MY NEIGHBOR’S OLD CORVETTE NOMAD --This is a fairy tale but it could be true. Once upon a time my neighbor bought a new 2013 1955 Corvette Nomad. It was bright red. Smooth with paint so deep you could almost stick your arm in it. I walked around it, admiring the beauty of such a car. He opened the door and motioned for me to sit. The fresh aroma of a new car tickled my nostrils. The seats, white leather, soft and much like those of a Mercedes. In fact the neighbor said they were designed just like the seats of his Mercedes. Like sitting on a cloud, lumbar support, heat, and vibrators throughout. --The dash another work of art. Digital gauges and the dash looking much like one from a fine foreign car. Right again. A replica of a new Mercedes sports coupe also. He pushed a button and the dash began to light up, a voice talked to us. GPS, backup monitor, and other fancy screens came to life. With the push of another button whatever was under the hood roared to life. --My neighbor took me for a ride down the block and back. A ride like a new Corvette. Very responsive with that deep rumble and the roar of a tuned exhaust. Back at the house, I got on hands and knees to look underneath. No wonder it rode like a Vette. A custom made frame and all Corvette running gear! Stainless and billet aluminum everywhere. --As he opened the hood, there sat a 2013 Corvette engine, plastic shrouding, EFI, 7 speed tranny and all. Billet and chrome, with a splash of matching bright red paint. The best looking 1955 Chevrolet engine I ever did see! --He showed me the trophies he got last weekend, bragging how his 2013 Corvette Nomad wagon was best in it’s class, best engine, and best of show 100 miles away. Beat out many restored and pro built 55 thru 57 Chevy customs. Most of them had a few rock chips and even small pebbles in the tire tread. His was perfect, fresh off his trailer. He also bragged how while others spent hours wiping, Kalifornee dusting, and cleaning, he sat in his lawn chair telling others about his custom 2013 Corvette Nomad wagon. When I ask what kind of primer it had and how many coats of paint, what kind of paint, he didn’t have a clue. --We proceeded to go around his twelve and a half car garage to look at his new car hauler trailer and 2013 dually truck. There it was, a 57 ½ foot long enclosed custom built car hauler. Inside is a full shop with enough tools for a large pit crew. All tools hung neatly on the walls in billet holders. Off to one side a small wet bar and big screen TV. Carpet throughout. He doesn’t need chains or straps. With the push of a single button custom claws come out of the floor attaching to special attaching points on the frame. A vinyl and padded cover drops from above to seal the wagon inside. --I’d noticed, as we took that short ride, the odometer read 22 miles. Yet he went 100 miles one way to the car show! “Don’t you ever drive your car?” , I asked. “No, I don’t want to get it dirty or wear it out.” __About then his 23 year old, sexy looking, large breasted, slim young blonde wife came outside, yelling for the neighbor to get his fat old butt inside. Damned she was hot lookin. Those humongous store bought boobs almost jiggled out of her blouse as she slithered across the yard. I wanted her and the 2013 1955 Chevy Nomad wagon! As he went inside, I wandered back home to my small shack and my 1955 Chevy handyman wagon, which was made nearly 58 years ago. --My wagon also has a SBC engine and Chevy running gear. Made somewhere in the 80’s. There’s oil running down the cheap chrome valve cover from the oil breather and the spark plug wires look sorta dried out. When I open my doors they squeak and there is a distinct smell of old naugahyde and mohair. Seats are hard and it rides rough, the left front fender rattles, and strange sounds come from under my feet. But if I mash the gas, it sometimes chirps the tires. --I got in my 1955 Chevy handyman wagon, slammed the door, twice to get the darned thing to latch, and turned the key till it started. I smiled as I watched the original gauges slowly come to life. That silly temperature gauge slowly rise, and the old SW tach on the steering column jump a little then go up around 2500 RPM. --I kicked out the choke. She idled between 650-700 because of a darned miss. But it’s always done that. I listened to those old Cherry Bombs and the sound of a small exhaust leak. Just then my blonde wife came out, smiling. She’s a little chubby, older than hell, like me, but sweet. I motioned and she climbed in beside me, gave me a little kiss, and I wiggled the shifter trying to get it into reverse. --Out on the street, I hit DRIVE and we were on our way for another long ride into the past. We both looked over at the neighbor’s new 2013 1955 Chevrolet Nomad wagon and smiled. I’d swear I saw him looking out his front window with a tear in his eye. --This is only a fairy tale. But we are seeing changes already in the old car hobby. What will our grandkids be driving? Old cars that rattle and leak or brand new replicas of old wagons with a factory warrantee? Yes, I'm jealous of people who can afford to order their car from a book and trailer it from show to show. But I'd rather drive mine and remember the past.
