Jocko Weyland, our China correspondent was driving in his Nissan in LA. He had to find some to park it while he was away. The car gave its own solution The Amazing Car Machine 1993-May 19th, 2008.
In loving memory
A great little car, possibly the greatest little car ever, “The Amazing Car Machine” known as “The A.C.M.” for short met is demise after an almost preposterously long life and untold hundreds of thousands of miles when its heart gave out on Highway 2 right before exit 12 into Los Feliz at approximately 11 am on a very hot and extremely sunny May day.
Capable of amazing feats of endurance, fortitude, and perseverance that gave rise to its nickname, the A.C.M. was more than a car, it was a phenomenon beloved by its successive drivers and everyone who had the fortune of being a passenger in its comfortable and economically-sized interior. Passed on from Oliver Wasow to Cameron Martin, generously donated by Cameron to Joanna Yas and Jocko Weyland in 2003, the A.C.M. spent three years cruising the streets of New York City while residing on Powers Street in Brooklyn after its final changeover of ownership. Long distance trips included forays to Nova Scotia and the wilds of Cape Breton Island, Washington D.C., frequent incursions into the Berkshires and the Boston area, and intensive explorations of Queens, The Bronx and the nether regions of King’s County. From there the A.C.M. ventured west through West Virginia and Louisiana to Marfa, Texas and New Mexico, to Portland, Oregon, the rugged roads of the Warm Springs Indian Reservation before living out itslast year in Los Angeles.
Always game, running like a dream with only an occasional oil change, able to withstand getting stuck in the mud at Grafton State Park, a bizarre incident where horse hair was inserted into its tailpipe by unknown persons, being driven over logging roads in the mountains of Southern Oregon, and one day when six grown men, three of whom were over 6’2″, managed to fit inside it, the A.C.M. was an inanimate object that transcended that delineation between the living and not to become an almost mythical personification of the perfect car. An extremely dependable and fun to drive vehicle as well as being as comely as an automobile can be with its flecked and weathered black paint job, the A.C.M. was truly a trooper and more than just an incomparable car.
The Amazing Car Machine will surely be missed, and live on in the hearts and minds of those closest to it and all those who were lucky enough to come into contact with its charms.
R.I.P.