This is the story of Roger. Roger has seen a lot. He’s been out in the world, not sheltered like some bubble boy. He’s lived on the East Coast and West, climbed mountains and traveled cross country. Roger has been around. He got his humble beginning on the 21st of February, 1985. Tom Penders walked into Hoselton Jeep in East Rochester, NY, which still stands today, and drove out with Roger. Roger was loved.
Tom took him all over in the summer months, on short spurts and long hauls. They went to the city and spent time in the country. When winter came Roger didn’t see the light of day. He was cleaned regularly, but never introduced to the harsh winter environment. In Tom and Roger’s time together, a wonderful 30 years, they traveled 65,000 miles. Tom was diligent in keeping up with Roger’s well being. Tom logged all his details in a little 3x5 green memo pad that still, to this day, has the orange sales sticker on it. In it, you’d find all Roger’s oil changes, repairs, hibernation dates and when he came out for summer. Tom even has a binder with with all of Roger’s history: his window sticker, key tags, owners manual and every receipt for every dollar spent on Roger.
Sadly, Roger and Tom’s time was up. Tom was getting on in age and thought Roger needed a new friend to play with. So, on the 10th of January, 2015, Roger was passed on to another. This man had great affection for Roger, and where he gets his name. Roger Geyer was a Z enthusiast. When Roger was delivered from NY to Virginia, where Mr. Geyer lived, he was babied. Mr. Geyer spend weekends driving Roger or giving him a thorough cleaning. He took him out to parking lot car nights to wax poetic about Roger. Sadly, their time together was short lived. Mr. Geyer passed suddenly in 2019, leaving Roger in the care of his son Kane. Kane inherited his father’s love of classic cars, already owning a 94 Land Rover Defender. He took Roger on the road from Virginia to his home in Greenwich, Connecticut, soaking up the sun together. There they would stay together, but Roger couldn’t get the attention he so deserved. With Kane already fully entrenched with his Defender, he decided his father’s car needed a home more capable of giving Roger’s legs time to stretch. This was a tough decision. It was his recently passed father’s car. It wasn’t something he could sell to just anyone.
David and Grace were close family friends of Kane, they frequently visited from the Queens, then the Bronx, then Upstate New York, but they always visited, sometimes spending weekends. At this particular time in our story of Roger, David and Grace were planning to move west. David, a musician, and Grace, working in film, were about to make the big move to Los Angeles, with ideas of moving their careers forward. The trip was filled with uncertainty about where they would be and how to live in a city they had only visited. On the 13th of July, 2019, after copious amounts of wine and discussion of fleeing the cold winters of the Northeast, the conversation of cars came up, as it always did. David, when just a child in Brazil, dreamt of owning a 300ZX. He would spend Saturday mornings watching Sekai Ninja Sen Jiraiya, where the hero was often seen in his 300ZX. David even had a poster of this exact car on the wall of his childhood bedroom. They spoke of their shared love for this car and made their way to the garage, still talking of the minute details that drew them to this car, like the always loved t-tops, to the retractible headlights or the note of the exhaust that was like an instrument to David. In this dimly lit garage, Kane had an idea. This car needed someone who loved it like his father, who dreamt of it. It was there, in his inebriated state, that he thought, this should be David’s. So he offered to give him the car, knowing that he would cherish Roger and care for Roger like his father did. David, in his disbelief, said “If you are serious, then yes, but don’t tease me about this.” This was something David had coveted his whole life. They shook on it.
The next day, when David woke, hungover from the ample amount of wine consumed, he wasn’t sure if the handshake deal was on the level or not. He grabbed his phone from the nightstand and dialed Kane for some clarification. There was no joke involved, no drunkenly induced dealings. The car would be David’s.
The day finally came, the 19th of August, 2019, David and Grace took Roger from his garage and embarked on their longest journey together. After taking care of the legal needs of the vehicle and some fresh oil and tires, they left Greenwich, Connecticut for the sunshine of sunny California. They took their time, weaving across the country, stretching Roger’s legs after a long time in isolation. Everywhere they stopped, people wanted to talk about Roger and their own dreams of owning a Z or the time they had one “back in college” in the 80s. Roger seemed to bring a smile to every face. Conversations overlapped, while one man spoke about how no Nissan today compares to the lines of the older Z’s, another steps from his car and said “Why did I get rid of mine?” He had bought his Z new, back in 1986, then sold it in 1991. Regretting this decision, he bought the same car back in 1996. He spent countless hours and money trying to restore his Z to its original state, but regretfully had to let it go in 2003. “I still regret that decision…”
When David and Grace entered the city limits of Los Angeles, t-tops safely stored in the trunk, they decided not to go straight to their final destination. They had to drive to the coast, had to see the Pacific on this ever important day, going from coastline to coastline. When they pulled up to Point Dume, sun closing in on the horizon, surfers enjoying the endless waves, they exited the car, sat on the hood and breathed in the ocean air. David put his hand on the hood and thanked the little Z for the great trip. It was at that moment he earned his name, Roger would be with them for the long haul.