Please post a picture of the large breasted blonde wife. As for the story, theres room for both kinds of cars in the hobby. The availability of a brand new replica is made possible by the demand for and the availability of so many OEM style replacement parts to restore an original. Thats why you can pretty much go out and buy a complete brand new body for a 69 Camaro and others.
The wife, of course. I don't need another station wagon! But, my wife says I can't have either! The rest of the story---------> Actually after reading and discussing the new replica 1940 Ford deluxe coupes as a joint venture of Drake/Carpenter, with approval from Ford, many threads and comments were made on the HAMB forum. Of course I had to keep adding my 2 1/2 cents. This made me lie awake one night thinking. This is something old people do when they DON'T have a 23 year old trophy wife. This also lead me to write this story, but about the new 2013 1940 Ford and my very own 1939 Ford coupe. Seemed to get some wealthy members upset but eventually many realized it was only a fairy tale and the comments changed. So, I figured why not modify the story and put it here. The girl is only one of millions that I fantasize about when not fantasizing about old cars and station wagons. A guy's gotta dream! Good day.
I agree with Jim68Cuda that there's room in the hobby for everyone. But here's my mini-rant: How can a car such as a '32 Ford be titled and presented as a 1932 when it doesn't have a single part on it made in 1932? I bet half of the '32 Fords at Goodguys don't have anything made in '32. I feel the same way about the reproduction '69 Camaros, Mustangs, Tri-5 Chevys, Cobras and now '40 Fords. I appreciate their craftsmanship, beauty and the overall cool factor, but they should be labeled as "Tribute" cars or some other euphemism and be judged, scored, evaluated, etc., separately. :rant:
Faux--fake ? Exactly but I've gotten in trouble more than once by voicing those opinions. Those lucky enough to have deep pockets and large check books frown on us little guys saying they don't have REAL 32 Fords or whatevers. After all their plastic or steel replica is exactly like the real thing. Only different. I'll swear, there are more 32 Ford roadsters out now than in 32! From what I've read in DMV reports is that a vehicle can be titled and licensed as a 32 Ford, for instance, if it looks, breaths, and quacks like a 32 Ford. It doesn't really have to be a DUCK. In fact it may have a non Ford engine (add SBC here) and other 2012 componants. I wished I could own an original or replica 32 Ford and some of the other collector cars. But I also think it only fair these vehicles be judged separatly from the REAL thing. Again, comparing apples to boobies, it's like a Miss America contest with 21 year olds with 44 DDD enhancements. It may look nice but it ain't fair.
I'll throw my two cents here too. I think there is no point in owning a car if you aren't going to drive it. Not as a daily driver, but for Sunday drives or to the shows. Every car ever built was put together to be used for everyday driving, and people say what if it breaks, well you fix it. My 67 s-55 hardtop went almost 700 miles to a show two or three years ago and we still got a trophy and the long distance award. They should have different classes for drivers and trailer queens. And as far as the deep pockets, one thing that really winds me up is at a show you talk to the street rod guys, and Joe can tellyousomething he ever did to the car. Next to him is Harry, and he can't even tell you what kind of motor it's got. Well, he's never even cleaned it, it's"professionally detailed". And Harry always gets the gold. Definitely not good for the hobby as a whole.
Keep Thinking. It's good for the Brain. Like on the other car forum when this was a 40 Ford, I have you thinkin and talkin. That's what it's all about. Probably after the first car was modified, someone else paid to have his done better. Many famous customizers and car builders have come and gone over the years because the world is full of Harry's. That doesn't make Harry a bad guy or less of a car guy. But it does make Harry a person who should be entering his car in some other class other than original or street driven. And Harry should be car guy enough to learn a little about his store bought custom car. Actually I've met all kinds of Harrys. Some genuinely car smart and honest car people who visit and talk cars as much as any gearhead. Others who don't have a clue whether their car is real or fake and won't even give you the time of day. Don't know about now, but years ago in the shows we entered, trailered vehicles were put in their own classes. Sadly even then some Harry's cheated. They'd park their enclosed trailer across the street or down the block and slowly and carefully "drive" to the car show. If it looked like rain they either covered it quickly or slowly drove their "driver" back to their trailer. The main reason I wrote these fairy tales was because of the devaluation and delution of the original cars, no matter what make or model they are. It's like having a coin or stamp collection then having one of those clearing house phoney manufaturers make another million of what you had one of a hundred of. In rebuttle other car builders say "well if DingDong mfg co wasn't making all of these brand new stamped parts we would run out of 1942 Whatzitmobiles." I say find rusty bent originals and fix them up like new. That's the way restoration and customizing began. It amazes me how often a barn find shows up and fields of rusty hulks still remain to be resurrected. Yet it is nice to be able to buy a new hood, fender, or other very rare part. What a quandry! We don't need quantity in the old car game, we need quality. :rant::sorry:
