This Week in the Pitstop four stories that make the perfect case for a summer Sunday drive. A Land Cruiser rolls from Texas grasslands into Colorado mountains built to be repaired with a wrench and driven until the fuel runs low no matter how far from pavable roads it wanders. A yellow BMW waited thirty seven years under a Sicilian sun for one boy to finally become its owner proving patience pays off when the car is worth it. A little Alfa Spider spent thirty years hauling one Italian family through daily commutes and countryside trips even surviving a brick polish job from a determined kid. And a Volvo named Gertrude proves a homologation brick built to beat BMW on the track can still be a garage project built with grit passed down through generations.

None of these cars are locked away gathering dust they are out getting driven getting fixed and making memories one mile at a time under the same summer sun calling you outside right now. Whatever sits in your garage whether it rolls on pavement or gravel two wheels or four these stories prove it was built for more than sitting still. So pull the cover off check the fluids and go put some miles on it this Sunday because that is what it was made for in the first place.

Petrolicious' own Tiziano Niero sits down with his father Carlo to discuss a 1971 Alfa Romeo Spider 1300 Junior that has been in the family garage for over thirty years. It was not Carlo's dream and he never thought about buying it since he was at the beginning of his career with no money but it happened suddenly and became one of the rare times he could afford something he desired.

Carlo had entered a Fiat competition to see who could cover the greatest distance on a single liter of fuel and though he did not win he stuck around the dealership afterward and found the Spider tucked in the back which he ended up winning simply by paying for it. An engineer by trade Carlo is quick to criticize the car noting the engine is small and it carries the flaws of a Fiat even though Alfa was not yet part of Fiat but the twin cam still gave him plenty of fun on his daily commute.

The Spider carried the whole family including son Tiziano on trips to Yugoslavia until the kid count outgrew the seat count. On one trip young Tiziano tried polishing the Alfa with a brick instead of proper compound leaving it more rustic than intended but the story still gets a laugh whenever the family gathers today.

Love changes the course of your life but you must be careful when you think you have found it since the real thing makes you wonder how you ever managed your past life. In 1973 Palermo a twelve year old named Mario was walking his usual route home when a yellow BMW 3.0 CSL appeared in a parking space beside a Fiat Dino Coupe he already admired.

He fell in love with the car itself not its rarity struck by the color the hood pins and the motorsport details. The car had been registered to an industrialist earlier that year and Mario made detours just to stare at it eventually befriending the owner's son for a few clandestine drives once they had their licenses. He floated the idea of buying it more than once but the family always said not yet until the youngest son finally proposed selling in 2010 ending thirty seven years of unrequited love. This early carbureted CSL is one of only 169 examples built for the European Touring Car Championship where aluminum doors plastic bumpers and thinner glass all served the singular goal of making it light.

Mario now drives it through the Sicilian countryside under a setting sun smiling like a twelve year old every time he talks about the Bee Gees tape still sitting in the center console.

Much is made of the journey rather than the destination which might be the ultimate excuse for classic cars that do nothing better than modern successors yet possess character impossible to recreate today. The Land Cruiser is an icon of design synonymous with capability and Toyota reliability its robust underpinnings and under stressed engine repairable with duct tape a paperclip and a twelve millimeter wrench. Rolling northwest into the Texas panhandle the landscape opens into cotton and corn fields where red dirt colors everything unpaved.

People here think nothing of driving an old truck and ask about fuel mileage rather than what kind it is. Where Texas meets New Mexico the town of Texline keeps its brick buildings and Art Deco theaters running out of necessity rather than kitsch. Turning off pavement onto gravel roads revealed pronghorn antelope cattle and an eagle working out its differences with a prairie dog at slower speeds where the nuanced colors of grasses finally show themselves.

Every vehicle has an intended use and the truck preferred cruising grasslands to blitzing down highways fighting crosswinds and speed limits. Once the grasslands gave way to mountains the truck and its dog companion Hank chased trails through the Rockies before a weekend spent chasing trout in the Roaring Fork River Valley of Colorado ahead of a coming descent into Utah.