Carmine
Old Man with a Hat
(kids either).
I just had a profound weekend and thought I'd share a few thoughts.
Each Friday there is a local cruise night that I haven't attended due to foul weather every Friday for a month. I decided to roll in two days ago, albeit a little late because my whitewalls were not up to snuff, so I had to spend some quality time with a hose. I took my 4 y/o daughter with me; she seems to like cars. (I sometimes wonder how odd her view of things automotive will be, being surrounded with original cars from 1951 until current, but with no one making a big fuss about how "old" anything is... She doesn't seem to perceive a difference since we use them all as cars.)
Anyway, back to rolling into the cruise night. You've probably all experienced it... Hearing stupid little under-breath comments about "what a boat", "man that thing is big", blah, blah. It's not that I care (because I don't) but it just reinforces that I don't really fit in their little mouth-breathing click of "musclecardum" and sitting in lawn chairs. So we park and walk around. I spot at least one car I see often and absolutely love. It looks exactly like this, but shinier, nicer and without a bunch of crap in the windows.
Anyway, if you recall they have this cool emblem on the headlamp door...
Little kid eyesight amazes me. She runs right over to it and says "Lions Daddy! But these are skeleton faces! I don't like skeletons!" It makes me laugh because I was about 4 when my uncle bought a car just like the one above, but in copper/chocolate tones. I remember discovering those emblems as well. Either that, or I've handed-off some mild form of autism.
Anyway, the cruise night is the usual crowd of old men waxing their GTOs and I'm not really feeling it (to put it mildly), but I run into a friend who isn't really a car guy. I think he was only there to connect with someone else. He says, "Hey, I wanna run the engine on my (actual) boat a little, you guys wanna come with me?" Out of surprise I just instinctively say "Naw, but thanks..." Then it hits me that:
1) I live 2 miles from a big lake but don't own a boat and know few people who do, so this chance won't come again.
2) Same for my kid, with even fewer friends with boats.
3) Beautiful night for a boat ride.
So we said "buh-bye" to the cruise night and made room for two more late model vettes. We had an absolute blast out on the water. When we pulled back into the slip, I was taking a few shots of my daughter and thought the car behind her looked like a scene from a 1970s ad.
She was whipped from the night and passed out as soon as I plopped her in the car. I live two freakin' miles from the Marina and can do it all on super-quiet side streets. So call CPS on me, but this is how she arrived. Many good memories of doing it myself.
I then started thinking what a shame it would be if that car was butchered into a famous moviecar, derbied or made into some other form of donk-clownmobile. Nope, it's just a good ol' car doing its job.
Fast-forward to tonight and I'm moving my wife's '78 NYB Salon into the latest form of rental house garage storage (for the first time). I need to concentrate on NOT knocking down a wall with its massive prow, so I put her in the front seat with me. This allows me to be sure she isn't exploring the wheels as I drive forward at .05 MPH. Guess what she notices?
"Daddy! Lions in this car too! Roar!" Advantage Mopar BTW, since these lions don't have scary skeleton faces.
Anyways, I suppose watching her notice all the details and the calming, nostalgic effect they have on me vs. hideous modern insect cars is a big reason why I own them and enjoy using them so much. You just wouldn't have these moments if they were trailer queens or modified beyond recognition.
Just a thought for the night.
I just had a profound weekend and thought I'd share a few thoughts.
Each Friday there is a local cruise night that I haven't attended due to foul weather every Friday for a month. I decided to roll in two days ago, albeit a little late because my whitewalls were not up to snuff, so I had to spend some quality time with a hose. I took my 4 y/o daughter with me; she seems to like cars. (I sometimes wonder how odd her view of things automotive will be, being surrounded with original cars from 1951 until current, but with no one making a big fuss about how "old" anything is... She doesn't seem to perceive a difference since we use them all as cars.)
Anyway, back to rolling into the cruise night. You've probably all experienced it... Hearing stupid little under-breath comments about "what a boat", "man that thing is big", blah, blah. It's not that I care (because I don't) but it just reinforces that I don't really fit in their little mouth-breathing click of "musclecardum" and sitting in lawn chairs. So we park and walk around. I spot at least one car I see often and absolutely love. It looks exactly like this, but shinier, nicer and without a bunch of crap in the windows.
Anyway, if you recall they have this cool emblem on the headlamp door...
Little kid eyesight amazes me. She runs right over to it and says "Lions Daddy! But these are skeleton faces! I don't like skeletons!" It makes me laugh because I was about 4 when my uncle bought a car just like the one above, but in copper/chocolate tones. I remember discovering those emblems as well. Either that, or I've handed-off some mild form of autism.
Anyway, the cruise night is the usual crowd of old men waxing their GTOs and I'm not really feeling it (to put it mildly), but I run into a friend who isn't really a car guy. I think he was only there to connect with someone else. He says, "Hey, I wanna run the engine on my (actual) boat a little, you guys wanna come with me?" Out of surprise I just instinctively say "Naw, but thanks..." Then it hits me that:
1) I live 2 miles from a big lake but don't own a boat and know few people who do, so this chance won't come again.
2) Same for my kid, with even fewer friends with boats.
3) Beautiful night for a boat ride.
So we said "buh-bye" to the cruise night and made room for two more late model vettes. We had an absolute blast out on the water. When we pulled back into the slip, I was taking a few shots of my daughter and thought the car behind her looked like a scene from a 1970s ad.
She was whipped from the night and passed out as soon as I plopped her in the car. I live two freakin' miles from the Marina and can do it all on super-quiet side streets. So call CPS on me, but this is how she arrived. Many good memories of doing it myself.
I then started thinking what a shame it would be if that car was butchered into a famous moviecar, derbied or made into some other form of donk-clownmobile. Nope, it's just a good ol' car doing its job.
Fast-forward to tonight and I'm moving my wife's '78 NYB Salon into the latest form of rental house garage storage (for the first time). I need to concentrate on NOT knocking down a wall with its massive prow, so I put her in the front seat with me. This allows me to be sure she isn't exploring the wheels as I drive forward at .05 MPH. Guess what she notices?
"Daddy! Lions in this car too! Roar!" Advantage Mopar BTW, since these lions don't have scary skeleton faces.
Anyways, I suppose watching her notice all the details and the calming, nostalgic effect they have on me vs. hideous modern insect cars is a big reason why I own them and enjoy using them so much. You just wouldn't have these moments if they were trailer queens or modified beyond recognition.
Just a thought for the night.
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