(sinister ambience)
(frantic music)
(mechanical whirring)
(lightning crashes)
(intense music)
- At first I was like, okay.
This is weird.
(intense music)
(engine purring)
This car's slow.
You can't really go fast in it.
(intense music)
He just loves this car.
Like, I've never seen him love a car
more than this.
(intense music)
- A friend of mine, his parents had
this 1981 Subaru.
Just like, this is the coolest car ever.
And so, when I turned 14, I couldn't even drive
the car yet.
They were like, we're getting a new car
because we're tired of putting money into it.
I gave 'em a five-dollar bill and they gave me
the car.
And that was my first car.
And that was a big part of my life
and then that's when I sold it.
That's when I went to college.
Because I'm like, you know what?
I don't really need a car.
And I just wanted it back.
- I became aware of this vehicle the summer
before we were getting married and he found
this on Craigslist.
- I was looking for basically anything
that was a Subaru GL.
- And he literally figured out that it was
the identical car that he had had when he was
in high school.
- The exact car.
The exact car showed up on Craigslist.
- He was like, we have to go check it out
and so we went up to Portland and the guy
had it in like pristine condition.
- [Stephen] At the time I couldn't really afford it.
I just bought the house where I moved down here
and I just bought a wedding ring, an engagement ring
for my wife and so I'm like, and I'm a teacher.
I was teaching at a private school.
A religious school, I wasn't making that much money.
And I'm like, so I went out there and I drove it.
I'm like, I just don't have the money for it.
I don't have the money for it.
My wife was able to, I don't know where
she got the money.
But she bought the car for me.
I think that she dipped into her savings.
She bought the car for me.
Like, and I was like, okay, this is good.
I'm glad we're getting married.
I'm really glad we're getting married.
("Jump" by Van Halen)
- Uh, (laughing).
I thought the vehicle was kinda old.
It's kinda different.
I kinda just like went with it.
I was like, okay, cool, yeah, this is awesome,
you know?
As we've owned it, I have definitely grown
to love that car.
It's prettY cool.
- We just started to go on these really cool
adventures together.
(magical ambience)
And when we got Bear, we'd take Bear
to all these really beautiful places.
We're new to Albany.
We're new to this part of the state
and we just took that Subaru everywhere.
- [Ashley] Anywhere we take Bear, we try
to take that car because he just loves it so much.
The backseat is his.
He knows exactly where to go.
Kinda sometimes our date night car, too.
- If I wanna drive this car hard and I do
drive the car hard, I never speed.
It's one of those cars that you just like,
wind through second gear and I look down
and I'm like, wow, I'm doing 30.
I had the exhaust done by a couple of people
and it's exactly where it needs to be.
I always wanted to have like that really,
like powerful sounding car and it has
70 horsepower or something like that.
- He constantly brings up the fact that
he was born in the 80s and rubs that in people's faces
like me who was born in the 90s.
We weren't born in the 80s and we defeated communism.
(Eagle screeches)
- [Stephen] It's all analog.
Like you have, you have like an oil pressure gauge
and like an actual voltmeter.
I love that they're orange.
There's this really awesome orange.
They're really bright.
Everything in that car is orange.
- [Ashley] Adult Stephen takes very good care
of this car and it's also his, let me learn
how to do this because this isn't my daily
driver car.
- Take care not to damage the axle shaft
oil seals.
- Versus I think younger Stephen, this would be
like the car, like I'm gonna go pick up the ladies
in this car or whatever.
(engine revs)
- [Stephen] I love the way that I feel
when I'm driving this car.
It always puts a smile on my face.
And that's, I mean that's the reason
why I have it.
It doesn't make any practical sense for me
to have this car.
But it just makes me, it makes me happy.
- [Ashley] It's the perfect car to just
drive around Oregon for little day trips.
I don't necessarily seeing anyone take it far.
- [Stephen] I've had a lot of vehicles
race through my possession in some form or another,
and this particular car is the one car that I would
just never get rid of.
It's a really big important part of me.
Part of my marriage and I want the car
to continue to be a part of our story.