Celica Nemesis
Posted by Patrick on Wednesday, November 03, 2004I drive a similar route to work almost every day, and leave around the same time every day. As a commuter, you begin to see the same people driving the same cars back and forth to work. Same Ford F-150's full of contractors, same BMW 5 series sedans, filled with a lawyer.
As for myself, I take a Celica.
I've had the car since the summer of 2001, and crossed 90,000 miles on the odometer. While it lacks the torque of a pushrod Firebird, it's fun to drive. All the time. It can get out of its own way, corners well, and looks good despite its many miles.
Now, for the past few years I have seen another silver Celica, much like my own, traveling on route 146. In fact, ever since my last job, I've seen this guy at least once a month. He, up until recently, drove a silver Toyota Celica GTS (the GTS being the slightly faster, leather seat model).
And he drove like a complete jerk. I have dubbed him Celica Nemesis.
Keeping in mind that I drive a pretty rapid pace, this guy is always driving at least 90 mph. Not only fast, but aggressive. Cutting people off all the time. At first whenever I saw him, I'd try to cruise along with him (thinking, "hey, we both have silver Celicas, cruising in tandem might look cool").... and he would never let me get near him. I'd approach, and when I got five or six car-lengths away from him, he'd take off, leaving me behind.
Now, bearing in mind that a nemesis isn't necessarily a true enemy, there's more to the story One day I was driving home and saw Celica Nemesis up ahead on the road, flying along. He's easy to see because he's got a 3-digit license plate and no rear-spoiler. I sped up a little to catch up to him, and as usual he sped up more and tried to leave me in his Celica dust. Then, all of a sudden he slowed way down and got right next to me. If we were Canadian, we would have been side-by-each.
I was confused, but then I saw him pointing up the road at the State Trooper hidden in the woods.
Celica Nemesis could have let me blast by and get pulled over, but he took the time to point out the trooper for a fellow Celica driver. Once we were clear of the police officer, I went to pull up next to him to wave "thanks," but he took off again and disappeared down the highway.
I didn't know what to think. Is Celica Nemesis a fellow Toyota Celica enthusiast, or an evil road-raging maniac?
Recently I saw him driving a new car (same license plate, same insane driving tactics), a Mercedes C230 with the Kompressor supercharger. Celica Nemesis had abandoned his Celica for more German pastures.
And then (yes, I know this is a long post), on Monday while I was getting some gas, Celica Nemesis pulled in right near me! There he was! I decided it was time to talk to him, to find out what his deal was. He recognized me right away. As it turns out, he's wicked friendly! I couldn’t believe it! We chatted about cars for a little while, and then waved and I was on my way.
So, what's the moral of the story? If you have a secret highway nemesis, they might not think they're your nemesis, and might be a nice person, and you might be crazy for writing about it online.
Labels: Automotive
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