When was your first...?

[workmeistr]

Easy question.

2001 in Colorado Springs. Me and an Army buddy were in my yellow Land Rover Discovery XD and we stopped at the Isuzu/Chevy dealer when we saw a Proton on the corner. I bought a '94 Trooper, new, to take to Alaska, and I had a high opinion of Isuzus. We wanted to take the Proton for a test drive, alone, and the salesmen were kind of leEry. I made a weak joke about them holding my Rover keys for collateral, they responded back with the $30K price of the VX.

Long story, but we took the test drive, drove into a field with wet grass, hills, and a little mud and got the VX stuck. Dropped it into low and with a little pushing got it out. By this time it was getting dark so we just returned it and parked in a darker area of the lot. They didn't notice the virgin mud in the wheel wells. I do remember how absolutely cool the truck was, but I also remember being unimpressed with the interior, sans the Recaro seats. It was just ridiculously priced.

My last push to ownership was when returning from Iraq the last time in late '06. I ran across some pictures on the internet and fond memories of getting the Proton stuck came back to me. I joined the forum then and took until May of '08 to shuffle/sell cars and find the VX I wanted, now that I could finally afford one. 'Haven't regretted it for a second...