Trouble was there was fog in that valley, thick. I could barely make out the tail lights of the car just 40 meters ahead of me. I could see nothing of the landscape, nothing of the road, hoping the guy ahead of me stayed on track … as well as the guy behind me and the guy to the left of me. Two lanes and there was oncoming traffic. No slowing down or pulling to the side here, because that would mean getting hit from behind by the guy following your lead.

A bit nerve-wracking…

I recall one trip back to Livorno, driving the autostrade in the left lane at 110 with nobody on the road. As a note, don’t ever do this. That lane has a purpose. I looked ahead of me. Nothing. I looked in my mirror. Nothing. I looked ahead of me. Nothing. I looked in the mirror. Lamborghini with flashing headlights. I moved over and he zoomed by at about 200 mph.

From Wiki:
The first speed limit, to 120 km/h (75 mph), was enacted in November 1973 as a result of the 1973 oil crisis. In October 1977, a graduated system was introduced: cars of above 1,300 cc (79 cu in) had a 140 km/h (87 mph) speed limit, cars of 900-1299 cc had a limit of 130 km/h (81 mph), those of 600-899 cc could drive at 110 km/h (68 mph), and those of 599 cc (36.6 cu in) or less had a maximum speed of 90 km/h (56 mph). In July 1988 a blanket speed limit of 110 km/h (68 mph) was imposed on all cars above 600 cc (the lower limit was kept for smaller cars) by the short lived PSDI government. In September 1989 this was increased to 130 km/h (81 mph) for cars above 1,100 cc (67 cu in) and 110 km/h (68 mph) for smaller ones.

145! Yikes. Nothing like being pushed back into the seat.

My personal best is only around 115-120. But I did it for twenty minutes on a early Sunday morning, a lonely 2 lane Wyoming state highway, patchy fog, absolutely nobody on the road, escaping a bittersweet visit with an EX. Pulled over later that day on windy Interstate 80 passing a Semi at 20+ speed limit.

Really wanted to get home.

Oh, it was a Subaru 4 door sedan, GL series, metallic beige, 1980, and it was a surprising vehicle: decent acceleration, stable at high speeds, and dependable on all but the worst high clearance 4WD mine roads. Standard 5 speed. Miss that car. One of my favorites.

My favorite was in my ’69 Charger in Panama. Bench seat with the Hurst shifter standing high from the floor. Beautiful car, my Dukes-of-Hazardmobile. Only once did I ever get to 4th gear. That was kinda okay. It was a 440 that would easily hit a steady cruise at 90 in 3rd. So many curves in the old Canal Zone. Heading north toward David (pronounced Dăv-ēd´) — well, really west, there’s that hook in the shape of Panama so that the canal is actually a nearly straight line north and south between the Atlantic and the Pacific… Anyway, I hit an uphill stretch of straight roadway. It was on the Pan-American Highway, International Route 1, two-lanes packed with traffic. Rumbling along in 3rd at about 35~45 mp/h I weaved out to the oncoming lane for a peek ahead and there was nothing but about two miles of open road. I glanced to Mrs. S.

“Hang on, babe,” I said.

I moved over and down-shifted to 2nd. Burned a launch in the pavement. 3rd burned another patch. 4th smoked my right-lane audience and we were gone. Speedometer pegged at 145 and I was still accelerating up that narrow incline.

Way cool!

Moving back onto the correct lane we continued our trip for a few more miles. There were periodic police checkpoints along the highway and we were pulled over, being told I had passed a cop-car in that little adventure.

30 minutes later, the charging officer arrived. Turned out he just wanted a look at the engine. I passed him a twenty and we were again on our way.

Fun times.

No.

But you’re right, old age is catching up with us. The day is fast approaching when I will no longer be able to rely on all four of my limbs, and to be honest, automatics have pretty much all the bugs worked out of them. Power steering and brakes are pretty much ubiquitous now, and I must confess I never really mastered all the intricacies of competition handling a front-wheel drive. You can’t set up a fishtail or a four-wheel drift when the drive wheels are up front.

Autonomous cars my ass. This isn’t about safety or convenience, its about not having to pay truck, bus and cab drivers a salary. This abomination is being brought to you by the same jackals that brought us robocalls and telephone ‘bots.

Besides, how can a real man crash through a closed gate or a police roadblock if his car radar stops him automatically to avoid a collision? Sometimes, free men simply have to have the ability to override the safety devices.

I laugh when I see a huge SUV slow to a crawl to go over a speed bump. I want to grab them by an ear and haul them up to a old mine road, and show them what their vehicle is capable of.

Sure, in a couple of decades when they take my keys away, I’ll be all for autonomous cars. But until then, my hands are going to be on the wheel, and I know perfectly well how to parallel park, thank-you very much. We’ll be training a whole new generation that won’t have a clue on how to park without a computer. That makes me sad.