One of the ways the wise men teach the young and inexperienced ones is the regret strategy, which could come in direct or direct form. Their past mistakes, what they had the capacity to do but chose not to or what they would have done differently, etc. One of the regrets I have that I am passing down is not having a picture of my previous GL when i had him. Yes, there were no smartphones at the time, but it was never an excuse, considering how important the car was to me. I could have had a photographer take a picture of the car, which was in my capacity to easily do at the time, but I didn't. The sad part was it didn't even cross my mind. All it came down to was that I took something I care about and loved so much for granted and lived to pay for the mistake. It's one thing to recall good memories. It's something else when staring at the exact place or object while on a specific memory or reminiscing what went down and how.

The GL joined my family before I did, and he was among the family members waiting at the hospital when I popped out. He was an older brother and never failed in that role. He helped in instilling some discipline in me, which I will forever not forget. You don't just come across such vehicles anymore. His life started in 1976 and was adopted by my father soon after, and he stayed part of the family, against all odds, till his final moments of his existence. My father wasn't the loyal type on cars (his previous cars didn't stay too long with him). But when our GL came, the disloyalty stopped. He was bonded to a car for the first time. So, instead of discarding the GL like he did his previous vehicles, he added 2 more cars to the family (non-GL), at least to take care of the crave for something newer, among other purposes the 2 additional cars came for and served. It was obvious why, compared to the other cars he had before the GL. Everything about the GL was aggressively masculine, from the sound, looks, and the car overall attitude or how he moved. He was basically his buddy, whom he was constantly on the road with, travelling all over Nigeria due to the nature of his business at the time, having both pleasant and unpleasant highway experiences and making history together. It was not until he was scammed (financially castrated) several times, to the point that he could no longer feed his family that he had to abandon the car. I took over the car from him in 1998 after the car was left lifeless for about 6 years with both 4 legs off the ground, exactly when he started considering selling him off, than painfully watching him abandoned that long. Without his permission (I waited until he travelled out of Awka for about a month), I resurrected the car (brought the car down to the ground and get the car to start running again, which took me about 2 weeks). He came back from the journey and saw what I did. He uttered no word and no never interfered in my use of the car for the next 7 years. Within those 7 years, he only drove the car once on the 5th year when he came to ask for my permission to use the car on a particular day. I felt bad that he sought my permission to use the car, which he didn't need to. But I understood why he did it. Men are territorial and exercise authority over what they are responsible for. In this sad situation, he had no financial responsibility over the car anymore and felt he had lost the authority on the car, a terrible position his fellow fraudulent Nigerians put him in. As much as Scam is a punishable offence in the country by Nigerian law, unfortunately, it's a culture that is being celebrated here. Scam not only wrecks the direct victims most times but also puts the dependents on the victims through hell. Will never forget the day I ate from a dustbin during those trying times in the '90s, which led to a decision I took at the time and led me on a different path till this moment. I was able to resurrect the GL, not because I could afford to maintain the car when my father couldn't. But because of the interest and passion I had on the diagnosis and repairs on cars in those younger days, so I was able to eliminate or at least, reduce those labor charges for repairs and used whatever little pocket monies I was getting from my Mother, my Aunties & Uncles to buy parts (which barely failed anyway). While as an undergraduate at NAU (Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka), I was using the GL to do Taxi every evening after lectures, to have enough money to keep the car running, no matter what it would take. While my peers were busy spending money on chasing girls, my priority was always the GL. At the university, I had only 4 close male friends. The GL was one of them. Even though my father didn't voluntarily gifted the GL to me, it remains one of the best gift I have ever received from a human, for which forever I appreciate him for, even though he has transitioned.

