Sweet 16!

Liam just turned 16! I would say that this snuck up on us, just because the span of time between his becoming a teenager and this seems so short, but in reality, we had already been practicing driving after he got his learner’s permit, so there was some sense that this milestone was coming up on us fast. 

To mark the occasion, and throw Liam off our big surprise for him, we arranged a “magical memory tour” highlighting various noteworthy places and events from his past. This included the hospital where he was born (Stanford) his first preschool in Palo Alto (JCC) where he was a bacon dealer, the soccer field in Half Moon Bay where my dad coached him (Cunha), and his Elementary school in El Granada (Wilkinson). We started in the morning and by lunch time had made our way south and east to Santa Clara, where we stopped for brunch at a little cafe just a few blocks from Elephant Racing, where Liam had his first job as an office helper. 

After brunch, Liam had assumed that the tour was over and we would go go-karting or do something like that, but instead we pulled up to Elephant Racing where an e30 BMW was waiting for him with a big red bow on the hood. I parked directly in front of it, but Liam was making all kinds of other connections with the place that he didn’t register the big gift right in front of him was for HIM. He was thrilled. 

Along with the keys to the car, I also handed him a card that explained how it took an entire community to make this gift possible. This included:

• Brian donating the car (HUGE thanks, Brian!)

• My arranging all the logistics, including getting it operational and figuring out registration and insurance 

• Bill helping to get it running again and offered to help teach him to work on it (something it will continue to need). I will also teach him to drive it. 

• Ren paying to bring it here and get the parts for it to be drivable again and covered the lion’s share of the expenses around insurance and registration 

• Jason and I polishing and detailing it 

• Chris helping with mechanical advice and troubleshooting 

• Sarah and Mickey providing tune up parts and Mickey (along with Bill) showing him how to work on it 

• Chuck at Elephant Racing/Vonnen providing parking and a shop space to work on it while it was not running 

• The Bay Area e30 community providing lots of free and deeply discounted parts 

The BMW remains very much a project, but with Liam’s keen technical skills (much better than mine) and engineering mind, I’m sure it will be both fun and rewarding for him to get it set up just as he wants it. Of course, he also now needs to learn how to drive a manual - Martin already began the lessons with him on his property with a WWI Jeep - so those will need to continue now. 

We’re proud of Liam and look forward to all the adventures we will take together with him behind the wheel. His first suggestion was to take us up to the wine country so that we could drink as much as we want and have him drive us home. Cheers to that!