Today

Ever since a young age, all the way until I was 15 I could never remember a time that I would have an interest in this sport. I always thought it would be cool to own a fancy sports car, any kid does at this age, but I never thought I would want to make a living from it. Until I was about 15 years old I began to start looking for used cars, with my family not being the wealthiest of all parents, a new car was out of the option, I stayed under the $10,000 budget range. At the time I thought it would be cool to just have a car of my own, but then I started looking beyond that, wondering what cool 2 door cars are out there that I could find for around that price. I started narrowing my searches down to muscle cars, specifically those with V8's. Not knowing much about cars during this time, I soon began to learn that the Mustang GT was the best bang for your buck car for that budget. Immediately I was gaining interest on these cars, reading tons about them, watching videos, night after night. Spending more time on learning about cars then I was with my actual schoolwork at the time (showing how much passion I had for this). I started to become so addicted to learning about cars that I started to hang out with different people that were really into cars. These friends led me into to going to weekly car meets/shows where I immediately got sucked into the car community. I was obsessed. For months all I remember was just learning and doing research on Mustangs. I was addicted, but then things started going the opposite direction. My parents started to wonder if getting me a V8 was the right thing to do. They questioned it for months. Not worried about the price, but worried about my own safety, like every concerned parent would with a teenager behind the wheel of something with enough power to get in trouble. They were afraid to get a me something that had some power to it as a first car, along with it being stickshift. I did everything possible to persuade and change their opinion, but I couldn't get it to go my way. No matter what I promised or said. This was so important to me at the time, that one night I even remember laying in my bed almost in tears just expressing my feelings, writing everything I knew about why I should be allowed to own this car. So I wrote this essay. FInally things started to go my way. My parents still had no idea how into cars I was, they believed it was all talk so they were hesitant to get me an older car. However they decided it was best to lease me a new EcoBoost Mustang. I can't complain about having this car, I was beyond thrilled to get this car, however (not trying to sound spoiled, but the opposite) I still wanted my dream car, an 04 Mustang GT, realistically I thought my parents would see an older Mustang like this as a Downgrade, but my parents saw it as an Upgrade specifically because it wore the name of being a stickshift V8. I can't complain about this car, but in my eyes what I originally wanted was something cheaper.

However I have learned so much from this car. At the end of the day the other car has its pros and cons. This car has really inspired me and made me a better driver. I started to track my car and race it quite often. By getting this car, I've learned so much about driving on the track and the handling of a vehicle in different conditions. I have spent so much time in this car doing the unthinkable on wet and dry roads, doing things people would see as crazy or out of the ordinary for a car like this. But to me it's a way of life. It's who I am.