Confession of a Drugstore Car Guy

Back in the day bad behavior was often chalked-up to “peer pressure.” It was the influence of those around us that was responsible for the fool-hardy, idiotic things we did. You remember your parents asking “ . . . would you jump off the roof just because Billy Bob did?” Damn right you would have, any of us would; peer pressure was what drove our semi-psychotic, hormone-soaked teen-age lives!

Theoretically we stopped our self-destructive cave-in to peer pressure as we attained adultness. That’s not to say we stopped caving-in to peer pressure, just began applying some (hopefully) good sense to the process. It is still the engine that drives a lot of the stuff we do; mowing the lawn, raking leaves, washing the car (well, maybe not washing the car – for some car guys that seems to be religious or sexual or something). Although we call it different things; ambition, competitiveness, keeping-up-with-the –Joneses, peer pressure is still a factor in our lives.

It is obvious the pressure our peers exert on us is always right there. Whether we forgo the urge to take on another “project” because we need to keep the money in the IRA or say phooey to the kids’ College Fund and buy Billy Bob’s old Willys gasser; ultimately it will be peer pressure to blame for the decision. That’s what adults do; they find ways to rationalize their behavior vis a vis peer pressure. I, for one, never made a stupid decision without first convincing myself it wasn’t (stupid). It’s easy to claim it is only the young who fall for this stuff but we all know that’s not true.

Peer pressure has lots of disguises; it can masquerade as fashion, fad, style or trend. Sometimes it hides behind political correctness or some “ism” or another but it is the primary way in which society polices itself. Without it we’d all act like Jerry Springer’s next guest or have our own reality show. It may seem like no one pays any attention to you but, actually, your neighbor is always watching to see what you’re doing next! If you don’t want to feel like you’re simply being swept along on a current of peer pressure be the first in the ‘hood to mow, or rake, or put up the Christmas lights. You can be the one they all hate!

Things have recently gotten a lot easier to keep track of the pressure your peers are putting on you. What better way to keep track of the pressure than to take advantage of the latest in social media? Check your Smart Phone or your Facebook page, I guarantee someone is applying some pressure about something. Don’t have a Smart Phone or Facebook? See, you’re just caving to the pressure your Old Fart, Luddite peers are applying! You know you want to Tweet but you are afraid your buddies will laugh.

Confessions of a Drugstore Car Guy

Jan/Feb, 2012

Last month HMCCC voted to authorize the Raffle Rod Project. This makes our efforts to build and raffle-off a Deuce Hi-boy Roadster to benefit the Alzheimer’s Association a little less of a pipe dream. In addition, a number of our friends have invested some pretty big bucks in the project and others have been extremely generous with parts and offers of parts and services. I have to say, we’re off to a pretty good start.
Among the stuff we’ve recently scored: “Burnt orange pearl” paint donated by McHenry Paint in Frederick; machine work, parts and assembly of a SBC engine by Rockville Rod and Bearing; and SBC cylinder heads and dress-up parts from Chewey’s Performance Automotive. We’ve garnered a set of King Bee headlights, a chrome Edelbrock intake manifold and block-hugger headers, a SBC Chevy engine and a TH350 automatic transmission with a new torque convertor. We’ve also had friends offer a radiator, a new Edelbrock carburetor and other parts.
We have yet to park the biggest part of the project in our garage, so to speak. That part, we’ve come to realize, is the frame or chassis, and it’s literally the foundation on which everything else is built. The Committee discussed frame issues at length and agreed we need to acquire a “rolling chassis” as soon and as cheaply as possible. A rolling chassis would give us a big head-start in getting the Raffle Rod up-and-running.
A rolling chassis typically consists of a frame with front and rear suspension, rear axle housing and axles, brakes, and steering installed. It also includes the necessary cross-members and bracketry, with motor and transmission mounts, ready to set the body and running gear in place. It’s a huge piece of the project and having one professionally built is major.
We’ve done a lot of research and found rolling chassis to be expensive but with a huge range in price; from what seems fair and reasonable at one end of the spectrum to something you’d think came from Nieman-Marcus and bring you breakfast in bed on the other. We found a builder on the “fair and reasonable” end of the chart and decided to give them a shot.
A couple of weeks ago Paul and I drove to Georgia to check-out Supreme Hot Rods and talk to owner Jeremy Van Dusen about building our rolling chassis. SHR advertises a chassis for a very attractive price and their ads show a very professional looking product. But, seeing is believing, so we decided a road trip was in order.
SHR is a very well-equipped shop in Hoschton, GA, not too far from Atlanta (which made a side trip to my brother’s a no-brainer). They are set up to build just about any kind of a frame you’d want with specific jigs dedicated to the most common. The frames they had in progress attested to the high quality and attention to detail we wanted to see. We also saw the metal magic that can be achieved with computer-aided design (CAD) and laser cutting. Some of the frame components Jeremy had produced by these techniques looked like the parts inside a clock.
Paul and I spent a couple of hours with Jeremy, discussing our project and generally sizing one another up. I’ve got kids older than Jeremy and I have to say his approach to business and his imagination impressed both of us. Not only was he ready to build us a frame and save us a bunch of money doing it, he was ready to teach us how to market our project in the 21st Century. He convinced us “Social Media” can provide just the tools we need make the Raffle Rod Project a huge success!
For the rest of you Troglodytes, Social Media means Facebook, Twitter, and all those other gimmicks the younger generations are using to keep us dazed and con-fused. How does that help us, you ask? Good question, but I think it does. Social Me-dia tools apparently can spread the word, whatever it is, very quickly.
Think of Facebook as working like a huge pyramid scheme; you tell your friends, they tell their friends, etc., etc. and pretty soon everybody knows. Apparently the word spreads like wildfire. I thought Facebook was just for finding the folks you didn’t like in High School and for teenagers to keep track of stuff they didn’t want their parents to know about. And I was just now getting my head around e-mail and blogs! We will do Facebook; once I figure out how.
Right now Jeremy is contacting his suppliers to see what kind of discounts they’d be willing to give him on the various components that go into a rolling chassis. The more they give him, the more he can pass along to us. Upgrading the components, both in terms of bling and technology, will make the Raffle rod a lot more attractive to ticket buyers and, naturally, we want as much as we can get for has little as we have to spend.
With the Raffle Rod Project, as big an issue as securing a rolling chassis is selling raffle tickets. Duh! We’ve given a lot of thought as just how to do this and the best so-lution seems to be to take the show on the road; take the Project to the many events we all attend each year and set-up our ticket booth. The plan is to start selling tickets at the Frederick Flea Market in March and hit as many events as we can after that. Eventually we’d like to take the Raffle Rod with us so ticket-buyers can see what a great hot rod they’re taking a chance on winning.
In addition to selling tickets at our event-going ticket booth, we can help sell our sponsors’ products and thank everyone for their contributions. We can also market HMCCC and the Alzheimer’s Association and publicize up-coming events. I’m thinking there are lots of you out there just waiting for an invite to take a turn in the booth! Well, consider yourselves invited.
If you’d like to learn more about Supreme Hot Rods, check our their website at: supremehotrods.com. We will also be adding Raffle Rod info to the HMCCC website and setting up a project Facebook site.

Confessions of a Drugstore Car Guy

My neighbor shares community car magazines with me, specifically Automobile and Motor Trend. I appreciate this arrangement because it allows me to keep up on the latest car stuff without having to spend whatever car mag money I might in find the couch. I can save that for Street Rodder, Rod & Custom or other titles that I find both more interesting and more useful.

The November 2011 edition of Automobile features an article about Chevrolet’s 100th anniversary. As an owner of a “classic Chevy” and member of a Classic Chevy Club this probably should be of interest to me. As a matter of fact there were some bits of trivia that did tickle my fancy. One of the most interesting bits was the fact that Louis Chevrolet, the guy who gave his name to the marque (that’s pretentious car guy speak for brand name), quit his job rather than giving up cigarettes!

I was fascinated by the nearly century-long rivalry between Chevrolet and Ford, an epic struggle for market domination that, in recent years, has been overlooked because of a similar fight between Toyota and Honda. Chevy v. Ford began in earnest in 1915 when Chevrolet introduced a model that directly challenged the Model T by selling for the same $490. Chevrolet took the lead for the first time in 1927 (because Ford shut down for seven months to re-tool for the Model A) and again in 1928.

Chevy guys are justifiably proud of their small-block V8 which has pretty much owned it’s market (and engineering) niche for over sixty years. Not surprising considering its older brother, the “Stovebolt” Six, was the class of its class from 1929 until it was finally phased out in 1990. That makes it a little easier to swallow some of Chevrolet’s spectacular failures like the air-cooled engine installed in 1923 cars or the aluminum four-banger they put in Vegas.

Although the Vega will never be considered one of Chevrolet’s success stories, drag racer Bill “Grumpy” Jenkin’s Vega-based Pro-Stock Toy XI is considered a pioneer in its class due to innovations like a tube frame and MacPherson strut suspension. About the same time Grumpy was campaigning his Toys Chevrolet had its best sales year ever. In 1978 sales peaked at over 4.55 million. Funniest thing, is there a 1978 Chevrolet anyone today would walk across the street to look at, let alone buy?

By mid-century Chevrolet was in the driver’s seat sales-wise although Ford was riding shotgun. One market segment Chevy did not own, however, was the Hot Rod demographic. Ford’s dominated the pages of emerging car magazines like Hot Rod and Chevies were few and far between. That all changed with the introduction of the ’55 Chevy and it’s small block V8. Although Fords continued to supply the cars that became Hot Rods, the engines quickly became Chevy V8s.

During the car war years of the Sixties, Chevy and Ford battled toe-to-toe in the muscle car arena; Camaro v. Mustang pretty much defined that battle ground. It’s interesting that today, 50 years down the road, the skirmishing continues. In the first quarter of 2011 Camaro outsold Mustang for the first time in years. While Camaro spent a number of years in automotive limbo following its demise in 2002, Mustang soldiered on and even enjoyed a renaissance with a retro-redesign for the 2005 model-year. While Camaro fans cried in their beer Mustangs enjoyed record sales. Now, it seems, the tables have turned; according to USAToday,

“ . . . Chevrolet Camaro vs. Ford Mustang, it's no contest. Camaro is the winner. It's just one of the more interesting rivalries that are showing up in the sales numbers with the first quarter having just finished. Chevrolet sold 8,964 Camaros in March compared with Ford moving 8,557 Mustangs. For the first three months of the year, the score is 19,972 Camaros to 15,419 Mustangs. Last year, the two were neck-and-neck some months and Ford is justifiably proud of Mustang, so it's interesting that Camaro is pulling so far ahead.”

Most car folks agree the 1955 Chevrolet was the most important car of its generation. They say it dragged Chevrolet kicking and screaming into lead among American cars. Prior to the ‘55 Chevys were good, dependable family cars; kinda the Toyota Camry of their day. With the small block V8 and cutting-edge styling the ‘55 was apparently exactly what the mid-century American car buyer was looking for.

According to Robert Cumberford in the November, 2011 Automobile, the ‘55 grille was “ . . . the best grille in the entire history of Chevrolet,” even if they did steal it from Ferrari and only used it one year. It really is iconic; there’s no mistaking it for anything other than what it is.

One particular fun fact that grabbed my attention relates to the engine Chevy put in the 1990 Corvette ZR-1. Designated the LT5, it was a 5.7 liter all aluminum DOHC V8 built by Mercury Marine. I think the early versions were built to hang off the back of the car!

I’m glad Chevrolet has been rolling along for 100 years and now looks like it may make it for 100 more. Of course, now they have to find a reliable source for batteries or resist the urge to lower the price by selling them “batteries not included!”

Confessions of a Drugstore Car Guy

Now that the 19th Annual Alzheimer’s Show is in the books it’s time to look toward the Big Two-O. It’s a landmark, right, and we need to do something appropriately awe-some, right? Each of the last few years have been more successful than the one be-fore; more cars, more money, more kudos each year. That track record has raised the bar pretty high and an escalation worthy of such a win streak could be hard to pull off. Not to worry, I’ve got just the gimmick! So how about we (HMCCC members) build and raffle off a hot rod? A Raffle Rod! Great idea, huh?

Over the last 20 years HMCCC has raised nearly a quarter-of-a-million-dollars for the Alzheimer’s Association and it would be very neat to kick things up a notch. I don’t know how much money we could raise with a raffle featuring a car as a prize but I’ll bet it would be a lot. I have done some research on using raffles as fundraisers and fund raising gurus all say you get more bang for your buck from a raffle than from other fundraising activities.

I think with a project like a Raffle Rod a few basic principles are important, the main one being K.I.S.S. (keep it sensibly simple). Also, keep it Classic or Old School and remember Occam’s Razor: Most of the time the simplest solution is the best one.

These concepts work well with the idea of building a ’32 Ford roadster. Not only is the ’32 roadster hi-boy a hot rod icon, it really is a pretty basic vehicle; fewer parts mean fewer things to go wrong. Also, like the small block Chevy engine (which, of course, we’ll use) parts and services are abundant and less expensive.

At our recent get-together to present HMCCC’s 2011 check to the Alzheimer’s Association there was a discussion about how much money we (HMCCC) raises for them (A.A.) with so little effort on their part. They (A.A.)told us (HMCCC) we had been giving them more money for longer than any other organization in this region. In 2012, considering how much more money we could raise with the Raffle Rod project, I think the Alzheimer’s Association will gladly pitch-in. As a matter of fact, we need their help to make the project a success.

A visit to the Alzheimer’s Association’s website (www.alz.org) makes it clear how a Raffle Rod campaign would benefit from their help. They have a national organization with a fund-raising apparatus in place. They have the ability to collect and process donations on-line, they have media contacts and various tools for publicizing their fund-raising projects. We can reach-out to friends and neighbors, pound the pavement, to sell raffle tickets. The Alzheimer’s Association can reach a national audience on the web, in the media and with their newsletters.

Those fund-raising gurus I’ve been consulting (via Google) say that a good raffle limits the number of tickets offered to entice buyers with better odds of winning. It also prices tickets high enough to discourage buyers from “buying” a win. I figure the Raffle Rod project should offer 5000 tickets at $25/ticket. The only deal offered would be five tickets for $100. This scenario would produce between $100,000 (all tickets sold @ 5/$100) and $125,000 (all tickets sold @ $25).

There are legal and regulatory issues that need to be addressed, including state and county permits, interim insurance, and provisions to meet tax requirements. There are administrative issues like how to manage accounting and reporting requirements. And there are emotional issues like who can and who can’t participate in the raffle. There is also the immediate issue of funding the project. Where will the money to buy the parts come from?

The biggest expense in the Raffle Rod project; the entire basis for it, in fact, is acquisition of a chassis. They are available and from vendors in the region but they’re not cheap. It’s easy to say the success and the quality of the entire project rests on this chassis. A Stage III, “rolling” chassis includes front and rear suspension, steering, brakes, the differential and all the bracketry to attach everything else to. Add a body, engine, transmission, etc., etc. and you’ve got a hot rod!

Although the 20th annual Alzheimer’s Show is 11 months away that is very little time in terms of a project like the Raffle Rod. Lots of issues need to be addressed in a very short amount of time. The Raffle Rod needs to be ready to roll-out not in September, in time for the drawing, but in the Spring. The car needs to hit the Cruise-in and Show circuit as soon as possible; the more it is seen, the more people will want to win it!

