Originally Posted by
aixaix
You don't buy a Caddy because it drives like a Porsche.
Sting-rays may not have been fast or responsive (although you got good traction in snow: kind of like a 911) but the cool-, tough-, wicked-, sick-factor was off the charts compared to anything else. Not to mention the comparative ease of popping wheelies on a stingray.
You never looked as good (or imagined so) as you did cruising along your sun-dappled, tree-lined suburban cul-de-sac past the neighborhood kids staring enviously as you, arrogance personified, reclining against your four-foot-long chrome-plated backrest tube, attempted to hock a loogie in their general direction (although, like most healthy ten-year-olds, you couldn't spit like your old man, needing at least 2 decades and many thousand cigarettes to build up the necessary body and fullness). Even if your mostly foam offering missed the mark, the message was unmistakable: he who rides a Sting-ray rules, and is entitled to respect from his inferiors.
I love the way you write, Michael!
I live on a tree-lined suburban street that makes me feel I live in a Norman Rockwell painting. I just witnessed an experience like that. The 11 year old boys were skateboarding on the street on Sunday while I was mowing the lawn. They had some guests their age, too. Then a car pulled up with a man driving. The driver's son got out of the car and went to the back and banged on the trunk. He yelled in a rude tone, "Open up the trunk!" The father let that go, for some reason and released the lid. All the kids were behind the car at that point, and the boy pulled out a gorgeous new longboard. The boys all yelled Whoa loudly. I don't know enough about boards to know what to admire, but certainly the boys knew enough. The new boy had a gloating look on his face.
So in case you're wondering, this phenomenon still exists.