Laying in the driveway

Goodbye Black Betty

 

She will be missed. Around the year 2000, my grandfather purchased this truck with a low 19k on the clock. This was the XE model, the last year this body style was made (one of Nissan's more simple, but handsome designs), chrome accents and the optional six spoke alloys. It had cruise control, but everything else was manual - transmission, window cranks, manual locks. When I was 15, I learned the art of driving a stickshift on her. High school saw modifications added almost weekly - Clear corners and signals, A'PEXi N1 exhaust, eventually lowering about 4" in the front and 3" in the rear, a couple different tail lights, GReddy shift knob, and 2 sets of Titan wheels that I bought, but was too poor to buy tires (lol). She did several passes at the local drag strip - managing an 11.5 at 55mph in the 1/8th mile. This truck carried me and my friends thru high school, carried all my stuff back and forth to college, was there for my second first date with my wife, and remained a reliable, very usable truck. After putting up with abuse almost constantly since I acquired her in 2002, she has held up remarkably well. I have owned her for almost 100,000 miles - 2 sets of tires, 2 clutches, was backed into 2 different times on 2 different sides, but never wrecked amazingly. This was the first car that I learned to drive quickly on a back road. 140hp, 2500lbs, rear wheel drive with seemingly 80/20 front weight distribution made it a fun car to rag around in. It was time to let her go to a home (just down the street) where she will be driven more regularly instead of being left out on the street to slowly fall apart. With as little use as she got over the past 2 years as our 3rd vehicle, it was time to move on. After spending 2 hours giving her a wax and cleaning the car inside and out, I approached my neighbor to see if he was still interested in purchasing her. Within an hour she was sold and moved to her new home. She will be missed, but I will check up on her from time to time.

Alaska Favs

 

*these pics were all shot by Brenda and Tony Wilson with our camera and post processed by me.