ADORABLE
It's a father's day miracle. AND I have told this story to everyone. But it was wonderful.
Two days ago, Nik argued with me about his 1972 Pontiac versus my dad's Infiniti-
"Your dad's Infiniti only gets 303 horsepower. I will get 500."
"No my Dad's gets 500"
"No it doesn't"
"Dad. How much horsepower does your Infiniti get?"
"303 horsepower."
"..." Ok, so there's no point in me being wrong, as far as I'm concerned.
"He says his Infiniti gets 500 horsepower."
"Well your dad has no mechanical aptitude."
"Evidently, Dad, you have no mechanical aptitude."
Hurt indignance ensues. My dad wanted to be a car mechanic until he graduated from college. And he is very proud to be from Detroit.
"That's bullshit. That is bullshit. I lived two miles from the Pontiac factory." The volume escalates. "My girlfriend made Pontiacs. And Fords. My FAMILY MADE the 1972 Pontiac LeMons. I WORKED ON CARS ALL MY LIFE."
He google imaged the 1972 Pontiac LeMons for the rest of the night.
Last night, which is the same as Father's Day pretty much, Nik calls back with this question--"Where's the PCV valve on a 1972 Pontiac 350 V8 engine?" Maybe that's a really obvious question, I don't know. I don't know cars. It sounded freakishly specific. But I go try to get my Dad.
"Dad, Nik has a car question."
"No."
"Can you at least listen to the question?"
"No, Jess, I probably don't know. I'm going to bed." In the most dejected way possible. Like could not have sounded more dejected.
"Well, wait, hold on, just wait for the question."
"No." More dejection. "I haven't worked on a car in 25 years. I'm not going to know." He turns around like he's about to flop into bed face-first.
"Dad where's the PCV valve on a 1972 Pontiac 350 V8 engine?"
He stops and jerks and you can hear the music swelling. The camera zooms in, you know. He swivels around intensely slow-mo. Exactly like Dennis Quaid from The Rookie. (Tagline: It's never too late to believe in your dreams.) "Under the carborator inside of the hose. The box he'll see is orange. Tell him to turn it over."
"..."
"He found it!"
The score comes to a close. He's still got his intense voice on. "Yeah. Yeah he did. I'm going to bed now."
Anyway, I thought it was inspiring. Happy Father's Day.