ChipesterKhan chronicles - part 3 - Mad Max

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As "The Green Machine" was being towed to my uncle's garage for improvements, he provided me another volkswagen beetle whom I ended up calling "Mad Max". Mad Max started out as a clean, well maintained street machine with a 1200 engine. My friends and I would pile into that car (we were 12 in the gang) and drive around town in it. He was what you'd call a runt. Since my uncle had 3 cars, he didn't use Mad Max as much as his other cars (Toyotas). It ended up as my 16th birthday present. Perks of having a cool bachelor uncle hehehe. At first it wasn't really a gift. Until a trike lost control of it's brakes and slammed into Max while it was parked outside. My uncle removed the damaged door (passenger side) and kinda liked the look so he removed the driver's side as well. He installed a makeshift door made of a big metal pipe to keep me from falling out, And that's when he gave Max to me. Having no doors on that car gave me the sense of freedom I needed at a young age. my friends and I would drive it around with a few heads peeking out of the door. I just can't imagine now how we all fit into that car. Of course we were smaller then, cause we were 15 going on 16. When "The Green Machine" was finished, my uncle told me I couldn't drive it on the street so I had to keep it in the garage. He told me to use Max on normal days and to only bring out "The Green Machine" on racing days (under his strict supervision). Max was a semi money maker for me. Since my friends had no notion of how much gas really cost back then, they would all contribute 10 pesos each to have a ride around town and then home. Back then gas was only 8 pesos a liter (this was in 1994) and the whole travel experience was around 50 kilometers. Needless to say, I always had extra money in my pocket back in high school. Until they eventually started having their own cars when we turned 18. I had a very good headstart and a very healthy bank account just by driving them around. Mad Max was eventually borrowed by my sister when I left for Zamboanga to take care of my lolo's farm. He ended up as a big pile of rust when I got back home after a year. My sister had parked him outside Dave's (my sister's boyfriend then and now my bassist, they're no longer together) beach house. Since He had a better car, Mad Max ended up parked for a very long time exposed to salty air which rusted out his floor pan. When I got him back, I felt like Fred Flintstone. I sold him to a mechanic for a paltry sum and went off to college. Mad Max will always have a special place in my heart because of how he made me feel whenever I drove him. Young and free. Tata.