Did you think that after Washington Redskins running back Alfred Morris got his 1991 Mazda 626 factory restored, he would just park it somewhere and buy a fancy new car? No way, man. He takes it on cross-country road trips during the winter.
Last fall D.C.-area Mazda dealers helped the Redskins' breakout running back by restoring the Mazda 626 he's been daily-driving since he bought it for $2 from his pastor in college. Morris calls his car "the Bentley," and says he loves it because it's old-school, has a five-speed manual and reminds him of his humble upbringings.
And now that it's been brought back to showroom condition, Morris has been effectively driving the hell out of it. He told ESPN Radio's Football Today that during the offseason he took the car on a 34-hour round trip down to Florida. Here's a transcript from the Washington Post:
"I'm still driving my baby, the Bentley," he recently told ESPN's Football Today. "She's still alive and kicking. I actually did a road trip in the offseason; I drove from Ashburn all the way down to Boca Raton, which was like a 17-hour drive, and she made it like a champ. I actually beat a snow storm out. I hit a couple of ice spots in the road, so I was driving about 30, 40 miles per hour — just really slowed me down. But she made it there and back without a problem. Thanks, Mazda."
So why not buy, you know, an actual Bentley? Morris says that's not his style, at least, not for the foreseeable future:
"Because that's not me," he said. "I'm not a flashy guy. I don't like showing off. I'm real reserved. I like flying under the radar; I don't like drawing extra attention to myself. At the end of the day I'm just a normal guy. My car still gets me from Point A to Point B, and that's more than enough for me. Eventually, I will get a new car, but I'm in no rush to do that."
Instead, he said he prefers to enjoy the car he's had for years and work on building a massive collection of DVDs instead instead of spending the money on a new ride.
Hey, the man loves his car. You can't argue with that.