Anybody who’s ever put a car together knows that the list of what you need is see-mingly endless. To build the Raffle Rod were going to need all that stuff and maybe more. Many of us have parts laying around; things that didn’t get used on the last project, or that didn’t work when the project changed direction in mid-stream. Maybe we’ll be able to use some of that stuff. For sure we’ll be able to use your help.

At the October meeting we discussed the possibility of the Raffle Rod project and I was sent forth to learn and report back everything we need to know, do, and be pre-pared for. But they gave me until the November meeting to get that done. No problem; I’ll get what I can and make up the rest—the essence of hot rodding is improvisation!

I think every car guy has (or has had) the itch to build a real Classic, Old School Hot Rod and I think building the Raffle Rod and raising money for Alzheimer’s research is a great way scratch that itch. Think how good it’ll feel to see someone win the car we helped become a reality and how proud we’ll all be to make a pile of money for the Alz-heimer’s Association.

Let’s make the 20th Annual Alzheimer’s Show the one no one ever forgets!

Real Time Reporting from HMCCC's 19th Annual Alzheimer's Show

Man, I love the sound of a lopey cam in the morning! We are opening the gates at the MVA at 8:00 the morning of the Alzheimer’s Show. They’re already backed-up damn near to the Interstate. Our annual third-Sunday-in-September Show is a great way to kick-off Fall so you gotta understand their eagerness.

Five ’til 9 o’clock and EZ just made his first announcement over the PA system. An hour and five minutes until the show starts and the main lot is already more than three-quarters full. They’ve already registered nearly 200 cars!

It’s a perfect early Fall morning, brisk and clear as a bell, a slight breeze to push the sounds of the cacklefest toward downtown Frederick—a little free advertising. Maybe we’ll get the attention of some of the early Fair-goers. By 9:30 the main lot is full and they’re parking cars in the overflow lot, well over 200 cars registered by now!

I appreciate the variety—the mix of vehicles this show attracts—plenty of antiques, classics, hot rods and muscle cars to be sure. A lot of interesting late model cars and trucks, too. One of the categories I like (although there’s no actual category) is the truly unique vehicles: EZ’s 100% hand-built Heinz 57 roadster, Bob Clubb’s Model T Paddy Wagon, a Jeep CJ disguised as an Urban Assault Vehicle, the three-wheeled, motorcycle-powered Lomax. The essence of hot rodding is expressing your individuality and showing to the world!

After so many years of ho-hum cars it is good to see late models that spark some interest. One in particular, a Cadillac CTS-V, is probably a future icon the way the high performance muscle cars are today. Another late model I picked for my own OCD Award was the White with Orange stripes Camaro that carried the color scheme under the hood and to the monster 24 inch wheels—lots and lots of white and orange.

One of the highlights of the Alzheimer’s Show each year is the Auction; I’m sure a bunch of the folks that come out don’t care much at all for the cars, they want to BID! This year we added a big tent just for the Auction and, by 10 0’clock the hard-core bidders were setting-up their chairs. Listening to John Roop’s spiel wears me out, though.

Another highlight, at least for me, was the Rick De Bow show over by the Moon Bounce. The rapport he seems to have with the kids warms the cockles of my Loman and Barkley heart, we’re lucky to have him over there! Thank you for sparing those kids having to be tended by a curmudgeon like me.

I thought this might be the year I finally get a trophy but darned if Paul didn’t outbid me. He got to take home the trophy and neither one of us had a car in the show. This year’s Alzheimer’s Show is going to be hard to beat but we’ve got the 20th coming up!

The Roads Scholar

The sign above the highway is telling me: Report Suspicious Activity, 800-492-8477. I wonder what I should be watching-out for. Well, on one recent trip I saw a car in which the driver was wearing some kind of bulky head covering; that proved to be a false alarm, however, when the lady took the towel off her wet hair and began blow-drying it.

Another time I passed a woman who was applying her make-up as she drove. I didn’t think that needed to be reported, it’s certainly wasn’t unusual except, in this case, I had a suspicion that she was wasting her time, the make-up wasn’t going to do that much good.

The other evening I was passed by a whole group of motorcycles, the riders all tricked-out in their drugstore biker garb. Back in the day I could have reported a gang of outlaw bikers, probably armed and carrying illegal drugs. Today I suspect they’re carrying AARP membership cards and a weekend supply of Viagra.

After seeing that Report . . . sign again I finally put their number at #1 on my speed dial. My only concern is; if I get caught using my cell phone to report suspicious activity while driving will I get a ticket? I my call saves all from getting blown to smithereens will my fifteen minutes of fame (I will get that, right? If not, why bother making the call?) trump the calling-while-driving fine?

I’m so embarrassed! I just passed a truck full of fertilizer that I thought might have been hijacked (by whoever it is we’re afraid of) to be used as a bomb. I called “the number” and told the person who answered what I’d seen. The first question I was asked was how did I know the truck was carrying fertilizer? Duh, it was written right on the bags: C-O-W M-A-N-U-R-E! Then the person told me that that’s not the kind of fertilizer used to make bombs.

One of the most common suspicious activities I see on the highway is folks masquerading as clever with cute or witty vanity plates. I mean, how smart is it to admit you are 2DUM2NO? Or that you got the car 4BN EZ? Some vanity plates say so much more than just a handful of letters and numbers, like the defense attorney’s plate CRIMPAZ.

The plate CARGASM, on the other hand, raises more questions than it answers. For in-stance, is this something that’s happening to the car or the driver? If it’s the driver does it happen all the time or just after certain maneuvers? If it’s the car, how do we know it’s not just faking?

Confessions of a Drugstore Car Guy

I recently joined my friend Paul on a road trip to deliver what some might charitably characterize as collectible automobiles. I wouldn’t be that generous. In fact, if we accomplished nothing else I believe we proved the old adage that one man’s treasure is another man’s trash.

The first leg of the trip, which we undertook after a leisurely breakfast to allow morning rush hour traffic to abate, was to deliver a 1938 Citroen to Falls Church, VA. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t have anything against Citroens per se. It’s just that I have some doubts that this particular car in anyway justified the effort that had been and would be expended in its behalf. Whatever; the trip to Falls Church was not as onerous as I had thought it might be. Of course, Paul was driving and TomTom was navigating, all I had to do was enjoy the ride. But Falls Church is inside the Beltway and, since retiring, I rigorously resist any foray inside.

We reached our destination in a safe and timely fashion but, upon arrival, found the driveway partially blocked (if it was an artery my Cardiologist would classify the obstruction as about 60%). Of course, given the nature of the receiving gentleman’s collection, the offending vehicles (a 1950 Citroen and a 1938 BMW or 1954 EMW??) were immobile. There was almost enough room between the cars, a ditch and the fence to finagle our cargo into the backyard.

What followed was four and a half hours of some of the finest Shade Tree Engineering in recent history. We not only got the non-rolling Citroen into the backyard with no significant additional damage, we got the subject of the second leg of our journey out of the collapsed shed it had been calling home, around the previously mentioned obstructions and onto Paul’s trailer. And didn’t put a scratch on it (not that you could tell). That diamond-in-the-rough is a 1950 Lancia Aurelia which the owner claims is the only hand-built, aluminum bodied example in the Western Hemisphere.

The Lancia’s destination was a high-end foreign car repair facility in the wilds of Loudoun County and we got it there with little or no drama. That wasn’t the case when the Horse’s Patootie who runs the place took exception to our treatment of what he apparently agreed was a “six figure” classic. He didn’t like the way the car had been tied down. I didn’t participate in the discussion between Paul and this Twit but the bottom line was he would not help unload the POJ. Or load the car we were supposed to pick-up there.

Well, gravity did lend us a hand getting the non-roller off the trailer and the by now familiar “drag it on with a rope” technique helped us load a second Lancia. This other Lancia is apparently not the “find” the first one was but it was closer to salvageable than the first (in my humble and untrained opinion). We were to deliver the second Lancia to Cumberland, MD but, by the time we got it loaded, it was too late to start that trip.

