it would be a nerdy little pre-pubescent fire crotch that couldn't make it on any team he tried out for, let alone get a girl to look at him.

[Liam]

ROADTRIPPN!
Nice work on the new purchase tommo. Did you leave those nunchucks on Brandon Lee's grave? Dead people need nunchucks too.

[Tom Brosnan]

Not Derek
Its not true- this car has style. Sure its a weird kind of German style, but its there!

[Tom Brosnan]

Lee's
Yeah they were only rubber nunchucks too. Not even the real deal.