“I was zippin' through the city and I don't give a fuck. 1994 Toyota Land Cruiser because, that bitch ain't never broke down on me why would I do that to her? Simplism, symbolism…..” -Andre 3000, Benz Friends 2014
My father’s first automobile purchase after he graduated Duke with his post doctorates, was a 1999 Toyota Camry. Thinking back, I’m pretty sure this was his first new car he had ever bought in his life. I was around 5 at the time. Fast forward thru a little more than a decade, 30 hours of a driver’s ed class taken after school on the second floor of Holly Springs High School, and a year of having a permit and the 1999 Toyota Camry was passed down to me. There it was, time had transformed the same automobile which was my father’s first new car he’d ever purchased, into the first car I would ever own. His 1999 Toyota Camry had become my Camborghini. The year was 2010, and it was magical.
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It was early January of 2010 when I first drove The Camborghini without parental supervision. I was going to work, and I made a special mix CD for the occasion. I remember how off it felt without my mother critiquing my driving on the way to this burger joint I worked at. I pulled up and it was so liberating. There were no boundaries that existed. I could literally go anywhere I wanted to. (I didn’t want to go overseas, so I really could go anywhere I wanted to.) I was a drive away from NYC. I was a drive away from Miami. Shelby, NC was. Only. A. Drive. Away. Not like I desired to go to Shelby, but it was still only a drive away!
Over the next six years, up until today, The Camborghini has made some historical trips. There was this one time where I drove up with some friends to see Kid Cudi at the Roseland Ballroom in NYC for my 18th birthday. Legendary. Kid Cudi ended up shouting out some other guy’s birthday, but it just was cool to hear him say Happy Birthday on my birthday. Miami was honored to have The Camborghini roam its streets this past summer. I drove 15 hours from Raleigh to St. Louis after my freshman year of college. It was phenomenal and quite the experience. There have been many memorable conversations in The Camborghini. So many late night drives where I’ve contemplated the future, romanticized the past, and lived in the moment. My emotional attachment to this car is something strong, yet often times misunderstood. Friends of mine frequently ask me when I’m getting a new car. I am not interested in getting rid of The Camborghini. I’ve had it for so long, that it has almost become a time capsule for all of the consistent friends of mine and me. It’s incredible because I have pictures of Kellz leaning on my car from the summer of 2010, and just last night, while I was in town, we had one of our greatest conversations about life and death on our way to my brother’s house. I brought it up and asked her, “Yo isn’t it wild that you’re sitting in the same seat you were sitting in six years ago?!” Life's a funny thing.
Monetarily, The Camborghini isn’t worth more than $1500 dollars, but the real value lies within the memories and the reliability. My dad came to this country as a refugee, got his education, and this was the first new car he bought! That’s family history!!! It’s my first car, and it’s filled with memories and time stamps of my life. The features of the car include mildly-cold air conditioning, great gas mileage, faded bumpers, and most importantly the driver himself— me. Honestly, I’m awesome, I’m reliable, and I have stamina—much like The Camborghini. Combine these features with the times I drove around campus as a freshman pondering the meaning of life, to all the meaningful conversations I’ve had in it, and many more memories, it’s not hard to see why I refuse to get rid of my first car.