So, next morning, Paul and I headed out for Cumberland, made the trip in fine fashion and delivered the car to a very nice man who was a lot of help. He even lent us his son to navigate the canyons of downtown Cumberland. By then it was lunch time and I had a hankering for some chili dogs from Curtis Famous Weiners. I just didn’t know how to get there.

Rewind a bit. As we drove west thru Hagerstown we encountered the nearly 2000 motorcycles traveling east, from the Flight 93 Memorial in Shanksville, PA to the 9/11 Memorial at the Pentagon. The caravan of bikes & bikers stretched between exit 28 and milepost 20 (eight solid miles of rolling thunder)! Fortunately we and they were traveling in opposite directions.

Dead-heading (the trailer was empty) back from Cumberland, Paul agreed to pick-up some 16 footers at Home Depot and take them to my house. Boards that long are tough to haul in my truck with its 6 foot bed. He dropped me and my boards off and, I hope had a chance to unwind. The man is a paragon of patience and awash in the milk of human kindness; he was up at 4 the next morning to haul a ‘70 ‘Cuda for a guy that just had it shipped in from Hawaii.

Besides the essential truths that there’s no accounting for taste, and that one man’s treasure is another man’s trash, I learned several other valuable lessons on my road trip(s) with Paul. I learned that Car Guys (and all the folks I encountered on this trip were real Car Guys) are very diverse in their likes and interests. It’s not all Hot Rods, or Muscle Cars, or whatever. Some Car Guys even like rare and obscure Italian jobs whose beauty must lie in the eye of the beholder.

In the last few weeks I’ve seen several cars I thought I just had to have, and on reflection realized I don’t have to have. Thanks to my road trip with Paul I can scratch Lancia and Citroen off my wish list!

Confessions of a Drugstore Car Guy

The older I get the more change (not nickels, dimes & quarters) eats up my mental resources. I notice when things are different a lot more than I used to. I’ve noticed, for instance, that a bunch of different new cars look remarkably alike; these days you can spend Hyundai money to get a car that looks just like a BMW. But of course even Hyundai money today is more than house, car, and cabin by the lake money was when I was a kid!

“Change is such hard work.” Billy Crystal

“Change is inevitable - except from a vending machine.” Robert C. Gallagher

“If you're in a bad situation, don't worry, it'll change. If you're in a good situation, don't worry, it'll change.” John A. Simone, Sr.

“There is nothing wrong with change, if it is in the right direction” Winston Churchill

One of the most noticeable things that has changed since I was a kid is how much more is involved in doing really simple things. Back in the day, at age 6 to 16, I ran out of the house in a pair of short pants, jumped on my bike, and pedaled at a break-neck pace to wherever. Street, sidewalk, neighbor’s yard, vacant lot, or city park; it was all the same. Pick-up a pack of cigarettes for Uncle Bob (if I had an Uncle Bob and he wanted me to get him some cigarettes) or get a soda at the Drug Store. Today, I’d have to put on a helmet, knee and elbow pads, stay on the bike path, wear a shirt and shoes if I wanted to go into the Drug Store, and have a valid I.D. to buy the cigarettes.

Really, the only part of that scenario that bothers me is the helmet; I didn’t need one when I crashed into the curb on Crawford Street (I’d have broken my arm anyway), my daughter didn’t need one the three or four times she got stitches in her face from crashing her trike, my brother Darrell didn’t need one when he dropped a cinder block on my other brother Darrell’s head (OK, I’ll admit other brother Darrell probably needed one). We were tough, healed quickly; casts and stitches were just part of growing up! Don’t get me started on child safety seats; we did just fine with mom or dad’s arm flung out to catch us as we sailed by.

That’s something else that’s changed; it’s damn near impossible to catch a flying kid during a panic stop when you’re talking on the cell phone, or texting, and sucking on a latté. That reminds me; what are people talking about during their incessant cell phone calls and constant texting? I suppose I wouldn’t have to ask if I was thirty years younger (or had someone to talk to). Speaking of latté, I almost burst into tears the other day; on TV I saw someone drinking a Barq’s grape soda out of a bottle. Do you realize those big old glass bottles only held about half what one of the plastic bottles do today (and cost a tenth as much!).

When I was young I believed everything that was new to me was new. I remember thinking the first time I had a Frito that it was a great new product. That would have been in the fifties and Fritos had been around since the thirties, just not around me. I hear young, and not so young, people talking about things like they were just out of the box, off the boat, whatever. A good rule I’ve learned is to treat everything like you’ve known all about it forever; never let on that you’re experiencing something new (an updated version of the “never let ‘em see you sweat” rule).

According to THE DECADES PROJECT, by 1956, there were 13 million teenagers in the country (that’s us Baby Boomers); a new generation breaking away from their parents and defining itself in new ways. They were more self-sufficient than their parents, did not remember the Depression or WWII, and had no inclination to save money. As the new middle class emerged in America it created a whole new group of consumers: the young. The teens had an average weekly income of $10.55, about the same as a whole family’s disposable income 15 years before. Their purchases leaned towards the music-related industry, anything from records to radios. These teenagers affected the nation as well? They were the beginning of the youth culture, the first young people to really have an impact on the nation as a whole.

I’m pretty sure THE DECADES PROJECT is part of that whole “younger generation trying to blame everything on us” conspiracy. But heck, even if it is all our fault, we gave them cell phones, I-pods, and Starbucks. Nobody’s ever satisfied, and that’s not changed!

Front Suspension Options

Confessions of a Drugstore Car Guy

My “Drugstore” Car Guy identity is based on some fundamental flaws in my personality. In the first place, I’ll never be a real Car Guy because, when faced with a mechanical issue, I do not flop on the ground, roll under the car and start fixin’ stuff. I also don’t get demonstrably enthusiastic when encountering automotive awesomeness. I don’t know if you’ve noticed but some in our car community get positively giddy around what they consider cool car stuff!

I was watching and, unfortunately, listening, to car TV recently and I have to say I was embarrassed for the dudes that are picked to be talking heads. Is there some condition of employment that requires these twits to . . . ? They seem compelled to effusive over-reaction; nothing they see or hear can be described as anything less than superlative. I mean, really, it’s just not possible for everything to be the most awesomest!

I’d hate to be thought of as an old poop but I have a hard time in describing anything as the greatest. Hell, I haven’t seen everything yet so how can I pick what’s even in the top 10? Besides, as soon as something gets tagged as the best, all the rest start lining-up to take it down a notch. In almost every category “the Best” get a lot less than 15 minutes! But, that’s just me.

Now that that’s out of the way, let me tell you about the recent Golden Gears show at Harry Grove Stadium. You know; it is all about Community. That’s when people who share a common interest get together to enjoy that while temporarily setting aside whatever differences they might have. I saw a lot of that going on at Home Run car Show and it warmed the cockles of my Loman & Barkley heart.

I also saw our very own Eddie Z show up early with a really big car trailer. I mean, he wasn’t bringing just the Trailer Queen, he had her whole Court! Actually he was toting his latest acquisition and it proved to be quite an attention-getter. In keeping with my previously stated policy of understatement let’s just say it’s pretty neat and definitely unique.

In any case, kudos to the Golden Gears guys and gals; they put on quite a show and everybody seemed to be having a good time. I didn’t even notice anyone laughing at me or getting impatient as I tried to maneuver Paul’s ’55 out of the spot where I’d parked it. The cars, the crowd and the vendors provided a very eclectic mix for everyone’s Car Show pleasure. Thanks Double G!