The first time I travelled from Abuja to Awkuzu in my 505 V6, my father saw the car for the first time as I drove into our compound and became overly excited and started narrating some of his GL journey stories to me while we were still outside beside the immaculate looking 505 V6. I remember my mother getting upset with him at some point to let me come into the house and rest from the 10-hour high-speed highway drive. Women and lack of understanding of male nature! Little did she know that I was more interested in the GL stories than the food she kept for both of us waiting. I wasn't really the favourite in the family while growing up because I was that stubborn disobedient son. Always going or doing the opposite. So my father wasn't always smiling at me, but whenever it came to the GL, we were inseparable. He had teachings and experiences to share, and I had the listening ear. I had so much to learn from him since his GL experience started before mine. Sometime in late 1979 or early 1980, he drove his GL from Katsina to Kaduna on his usual business trips. On his way back to Katsina, he stopped to greet his friend, Professor Anikweze (the current state government recognised Igwe of Awkuzu in the year 2023). He was a lecturer at the time. He asked my father to drop his wife at Federal College of Education, Katsina, and she was a student in the school at the time. She was also a nursing mother at the time too (her baby girl was like less than a year old), but urgently needed to be back at the school. On their way back to Katsina on highway at a village called Gidan Mutun Daya, there was a narrow bridge they were on, and in front, there was a Lorry or big truck coming forward on the other lane, while another Truck was following the first truck behind. Suddenly, the 2nd truck behind switched to overtake the 1st truck right there on the bridge as the GL was almost close to them. My father had 2 options: keep straight and smashed onto the 2nd truck on his lane in front or swerve out of the bridge. He took the 2nd option and the GL knocked out the bridge metal barricades and flew out of the bridge and started descending under the middle of the bridge. The GL landed on the ground under the bridge on his 4 legs with the speed he jumped out of the bridge with, bounced up and came down again. Luckily, it was a dry season at the time and there was no water under the bridge. Few villagers around heard the noise, ran and came under the bridge to rescue (in case occupants were still alive), and found no one unhurt, including the nursing mother and the baby. My father ended up driving the GL out of that ditch with some scratches on the car body, but not the 3 occupants. Fast forward to 2001 or 2002 (about 23 years after the incident), the baby girl in the car had grown, got admission to NAU/UNIZIK, she traced our house then at Awka (St. John of God Secondary School, Awka, Staff Quarters) and came (then I was the one using the GL). She said her mother told her the story and her father asked her to locate us. When I pointed out to her the car in question which was packed outside, she was surprised the car she passed as she walked towards our house was actually the car, still alive and still with us after all those years. She went out to check the car out and I could see how emotional she became when she wanted to touch the GL (Thank you for saving my life).

In 1988, my father embarked on his usual long trips in his GL around the country, this time starting off from Awka. His final destination was Katsina, but he first drove to Elele at Rivers state to attend Rev. Fr. Edeh's program (Catholic Prayer Ministry of the Holy Spirit). He spent the night at the program and by the next night, he continued his journey to Katsina, which was about 19 hours non-stop highway high-speed drive (over 1,000 km distance depending on the roads taken). About an hour or two into the journey, he needed to urinate, so he stopped and parked the GL by the highway roadside in the dark but left the headlights on with engine off, at least to chase or discourage the wild animals coming towards the car or himself. Suddenly, about 5 men descended on him (one of them was carrying a gun) and asked him to lie down behind the car, with his face on the ground. One of them took the GL key from him and they all jumped into the car and slammed the doors. While he was still on the ground behind the car, he heard the engine cranked many times, but the car refused to start. After several attempts, the doors were opened and the gun was pointed at his head this time, warning him to dismantle or deactivate the car security that prevented the car from starting. He told them the car had no security and had no reason not to start. With the gun still pointed at his head, he was asked to go in and crank the engine himself, while the one with the gun entered the front right seat, watching what he was doing. He cranked the engine once and the GL came alive. The one in front holding the gun asked the rest to jump into the rear seat and asked my father to drive. One of them at the back seat asked the one with the gun in front to shoot my father, throw him out of the car and take over the drive. But he shouted back at him, ordering him to shut it since it was not his call to make. He directed my father to divert from the highway into the forest, after driving for about 10 km or so. About a km into the bush, the GL headlights spotted another 504 parked inside the bush. He was asked to stop beside the 504 (probably not GL) and switch off his GL. The men at back jumped out of our GL, carrying some bags they entered with and dropped those bags in the other 504 boot that obviously was a getaway car. The one with the gun opened the front door and said to my father, "I can't explain what happened, but obviously either your God cares about you or there is a strong bond between you and your 504. With that, I see no reason to waste you." He took one of the Fr. Edeh's stickers beside the handbrake, jumped out of the car and said while closing the door, "Maybe I will visit that program at Elele someday". He jumped into the other 504 and drove off with the rest, while my father and the GL once again were left alone together in the dark forest. It took him a while to gather his thoughts back and processed what took place (since he was expecting the worst). He cranked the GL engine, the car started again, he drove back to the to the highway from the bush and continued his journey to Katsina. It was one of the GL stories he shared with me whenever I travelled home to visit him and my mother in my 505 V6 which he said always reminded him of his GL. Some would say it was a devine intervention that saved his life that night. But when you think critically about that incident, you would see there was more to what happened between the GL, my father and our family that night, with no religious explanation. The bond was real. Humans ignorantly assume energy exists only among humans and their pets (aside the known religious spirits). They would argue cars are man-made, as if humans are not man-made too. The consciousness that merged with your man-made body during the conception in your mother's womb is probably where your understanding about physical life on Earth stops because you chose that limitation, not because that's all there is.

