This is going to be a small challenge.

Mid-May this year I bought a semi-classic car for three purposes: Restoring, having something that I could maintain myself without understanding modern electronics, and forcing me to learn---once and for all---how to drive a standard shift transmission. The third goal is most important to me, actually. I don't feel right having staved off driving a stick shift car for so long.

So what did I buy? A 1972 Datsun 510 coupe, very similar to the one pictured above. For those who are unfamiliar with the brand Datsun, it is a former naming of Nissan that was dropped in the early-1980s.

So what made this type of car so compelling? For starters, it is not much larger than a modern Mini Cooper. It has a superb turning radius, so it beats my 2001 Accord, which I hope to get rid of once the the Datsun's new and happy. Plus, when tuned properly, it gets exceptional gas mileage.

As for pending work, I need to ...

• Flush fluids,


• Tune the carburetors,


• Rewire some of the electronics,


• Wire temperature and fuel gauges,


• Wire the backup-lights,


• Wire the windshield washers,


• Install a sound dampening kit (Ordered),


• Install front and rear bumpers (Ordered),


• Install air filters (Ordered),


• Install interior fabric kit,


• Install grommets in the firewall, and


• Get the climate control system working,

Given just how simple this car is by today's standards, the important tasks are insanely easy. Plus, a ten-year-old could practically buy all of the replacement parts for this car with his weekly allowance.

In any case, last night tweaked me out a bit, because it was the first time that I have driven that car on my own for any appreciable duration. Learning to drive a stick shift is unnerving as it is, so I did not want to compound it with stop-and-go traffic, major traffic, and hills. My plan had been to drive the car at 0100 in the morning from Mountain View, where my employer is located and the car had been parked, to San Francisco and park it in my driveway to begin repairs in the coming days. The result: I made it home just fine with stalling the car only once, and that stall happened when I was parking it.

This is going to be a small challenge, but it will be worth it: I have a love-hate relationship with trial-by-fire situations, so I am looking forward to this project of mine keeping me on my toes. It is one of those things that in now + two months I will look back upon and wonder why I had been fretting.