Telemetry in the 21st Century:

I grew up during the Space Race and remember being amazed at Houston’s ability to monitor goings-on in space. According to the Internet, specifically http://www.thefreedictionary.com/telemetry :

te•lem•e•try (t-lm-tr) n. 1. The science and technology of automatic measurement and transmission of data by wire, radio, or other means from remote sources, as from space vehicles, to receiving stations for recording and analysis. 2. The measurement of data at a remote source and transmission of the data (typically by radio) to a monitoring station. Telemetry is used, for example, to track the movements of wild animals that have been tagged with radio transmitters, and to transmit meteorological data from weather balloons to weather stations.

In those days I never imagined that one day we’d all carry equipment to achieve the same kind of monitorization both in our cars and, even, on our very persons! What with cell phones and GPS, Sync and On Star, digital cable and satellite TV, the Internet and who knows what else, we can keep an eye on others (and have one kept on us) at all times and everyplace. Maybe someone, somewhere was being entertained by my parking lot antics.

Confessions of a Drugstore Car Guy

I went to Carlisle the other day, to the Import & Kit Car event, and got a chance to have a chat with honest-to-goodness Car Guy Icon Bruce Meyers. I went to see the latest in Dune Buggies and met the guy who invented them! How neat is that! Although Dune Buggies today occupy a pretty small niche in the specialty car world, once-upon-a-time they were the “coolest and cutest” way to have fun on four wheels.

According to the official history of the Manx, as Meyers called his Dune Buggy, “Bruce took it upon himself to design a lightweight version that would be fun on the beach or in the wilds of Baja...Bruce redesigned the body to fit on a shortened VW floorpan, which ultimately reduced the price as well. As a result, the Meyers Manx took off. It took the country by storm when magazines like Hot Rod and Car & Driver featured the fiberglass car on their covers. This caused a rash of over 300 orders. Not able to immediately fill these orders, other manufacturers sprang up overnight and ended up producing over 250,000 look-a-likes and near look-a-likes. Eventually over 300 companies, worldwide, copied the Manx in one form or another – even the copiers copied each other.”  For more Manx history, see: http://www.manxclub.com/history.htm.

Wikipedia says: The Meyers Manx dune buggy was designed by Californian engineer, artist, boat builder and surfer Bruce Meyers. It was produced by his company between 1964 and 1971. The car featured a fiberglass bodyshell coupled with the Volkswagen Beetle frame and engine. It is a small car, with a wheelbase 14 1/4 inches (36.2 cm) shorter than a Beetle for lightness and better maneuverability. For this reason, the car is capable of very quick acceleration and good off-road performance. The Meyers Manx received widespread recognition when it won the inaugural Mexican 1000 race, the predecessor of the Baja 1000 beating motorcycles, cars and trucks in the process.
Manx-type cars have appeared in several movies, including Elvis Presley films and the 1968 The Thomas Crown Affair, which contains a lengthy beach-driving scene where a heavily modified Meyers Manx equipped with a Chevrolet Corvair flat-six engine is launched over several dunes.

Approximately 6,000 of the original Meyers Manx dune buggies were produced, but when the design became popular many copies (estimated at a quarter of a million worldwide) were made by other companies. Although already patented, Meyers lost in court to the copiers, the judge rescinding his patent as unpatentable opening the floodgates to the Industry Meyers started. Since then countless buggies continue to be produced today.

The thing that attracted, still attracts, me to Dune Buggies is their simplicity and how well they do what they do. Basically, a Dune Buggy is a vaguely car-looking fiberglass tub sitting on a VW chassis. While they have everything needed to go just about anywhere, they’re usually pretty short on extraneous stuff like windows and doors. While Meyers used them in desert racing, cross-country marathons like the Baja 1000, in their heyday they battled “Woodies” for the surfing crowds’ ride of choice.

I used to drive Volkswagens and have always appreciated their utility and toughness. My last VW, a 1970 Beetle I traded Elayne’s ’69 Camaro for, led a double life. It was both the family grocery-getter and my off-roader. With a little luck, some bun-clenching and breath-holding, that V-dub would (and did) go darn near anywhere! In the days before SUVs and nearly universal 4-wheel or All-wheel drive, the rear-engined VW had relatively high ground clearance and a smooth, flat bottom. It’s is that simple utilitarian toughness that works so well as the basis for the Dune Buggy.

The latest in Manx-style dune buggies are quite a bit fancier, though not necessarily more complex, than their Sixties counterparts. Meyers Manx still offers Dune Buggy kits with five or six models available. For enough money they can even be purchased “turn-key.” There are several other choices out there, too. Check out:
www.banditbuggy.com, www.kitcar.com/York/home.html, www.texasbuggys.com, and
www.funbodies.com

I’m just saying; here’s an option for a Car Guy who’d like the wind-in-his-face opportunity offered by a traditional open Hot Rod without a lot of the complexity. I think they’re neat!

Confessions of a Drugstore Car Guy

If you recall, I was getting all nostalgical about cruising of the teen-age variety; circling the streets aimlessly on weekend nights. Actually, if memory serves, the circling had a definite purpose; it was just unfulfilled more often than not! In any case, my memory wandered to a different sort of roads after a while.

I Googled dangerous roads just to see what I’d find. 1st up, a story about Dateline NBC’s search for the most dangerous roads in the U.S. Except their story was not about dangerous roads, it was about the dangerous drivers who utilize otherwise safe roads. Almost all of the hits I got in that initial search talked not about roads that, for whatever reason, were dangerous but about the danger of being on the road with other drivers. They’ve found the danger and it is us!

Well we all know that, as good as we are, all those other idiots out there are terrible drivers. But that’s not what I was interested in. I wanted to know about roads that were dangerous event if there were no other vehicles on them. I’m not sure if a really dangerous road is dangerous if no one is driving on it. It takes two to tango, right? My daddy used to say if we had some eggs we could have ham and eggs, if we had some ham.

What started this whole dangerous road thing was my recollection of some roads I’ve driven on, or been driven on, in the past. Some really hairy stretches of road come to mind. From my own experience, the most dangerous roads are:

1. Nevada 305 between Austin and Battle Mountain – straight as an arrow, just begs to be driven at excessive speed and a right across the path of every form of potential roadkill you can imagine, from field mice to elk.
2. Salt River Canyon, U.S. 60 where it crosses the Salt River northeast of Globe, Az. Switch-backs, drop-offs and breathtaking scenery; enjoy the view at your peril.

You know, maybe they were right, it’s us that make the roads dangerous, not the roads themselves. Take my two examples; both Nevada 305 and U.S. 60 are good roads that become dangerous when drivers don’t keep their minds on their business. The roads I’ve driven that really are intrinsically dangerous shouldn’t be roads in the first place; that’s what makes them dangerous. And that’s why they’re not paved and come with warning signs. My favorites are:

1. Dugas Rd./Forest Rd. 68E from Interstate 17 to the Childs/Irving Power Plant on the Verde River. It took us several hours to go a couple of miles, all in 4WD/low range. The road climbs down the canyon from the Mogollon Rim to the Verde River, dropping 2000 ft. in elevation, seemingly all at once.
2. Castle Hot Springs Rd. northwest of Phoenix, approximately 35 miles (mostly dirt, some riverbed) thru scenic desert to an amazing palm treed oasis resort in the middle of nowhere. Not particularly dangerous unless you make the trip in a Volkswagen with a wife that’s nine months pregnant.
3. A hundred other tracks across the desert where any number of disasters could befall you with just a little bad luck or poor judgment. It’s always too hot, too sandy, too rocky, too steep, whatever, to not be dangerous. Which makes it so much fun!

Roads themselves are not dangerous until you add inattentive or idiotic drivers or hazardous conditions. Our Interstate highways are great but I-68 from Hancock to Morgantown scares the pee-outta-me when it gets foggy. I-95 scares me when I consider the goofs I have to share it with. I-10 thru the desert scares we when a dust storm come along that zeroes visibility AND sand-blasts the car but doesn’t stop other drivers from going, or stopping.

