hans!

So, we smuggled Hans into the city last night. He came with a bunch of extra goodies (and the receipts to prove it), courtesy of 16 years of being maintained with an essentially open pocketbook: Dinan chip, bilsteins and eibachs all around, custom extended driveshafts by korman, slotted rotors, short shift kit, performance cam, and an optima battery. He needs a new exhaust, but fortunately nick's project car comes with a brand new one that he cannot use with the engine he's putting in.

Hans is only 8 years older than Scum or Baby, but those two have much more in common with the cars of today than with Hans. Being in Hans brings back the best of being in my old '75 Alfa Spider: buttons and knobs and indicators that push and pull and click and thunk satisfyingly. A steering wheel that actually transmits road feel. A certain smell, of old leather and decades of gas and just plain living. Plus, Hans has seat heaters. And they work!

Hans chimed at me to tell me it was 2 degrees celsius. (Ok, all BMWs do that, but even the chime was adorable.) The engine rumbles and pulls strongly. The transmission doesn't do that annoying 'sticky going into second' thing. Hans is smooth and strong and just a little quirky. The doors thunk satisfyingly.

Even getting a dressing-down by Nick's parents for buying a non-airbag car cannot keep the grin off my face for long.