Out of the 3 cars, the GL was the only car in the family that would start off and reach the final destinations on my father's usual 12 - 20 hours roadtrips without breaking the journeys in the '70s & '80s when the car lived most of his life on the highway. I recalled when my father drove down my mother's car from Katsina to Awkuzu in 1986, the car spent 3 nights on the journey, even though the car didn't break down. The car couldn't handle such harsh use that the GL was constantly doing spending only a night (12 - 13 hours drive), basically every week or similar distance. He had to break the journey into 3 days, to prevent the engine from exploding. Speaking of my mother, she contributed to the GL story, even helping out with some of the dates, specific locations, towns, or states these histories were made. She loved the car too and always praised the car for keeping her family safe on the Nigerian highway for about 2 decades, even though probably she only drove the car few times, since she found the GL too masculine to drive, she would say. She always preferred her soft feminine car (most modern women would dislike her choice). My father and I were the only ones behind the GL steering wheel about 98% of the car existence. You can't buy GL experience. The actual value of the GL is not in the name but behind the wheel. Again, such experience can't be bought. You have to live it to have it. Unfortunately, most current male car users today and tomorrow won't have the opportunity for such experience. Basically, modern cars are feminine, and the percentage is increasing every new day. It takes some effort to search and pick out of the very few modern ones, at least with some masculine attributes. The GL was not a perfect car most of these modern cars are portraying themselves to be, but take all the fun away. Peugeot made the GL to work with the driver, not do everything for the driver. If I wanted fun, the GL & I would have the fun together. If I wanted sad face, he was good at giving me a terrible one, without caring how I felt in those moments. The GL was always teaching me something, especially when I started paying attention enough to grab the lessons. The car helped me to develop a creative mind, the more time I spent behind the wheel. I am what I am today in the automobile industry because of my late GL.

The part 1 of this story is dedicated to my late father, my mother, and my late GL. My father and the GL were not able to tell the world the history they made together, but I live today to do it for them. While I await to share my personal escapades with the GL in the subsequent parts of the story, I feel regretful for not having any picture of the GL during my time with him, aside the few ones my father took when the car was few years old. I missed looking at that white body colour, with the unforgettable unique number plate KD 2444 C. All that are left are memories, lessons, and acquired knowledge behind the wheel & under his hood.

Lion-King Monk.

Welcome back!

Isn't this supposed to be in the diary section?

I enjoyed reading every bit of this. Ride on!

Reading your story made me remember my dad's GL. It was his first ever car bought at the age of 27 as a medical doctor. Everyone in my family still remembers the plate number of that car. Infact,my younger brother had to cusomse that plate number and uses it in his benz E350 now. What a solid car. My dad use to drive it as a corper from his PPA in oyo sate to visit his uncle in bauchi. The man loved road trips a lot.

2023 and he still hasn't learnt.

Man of words! I read all to the very end.

Lovely story I read. Reminds me of our bestline .

Lovely

chukel:
2023 and he still hasn't learnt.

Lol! no loud am. 😂😂

'' THE CAR FOR NIGERIA ''

🦁