SPRING IS IN THE AIR!

It’s not news to anyone with allergies but, like, spring has sprung! My gutters are filling up with blossoms from the cherry tree and helicopters from the maple trees, the ground’s so wet it squishes as I walk across the lawn and, although the grass is way too tall, it’s also too wet to mow. It’s a good thing I’ve got the new cruising’ season to take my mind off these yard-work difficulties.

As I opened my garage door the other day I was greeted with another taste (smell, actually) of spring. I got a blast of “old car smell” from my ‘56! You know all about “old car smell”, it’s kinda like “new car smell” but with experience. Even the Russians, sentimental as anyone, know what I’m talking about.

"When a person goes to an exhibit where there is a humble Pobeda or Moskvich -- the one that dad or grandad used to drive -- he asks to get in the car," Sorokin says. "And when the smell hits him, he immediately gets tears in his eyes as he remembers his childhood. He has a nostalgia for that time." This according to Radio Free Europe’s web-site in a story about modern Russian nostalgia for the “good old days.”

Like Oldsmaniac, in the ClassicOldsmobile.com Forum wrote, “Old car smell comes with the old car...usually everything cloth will take on the smell and the only way to rid is total reupholstery of the seats and new carpet. Old vinyl too will smell on dash and door panels. Any trunk matting or insulation on the trunklid underside will smell...To use a freshener or mothballs will only blend the smell and maybe worse than just the old car smell...Its not an easy remedy. For me I sorta like the old car smell.”

Me too! That odor, which brings to mind junk yards and the cars we drove in high school, is an integral part of the old car experience. In my research I read that new materials and techniques are making “new car smell” a thing of the past. Old Car Smell is already a thing of the past!

Confessions of a Drugstore Car Guy

Late-winter blahs (too cold outside, nothing to do inside) have me cruising memory lane; playing re-runs in my head. Since it’s mostly car-related stuff, though, my memories must have some value, right? In recent years I’ve seen a lot of old school hot rods and other cars of that style that got me remembering some of the cars from my old school days.

I went to high school in the early sixties and tri-five Chevys were pretty new (Moms and Dads were still using them as daily-drivers and grocery-getters). My friends with cars tended to have less exotic rides. Eddie, for instance, had a flat-head six ’53 Plymouth and his brother, a four door Ford of the same vintage. I fell out of Eddie’s car while he was doing do-nuts in the school parking lot. I don’t remember if being seen riding in that car or falling out of it was more embarrassing.

My friend Jim had several cars while we were in school. One was a ’56 Ford; a two-door hardtop with a V-8. It was also a beater with no rear shocks. Riding in that car taught me how important shock absorbers are to both ride and handling; it was unsafe at any speed! Maybe it was the experience of putting our lives on the line every time we hit the road that made us all such responsible drivers as we got older.

Another friend, Rush (not that one), seemed to have access to lots of cars. His supplier was partial to Cadillac’s and we spent a lot of time running around in them, or not (because they broke down a lot!). He had a ’30 Model A coupe with a Caddy motor and transmission. It, too, was a beater (maybe the proto-type for today’s rat rods) with orange crate seats and a vise-grip gear selector. Three guys in a Model A teaches lots about togetherness. His other Cadillacs, while not necessarily things of beauty, were definitely the class of teenage cruising vessels (when running).

Not all of the cars I remember were old or raggedy. Charlie had a ’64 Ford Galaxy two-door hardtop with that NASCAR-style fast-back roof and a dual-quad 427. I have it on good authority that car would do over 150 mph. It also took a bunch of us more than 8 hours to make a 150 mile trip in the damn thing due to a combination of Ford engineering and poverty. Charlie could barely afford to keep gas in the car and certainly couldn’t afford to keep it tuned. The radiator water tank was not part of the radiator. It mounted on top of the front of the motor and had connections to the radiator and thermostat housing that were prone to crack from vibration. Charlie’s did and, on that trip, we spent more time pouring water in the cooling system than we did traveling.

The other evening I was talking about cars and teen-agers in this neck-of-the-woods with a fellow car club member (he grew-up in Middletown). Not a lot different than from where I grew-up (Arizona) except things here were/are closer together and greener. He, too, had a story about a Model A with vise-grips and make-do (cinder block) seats. In his version the vise-grips were used to steer! One thing universal about teen-age boys; they’ve got more guts than brains (it’s a blood-flow thing).

My friend was telling me about cruising the loop in Frederick. As I understand it, the loop went east from the Circle S Drive-In on South St. to Market St., up to 7th St., west to the Red Top Drive-In that used to be across from the new entrance to FMH. Then either back to Bentz St. and down to South St. to complete the loop or out U.S. 40 north to a hang-out where Mountain Motors is now located.

We cruised Central Ave. in Phoenix, with stops at Bob’s Big Boy at Thomas Rd. and Central and side trips up to South Mountain Park to (whatever we could get away with). By the time I was old enough to know better (and had a wife and kids) cruising Central was officially banned and Bob’s became a office tower and parking lot.

Man, this makes me want to crank up the old 8-track with the Box Tops or Three Dog Night blaring, circling for hours on a dollars-worth of gas, wishing for (whatever it is young men wish for—I don’t remember). I could forget $3.50+/gal. gas, $35000+ cars, $350,000+ mortgages, and just enjoy! Or worry about whatever it is young men worry about (don’t remember that, either). Let’s all go to a cruise-in or 35 this season and rekindle some of that weekend driving in circles nostalgia!

Trying-out My New Camera

Confessions of a Drugstore Car Guy

In the midst of watching my way thru the NFL playoffs heading for the Super Bowl, I’ve kicked my usually mild interest up a notch. That’s because, for a change, the teams involved are “real” teams, the way Chevys, Fords and Mopars are “real” cars; they’re from “back in the day!”

Like most folks I have a specific set of criteria for the “reality” of something. For music it’s the Sixties, for cars it’s ’55 thru ’72 (with certain exceptions before and since), for professional football it’s smash-mouth, blue-collar teams from rust-belt towns like Green Bay, Wisconsin or Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. So it’s kind of perfect the Steelers and Packers will meet in Super Bowl XLV, right?

The Green Bay Packers are the second oldest team in the NFL; they’ve been around since 1919 and in what became the NFL since 1921. They’ve won more league championships (12) than any other team and won the first two Super Bowls (1967 & 1968). The Steelers are the oldest team in the AFC and have been in the NFL since 1933. They have won more Super Bowls (6) than any other team.

The Packers and Steelers are to professional football what the Yankees and Cubs are to baseball, true American icons. In that regard they sit on the same shelf as the cars we love so much; Chevrolet, Ford, and Mopar are the Packers and Steelers of their league. In each of these leagues there are lots of other teams but none of the others are any more representative of what their league stands for; what we think of when we think of football or car.

If Chevrolet, Ford, Mopar are the premier teams in their league, the “57 Chevy, the ‘64½ Mustang, the ’68 Roadrunner are examples of their teams’ star players. Like their teams, these “players” are icons. Think of the football icons the Packers have given us; Vince Lombardi, Bart Starr, Ray Nitschke. Or the Steelers like Terry Bradshaw, Franco Harris, “Mean” Joe Green. Take any of these guys to a car show and I’ll bet you’d draw as big a crowd as if you showed up with a ’69 Yenko Camaro or a ’70 Hemi ‘Cuda!

Anyway, I’m pretty fired-up about a Super Bowl that features the Green Bay Packers against the Pittsburgh Steelers. Now if they could get Linda Ronstadt to sing the Star-spangled Banner, the Beach Boys for the half-time show, and play commercials about “seeing the USA in our Chevrolet” or Plymouth ads featuring the Roadrunner and Wylie Coyote, maybe I could take my mind off things I don’t understand (like I-pods, supplemental Medicare insurance, etc.) and really enjoy the game.

