I Just Like this Picture

These are two of my roomates when I spent my first year in Madrid. This was taken in Cartagena circa 1983 - Wow that long ago? We took the train to Cartagena from Madrid then went driving along the coast in a Seat 600. The Seat 600 was the Spanish version of the Italian Fiat 600 (makes sense). It looks like this:

This is a picture from 2005. I found this car on the side of the road, a little dejected, while on a motorcycle ride around Madrid. Nostalgia made me take the picture. You do see some Seat 600 's around Madrid - lovingly restored to their original tiny luster.

Back to our trip from Cartagena to Alicante. The most notable occurance was when my roomate Jose's Seiscientos was overheating. There were no parts to be found - and no money to buy them. We found an abandoned Seiscientos (much like this one) behind a building, and I, being the mechanic of the group, stole the radiator out of the abandoned car and installed it in ours. It was a very macho roadside repair if I do say so myself. The roomates were impressed. In Los Angeles, you learn to work on cars at an early age. I bought my first car (a Ford Cortina wagon - a what?) from my sister's boyfriend at age 15 and proceeded to completely rebuild it (with the guidance of my Brother - the ultimate handy guy). Thanks Steve, you taught me so much.