More of A Sinister Grin than that old EV1 Smile
I too remember the EV1 smile so often exhibited by those fortunate few who drove the EV1. I was assigned to the EV1 Test and Development Team at Milford. We had the priviledge of driving EV1 pre-production, test mules and prototypes on a daily basis, we got a lot of attention on the tracks because we would zoom by other drivers in their IC equipped cars with nary a sound. And you could see some funny looks as you drove by those other drivers, especially on the North/South when we would wind out the max acceleration for 0-60 jaunts.
However, we got the job of handling the Preview Test Drives for all the major Auto Trade Rags; Automobile, Popular Mechanics, Popular Science, Car & Driver, Road & Track, etc. I was assigned to drive one of the competitive fleet vehicles to tag along during the Cross Country Trek, a Honda Del Sol. The ultimate assignment was to drag race the Writers on the 16% Hill during the final leg of the Milford Drive before exiting the Grounds.
I happened to witness more of a Sinister Grin from Joe Oldham the writer for Popular Mechanics. We started off kind of dead even, but soon he passed that poor hapless soul driving the Honda Del Sol - me! And he had such a broad smile as he passed that I could have sworn it seemed more of sinister grin than a smile. I was proud to be his victim, because from having driven the EV1 on that hill daily, because our building was in close proximity it didn't surprise me, like I know it did him, along with the host of other writers who got that rare opportunity.
In closing 'being there' was made better when several writers wrote about that drag race which I was happy to perform in order to demonstrate the EV1's awesome and instantaneous torque and acceleration. And yes they all exhibited that EV1 smile several times during thier rides.