Oh, by the way: One of the things I don’t understand is all the fuss about us old people dragging down the economy; depending on our kids’ contributions to Social Security, etc. to fund our lavish retired lifestyles. I mean, aren’t we plowing all that pension money back into the economy? It ain’t 30 and 40-somethings buying all those resto-mod parts, putting gas in 50-year old cars with big-block, dual-quad motors, driving to Nashville just to hang out a few days then turn around and drive back.

Check out the next car show (or remember the last one); those shiny, expensive, extravagantly appointed cruisin’ vessels aren’t owned by kids. As a matter of fact, it seems to me the younger folks at car shows are the ones sportin’ the rat-rods. They’re not spending big bucks fixing up cars, they’re using left-over parts. They’re not even painting their cars!

Yes, I believe all responsible car people should do everything possible to keep the economy afloat. If it means buying the expensive billet wheels instead of repainting the stock steelies and polishing up the dog dish hub caps, do it!

Since Politics and Economics seem to be so closely related, perhaps responsible car people should think about a political party that represents their point of view; maybe a party with a shade tree for a symbol.

Confessions of a Drugstore Car Guy

Elayne & I recently returned from our road trip out west; 7050 pretty much trouble-free miles. Don’t kid yourself, that many miles in a car ain’t the “pleasure” it once was; if it ever was. We were traveling in a PT Cruiser so the quality of ride might not have been quite as nice as if it had been in a big luxo-cruiser by Mercedes, Cadillac or Lincoln, for instance. But we’re not complaining; you run whatcha brung! We stayed in motels all across the country and Elayne is pleased to report not a bed bug in sight (she looked, too!)

There was a lot of family business that got transacted, what with birthdays and Thanksgiving and all but that stuff doesn’t really matter here. There was, however, quite a bit of car guy stuff too. My brother-in-law, Max, retired recently and bought himself a new Dodge Challenger with a Hemi and 20” Cragars, etc. So it was incumbent upon me to make sure he was fully indoctrinated in the car culture in his A.O. (area of operation). I kept him busy damn-near the whole time we were in the Phoenix area.

I was at a huge disadvantage on this trip because I was unplugged from the Internet; it’s amazing how much we’ve grown to depend on the web as an information source. Almost to the point where there’s no alternative. So I reconnected with newspapers, road maps and telephone books. Kind of a stone age vacation, getting back to my roots and all! As tough as it was, I managed to find car events, places to eat and other normally web-delivered info the old fashioned way.

The first weekend we were in Phoenix I convinced Max we needed to check out the drag racing and car show at Speedworld Raceway Park in nearby Wittmann, Arizona. Back in the day this was Mel Larson’s Dragstrip and the place both Max and I were first introduced to drag racing. Today Speedworld is not a whole lot fancier than it was when it was Mel Larson’s but it’s a lot more comprehensive, including tracks for motocross, BMX, short course off-road racing, sand drags and a mud bog. There’s also facilities for radio-controlled models and paintball. See: http://racespeedworld.com/

I convinced Max he had to enter his Challenger in the car show and it, along with another, almost identical Challenger, proudly represented the resurgence of the muscle car. All of the remaining maybe 100 cars were considerably older. It was a pretty good show with lots of neat cars of every persuasion. I made another reconnection (besides my return to Mel Larson’s) while at Speedworld.

I saw a familiar decal on the window of a ’57 Chevy making a pass on the dragstrip and had another blast from my past. The decal was the logo for the Arizona Drag Racing Association, both of which (logo and association) I’d forgotten long ago. Back in 1972 I got involved with the ADRA in an effort to bring racing to the Air Force base where I worked. One thing led to another and I wound up designing a logo for the organization.

Well, ADRA no longer uses the logo and no one from those days is still active but a few years ago the old logo was reprised to commemorate the 35th anniversary. That commemorative decal is what I saw on the ’57 Chevy. Since then I’ve talked with the current ADRA President and decimated his supply of logo decals. Small world, huh? Elayne actually remembers more details regarding my relationship with ADRA than I do (a mind is a terrible thing to lose!) See: http://www.metzcon.com/adra/index.htm

The weekend after our trip to Speedworld, Max and I went to the Goodguys Southwest Nationals at Westworld in Scottsdale, AZ. We walked our legs to stumps and saw maybe half the vendors and about a quarter of the cars. They said there’d be over 2000 cars in attendance and I’m sure there were at least that many. I’d have taken lots of pictures but I figured someone else already did that and I could see them in the Goodguys magazine (which I consider the best car mag around). See: http://www.southwestnats.com/.

There were several other car shows in the vicinity while I was in Phoenix and I checked-out a couple. One of them, in a Golden Corral parking lot just flat broke my heart. It was on a Saturday morning and convened to raise money and stuff for a local food bank. There were a grand total of eight cars on display and room for a whopping four more! There ain’t no shortage of show fodder in the neighborhood, just, apparently, a lack of communication. I also drove by a show that was being held in conjunction with a local carnival in Buckeye, AZ. They had a lot better turn-out and some pretty nice looking cars.

We’ve all heard about “Arizona cars” and there are lots of older cars on the road as daily drivers. I also noticed that the SUV and pickup crowd has enthusiastically embraced the Big Wheel fad; lots and lots of 22 and 24 inch wheels on late model vehicles. I even saw some of those monster hoops on regular cars. Oh well, different strokes for different folks, I guess.

While in Arizona I took a road trip with my friend Merle, to check-out some of the country I hadn’t seen in a few years. We stopped in Casa Grande, AZ to see if Patrick’s Antique Cars & Trucks was really selling off their stock of 47-54 Chevy trucks (they weren’t, according to Patrick’s son). See: http://www.patricksantiquecars.com/.

We enjoyed our visit to Arizona, especially the days in the seventies with lots and lots of sunshine. I enjoyed reconnecting with some places I remembered and some things I’d forgotten. It’ll probably be a couple of years before we’re ready to go back and I’m not sure either Elayne or I am up to making that long, long drive. I do remember how to get to and from the airport, however, having made several trips picking-up or dropping-off my kid & grandkids who were smart enough to fly.

