Fast Cars, Pt 2

I was born in the age of the automatic
and learned to drive that way

it's not that it wasn't cool
to drive stick
or standard shift
or 4 on the floor

at the time
I got my license
testing in a Ford

that was very much automatic
so much so
that
when the linkage broke

and was welded together
it would lurch
into reverse
from a cold start
in park

there were other features
of those fast cars
that made you think
how much of a sales job
it all was

if you were driving
for show
honking and waving
at people you didn't even know
having white wall tires

was more important
than the seating in the car
so you could get away
with a 60/40 bench

designating the slope
of the seat back
and seat bottom
even though
the upgrade
to bucket seats

was more
of a selling feature
if you were trying to impress
your girl

of course the muscle car
was not a patch
on a real sports car
but such distinctions
made no difference
in the time
of boonwagons and Buicks