Most kids dream of the day where a father-son project becomes a thing. Helping build a house, or maybe going on a hunt, or kicking back in the boat on the water, “fishing” while knocking back a bottle or two and swapping stories…you know, that kind of thing. I wanted to do a vehicle rebuild project with my father. It almost happened once, when he decided that he wanted to re-live his Jeep days, but ultimately that did not pan out, the Jeep was moved along and soon afterwards he was gone as well. Which is my warning to anyone who bothers to read the half-baked tripe I write: there is no time like the present to do what you want to do. Hindsight is a mother, but if I knew then what I know now, I’d have been kicking his ass into gear to get the Jeep done so that he could’ve notched that one onto his belt and I would’ve helped as much as I could possibly manage.

If you think that I’m just rolling out the story for an emotional tinge to simply showcasing to you another YouTube video that I watched and thought, “Hmm, that’d be cool…”, hit play on this one and give it a chance. It’s a Petrolicious flick, which means that you will be treated to beautiful filmography, the story told as best as can be managed, and plenty of action shots. It’s the story of father and son taking a Datsun 240Z to Peking-to-Paris. Those stickers aren’t just to pose as a rally car…this Datsun has done it and is going to do it again. The build is designed around that one race, with the compression being lowered enough so that the engine will survive on the tap water that doubles as fuel in Mongolia. Father, son, car…not everyone gets the chance but far fewer take the chance.