Carlisle Auction Experience Reflects Dismal Collector/Classic Car Market

By Linda Riggs
Sec'y, Heart of Maryland Classic Chevy Club
After having our ’57 wagon for sale for several months, Jim & I decided to consign the wagon to the Carlisle Fall Auctions. We know that the wagon shows much better in person than in print or on the internet. In consigning to auction, we had to decide whether to have a reserve placed on the car (duh) and then whether to have it auctioned during “prime time” of 5:00 - 9:00 pm on Thursday or Friday.
We opted for a reserve and for prime time, and paid the consignment fee to Carlisle Productions. For the consignment fee, Carlisle Auctions promotes the consigned cars and features them on www.carlisleauctions.com. They also pre-qualify the bidders, and the successful bidder makes their check payable to Carlisle Productions. Carlisle Productions holds the title until the payment is processed. About 2 weeks after the auction, once the payment is successfully transferred, the seller receives a check from Carlisle Productions. This, to us, seemed a safer way to conduct the transaction than the possibility of us accepting a fraudulent cashier’s check. Also for our consignment fees, we would receive two passes to the auctions and Fall Carlisle. I think they hoped we would bid on a car to replace the one we were selling! Not!
In any case, we consigned the wagon and were told to have the wagon, keys, clear original title and other paperwork at the Carlisle Expo Center on Tuesday, September 28. The weekend before that we cleaned and detailed the wagon and she looked fantastic. It was a bittersweet weekend—we realized it might be the last time that we worked together on her. But we also knew that we really needed the additional room in the shop (we were very tired of having to do the garage shuffle every time we wanted to work on a car) and Frederick County was not going to allow us to enlarge the shop, especially since it was already a non-conforming structure according to the new zoning rules.
After spending the weekend cleaning up the wagon the weatherman decided to throw a curveball at us and it rained heavily all day Monday with more rain called for on Tuesday. Instead of driving the car to Carlisle as we had planned, we asked Ed Z to trailer it to Carlisle for us so our hard work was not in vain. THANKS, EZ!
The weekend before the Carlisle Auction was Barrett-Jackson Las Vegas. We watched some of the Speed Channels coverage of Barrett-Jackson and we were both discouraged and encouraged. There was a nice ’55 210 wagon that sold for $55,000 but there were other cars that appeared to be very nice that didn’t bring much. Not knowing what to expect, or even if we would get any bids, we headed up to Carlisle on Tuesday afternoon; a bit nervous and apprehensive.
Check in went well. In fact, we were rather surprised at how quickly it went. The guys checking in the cars really liked the wagon and the security guys promised to keep an eye on her and assured us that they had never lost one. The only thing we didn’t like was that the cars are kept outside but we figured when we go to conventions the cars are outside and there isn’t 24/7 gated security.
On Thursday, September 30 we returned to Carlisle in pouring rain, the remnants of a tropical storm. It was very cold, wet and dreary; not a great day for an auto auction. We checked on the wagon and all was good. She attracted a lot of attention in the parking lot. We had a seat in the auction room and watched some auction action. After about the 10th or 12th car, I turned to Jim and told him we would not be selling the wagon that day. He agreed. None of the bidders were taking their hands out of their pockets to bid. The only cars selling were in the $1,500 to $10,000 range.
A very nice original ’55 Chevy Pickup only got the bidding up to $12,000 and was not sold. Several nice Chevelles, Camaros and Corvettes were not sold. Nothing of any value was selling although the auction room was absolutely packed. The wagon was #74 and I doubt that they sold even 20 cars that day. The only thing we could figure is that it was so rainy that a lot of people from the flea market at the fairgrounds were taking refuge in the dry auction house and were not there to bid.
So, at 7:00 pm, when the wagon rolled over the auction block, we were not a bit surprised when the bidding only got up to $20,000. Standing in line to go on the block people were all over the car, taking pictures, admiring the interior, loving the paint colors, wheels, under the hood. As she rolled on the block there was an audible buzz in the room and people were taking pictures. She was the only ’57 Chevy in the auction but still brought few bids. The bidding stalled and out she went. Afterwards, several people came up to us and said the car was just too nice for that auction, that day.
On the plus side, as registered participants, we received access to the hospitality area with a nice hot buffet and drinks. It was good food on a miserable day. Not worth the price of admission but at least we got something, besides the experience, out of the day!
Since it was still pouring after the auction, we left the wagon so we would not have to drive home in the pouring rain at night. Chris from Carlisle Auctions came up to us and encouraged us to leave the wagon until Friday’s auction—he said he was sure we would get some offers once the sun came out and people could appreciate the car. Skeptical, we decided to come back Friday afternoon to pick up the wagon. When we did we, watched some of the auction. Even though the sun was shining and it was a beautiful day the sales were just as dismal as on Thursday. It did not seem to matter whether the vehicle was a car or truck or motorcycle, an AACA National Champion or a Pro-Street vehicle, nothing was selling.
Again, in the parking lot, the wagon got a lot of attention. But, since this wasn’t a car show, it really didn’t matter! We loaded up the wagon, put the tags back on and headed home.
So the wagon is still for sale and we’ll keep doing the garage shuffle every time we need to work on a vehicle. The Carlisle Auction was quite an experience, but one we will not repeat. I know it’s the economy, but we were disappointed. Not just for ourselves, but it isn’t much fun to go to an auction where nothing sells!

Confessions of a Drugstore Car Guy

When I got my Super Chevy magazine last month, the cover immediately caught my attention, just as intended. Specifically, I saw headlines announcing the imminent threat of government action against me and my old car. The reason my attention was grabbed, according to automotive aftermarket mouthpiece, SEMA:
“Source Interlink Media, publisher of automotive specialty niche brands with more than 50 titles and 60 websites, is devoting each of its performance automotive group publication titles to the laws and regulations affecting the enjoyment of the automotive hobby. The themed issues are scheduled to hit newsstands in September and October—in time for the November 2010 elections—and will encourage the nearly 50 million readers to exercise their right to be heard.”
Why? According to SEMA:
“It is clear from the constant stream of anti-automobile enthusiast legislation across the country that, in order for the automotive hobbies to survive the present, let alone flourish in the future, hobbyists must work toward becoming more politically involved and effective. Most importantly, hobbyists must learn to work the system. Auto enthusiasts and clubs must learn to lobby.”
Why now?
“We are again at an election crossroads in which many voters are seeking change,” said Doug Evans, Source Interlink Media’s senior vice president and group publisher, performance automotive group. “These issues of our automotive magazines will give our readers an opportunity to consider how actions being taken by federal and state lawmakers impact the auto enthusiast. The need for the enthusiast community to stay informed and become involved is greater than ever. From emissions to auto equipment standards, the government is making decisions about your current and future car.”
“The people who love musclecars, hot rods, street rods, tuners, replicas, off-road trucks and many other varieties of automotive pursuits are as diverse as the country in which we live,” said SEMA Board Chairman Rick Rollins. “We must work to protect our automotive passions from unnecessary, unfair or well-intentioned but poorly written laws and regulations. Fortunately, we live in a country where we can still make a difference in how we are governed.
"Our greatest tool in making that difference is our voice. By speaking out on issues that concern the automotive hobby, contacting our representatives and working constructively with government officials, we have the power to protect our passion and keep it safe for future generations of auto hobbyists and enthusiasts.”
The future of the hobby depends on those who enjoy it. The ballot box is one venue for making views known. Enthusiasts can also work collectively by joining the SEMA Action Network (SAN), which is a partnership between enthusiasts, car clubs and members of the specialty auto parts industry in the United States and Canada who have pledged to join forces in support of legislative solutions for the auto hobby. It’s free to join and the SAN keeps you informed about pending legislation and regulations—both good and bad—that will impact your state or the entire country.
“We are the destination for millions of enthusiasts and consumers looking to find anything and everything about their enthusiast lifestyle,” Evans added. “Nowhere else can you find more powerful and credible brands specifically targeted to the needs and passions of our readers. We owe it to these dedicated readers to let them know about the threats to their hobby and solutions they can help enact to protect it.”
What’s the point?
While I have no problem with the idea that people should be involved in issues that affect, or even simply interest, them, I do have a problem with getting their attention with the printed equivalent of shouting “Fire!” in a crowded theater.
In the last month or so, each of the publications in the Source Interlink Media stable featured a cover similar to that on my Super Chevy. In dramatic fashion each reader received what appeared to be a 9-1-1 call warning them of the impending end of life as they know it. Those who read on found a lot of sound and fury signifying nothing; SEMA and Source Interlink Media simply wanted to get our attention.
I suppose the motivation behind this campaign can be taken at face value, they just want to reinforce the Civics lessons we learned back in high school. But I kinda doubt that. Why would SEMA spend all that money, go to so much effort, just to be good citizens helping us become better citizens?
The businesses for whom SEMA works are not all negatively impacted by automotive-related legislation. I believe SEMA and its clients are no more opposed to draconian legislation than Accountants are to incomprehensible tax laws; government rules and regulations are the geese laying their golden eggs.
Although many SEMA members are car guys and share some of the same interests and fears we do, the organization’s primary purpose is securing preferential treatment for its “special interests.” Before we let them talk us into getting a manicure, fancy haircut, and shiny suit; before we go schmooze a Congressman, let’s think about what’s in it for SEMA.
What are SEMA’s special interests and are they the same as ours? Is the sky really falling or is Chicken Little just trying to impress America’s legislative bodies with how many friends he’s got on his facebook page?