BUDDY GOT IT GOIN' ON

Buddy, our most senior driver("the man's a geezer, OK?" "Buddy's older than ...pizza."), had his van for sale forever. I used to refer to it as the RUAV, the Redneck Urban Assault Vehicle. It was vintage late ‘80’s, double deckerish, mostly mauve and crowned with one of those weird looking, sickle shaped TV antennas. In the upper left corner of the rear window was a confederate flag sticker. The “FOR SALE” signs had been on the van so long, people just assumed that they were part of the look, just like his handicapped tag dangling from the rear view mirror.
Saturday night, Buddy showed up for work with his new ride, a 1992 Ford Escort. The little subcompact was a bright metallic purple and featured gold 18 inch spinner wheels. When the car is turned off, it seems it's a toss up which was going to stop first, the spinners or the cars dieseling. Judging by the blaring, pounding country western music, every time Buddy pulled up in front of the pizza store, it must have a kick-butt stereo. Either that or Buddy's hearing aid is not working properly, again.
Jason, one of the younger drivers, refers to it as, “Buddy’s econo-pimp mobile”.
He asked, “How many Ho’s do you get to the mile, in that thing, Buddy?”
For me, what completes the look is not all the above. If you look at the rear of the vehicle, as the old guy drives away, pizza light lit, handicapped tag dangling,spinners spinning, purple sparkling, you can clearly make out where there had once been 3" high block letters near the rear bumper. It reads STUDENT DRIVER.