He took possession of his orphan SmartCar- to be named at a later date.
Let me explain.
Nick reserved his SmartCar in the summer of 07. We had seen this tiny vehicle when we traveled in Norway and Sweden and he fell in LOVE. He ordered the specific car he will get right after the first of the year and there is about a 6 month waiting period. His bumblebee (yellow and black) should be delivered in June 08.
Then he heard about "orphans"--SmartCars that were reserved and ordered, but the person ordering changed his mind for whatever reason. N heard about one man who had ordered a smart car and his wife discovered she was pregnant w/ twins and this is a two seater car, so he had to let it go. Anyway, N put his name on the orphan list and told the dealer he would take whatever came available. There are 3 configurations and 6 main colors, so he told them he wasn't picky.
Today was the day---we drove to Round Rock to pick up our blue cabriolet (convertible) . The dealer representative (Jordan) walked us thru the entire car--showing us where the battery is, where to fill the fluids, how to lower and raise the top and how to drive the "automatic/standard" transmission. We found a gas station cuz N wanted to top off the tank to check the mileage (it is supposed to be in the 40's and 50's) One of the things we had been warned about was people stopping you to ask about what the car is and how you like it. They even gave us some little yellow cards to give people who want more information about it. Two different individuals at the service station, pulled around and got out and wanted to talk about it. We drove to a mall in Georgetown looking for lunch and the "security guard" person in the little golf cart stopped by to ask if it was a Toyota. He asked about price. Then two folks in a large luxury car stopped by--they had Mercedes-Benz shirts on and they knew all about the car. (It is made by Mercedes) They wanted to know how we liked it. Since we'd had it less than 2 hours, we didn't have too much to report. N just grins when he talks about it.
I am guessing the wind today on the road home was between 35-45 mph. I drove my van behind N in the new car. I was feeling the wind, so I was sure N was having to do lots of compensating to keep it in one lane. Kinda made me feel homesick for the El Paso wind (for about 10 seconds).
When we got to Goldthwaite, Nick decided I needed to drive it. It is super fun to drive, but NOT IN HIGH WIND. People driving by gawk, which is normal cuz it looks so different.
We drove thru Bwd a bit and got some looks. N gave me a little tutorial on how to use the "paddles" to shift up and down in the standard mode. We took the top down--yes, even in the high wind--and drove that way for awhile. It is cute and fun and an attention grabber. If you see us driving around, wave and smile, we enjoy that.
