Freak Of The Week: Alpina Heidi

I don’t wear a wedding ring.  Not because I’m not married and not because I don’t like them, it just honestly never occurred to me. Nor had my husband apparently, because after we said our vows at the Little Chapel By The Courthouse in Las Vegas (no, I’m not kidding), the nutjob that married us then asked, “Do you have the rings?” We looked at each other, laughed and shrugged, “Nah.”  Walking out of the chapel, my new spouse said, “Wow, I guess we forgot about rings. Do you want one?” I gave it a think and said, “No, that’s ok, just get me an E Type some day.”  “Done,” he said and with that, we were truly wed.

So clearly I’m an automotive gift kind of girl (if you’re feeling generous, see #xmaslistcars on Twitter). But I’m pretty sure I’ll never hear a story about car gifting that’s more beautiful than Heidi’s.

It all happened at the Shell station at PCH and Sunset. I was returning from the beach, with a car load of salty, sandy little rotters when I saw a beautiful, silver convertible rolling down Sunset. ‘Please need gas, please need gas’ I told myself as it got closer and much to my luck, it did!  As the car drove in, I saw it was a magnificent BMW V-8 Alpina roadster, a car that, even in Los Angeles, you don’t see very often. Even better, it was driven by a beautiful, grey haired woman with a shit-eating grin on her face.

We got to talking about the roadster and she told me about how it was given to her in the most extraordinary way.  Her husband died a few years ago and a few months after his death, Heidi got a call from the local BMW dealer.

“We have your car,” they said.

“What car?” she asked.

“The one your husband ordered for you,” they said.

“How could he do that,” said Heidi, who is hilarious, “I’m the one with the money.”  (did I mention I love her?)

So she went and picked up this fast, fun convertible with gorgeous red leather interior and decided it was important to keep it, for her husband.  She says she doesn’t drive it often but when she does, she thinks about him and it makes her happy.  The best part of the story? The license plate:

This is the kind of story that makes me believe in love. It’s the kind of story that makes me believe in cars. It’s the kind of story that makes me not believe in wedding rings.

If you’ve got a great car gifting tale, please let me know in my comments section or on my Facebook page.  Now I’m off to see a man about a Jaguar..