This was the first shoot we had with Laney and, if I remember correctly, this was the very first video I did with her. She was familiar with starting old clunkers as she grew up with cars that had carburetors. So, she knew all about flooding the engine, waiting, holding to the floor, etc. So the only things I had to get her comfortable with was my cars and their different nuances.
There is some talking between us as this was back when I started doing ‘Intro to PTP’ on-the-fly while filming models. I realized that I was wasting a lot of valuable shoot time with new(er) models just trying to explain everything when I could be shooting them getting familiar with things and providing content. Sure, the content is not everyone’s cup-of-tea but nothing ever is.
The thing about ‘coaching’ that some folks try to paint as such a terrible thing is that when a woman comes along and has been years removed from handling one of these old cumbersome land barges, they need a reminder/refresher on things. Two-footing, feathering the gas when it’s wanting to stall, holding the key longer/shorter — these tricks are all things that you forget or don’t think about when you haven’t had to do it for many years. But once you’re reminded or experience it then it all comes back, like riding a bicycle.
Laney had some trouble getting the Jeep started but it did start. She clears it out and hits the road. I have to tell her to ‘get it’ because I think she wasn’t sure how hard she could drive it; it’s also the first minute she’s ever driven it, so maybe I should have given her a few miles first to get a feel for the Jeep.
She gets to our other cars and stalls it out. She gets it fired back up pretty quickly and our break-in-the-new-model trip comes to an end. She was smiles the whole way…mostly nervous smiles. lol
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