Crusin’ in a Bruiser

The following article appeared September 12, 2007 in The New Mexican.

There are cruise lines on the streets of Santa Fe, and they’re not bus routes.

Tommy Elrite, 23, drives the cruise lines in his 1966 Chevy C-10 pickup, its primer-gray paint giving it a battered look that successfully conceals the souped-up guts of what he says can “blow away every car at the stoplight.” OK, maybe.

“I go cruising in it, I go racing in it, I pick up girls in it — it’s the ultimate utility vehicle,” he said of his pickup.

The cruise lines are the big avenues in Santa Fe that the hot-rodders and their wannabe cousins — the dudes in their more-sound-than-fury economy cars and compacts known as tuners — rumble up and down most fair-weather weekend nights to see and to be seen — and, of course, heard. Unlike tuners, hot rods usually have V-8 engines, and they’ve got to be Old School.

Tommy’s brother, Billy, 21, defined that as anything built before 1987. He’s in the process of remaking a dull-red 1981 Chevrolet Camaro.

The older the better,” Tommy said. “They’re just cooler.”

Datsun 240Z Ushered In A New Era

This article appeared August 29, 2007, in The New Mexican.

Some believe that the Datsun 240Z — the sleek, reliable 1970s sport coupe with the long snout and the racecar looks — spelled the death knell for the stubby British Triumph and MG roadsters with their annoying carburetor and electrical problems.

Among the believers are Z owners like John Lawrence, and they could be right. “These are the cars that killed off the British sports cars,” Lawrence, 67, said of his dark-orange 1973 Z. “They had reliability, performance and looks. The British couldn’t compete with the Datsun 240Z. The British auto industry was entering the dark ages.”

If so, then U.S. buyers were beginning to shine a bright light on Japanese automakers. A relatively low price made sure enthusiasts could enjoy all the benefits of the Z’s looks and nimble handling — while being introduced to the reliability of the relatively unknown Japanese maker.

The company then was known — only in North America — as Datsun, whose name originated with the DAT Automobile Manufacturing Co.

Not to belabor it, but DAT in 1931 produced a car smaller than its existing one, and the company, in the logic of things, dubbed it son of DAT, or Datson. Nissan modified the name to Datsun when it bought DAT in 1933 and, by the 1980s, swept it into history.