Owning and driving a classic car is a commitment. I hate modern cars. Sure they have lots of gizmos and gadgets. They handle better and get much better gas mileage, but they lack style and simplicity. And all those fancy extras are just more things that can break or cause problems.
My first car was a 1976 VW Beetle. It was the biggest hunk of shit. The floor was missing and nearly every panel on it was rusty. It was fast, but it didn't have much in the way of brakes. It was fun to drive and it got me to work everyday for a couple of months. Just long enough to save up the money to buy a 1971 Pontiac GTO. It's a car that I wish I still owned. In all honesty it was in only slightly better condition than the veedub. There was a couple of huge rust holes in each quarter panel and you had to hold the steering wheel 3/4 of a turn to the right to go straight. But it was a GTO and had it been fully restored it would be worth quite a bit of coin.
The reason I let that car go was I was offered a 1969 Buick Skylark. It had been my friend's grandmother's car and when she passed away she left it to him. He had driven it for about a year, but it just wasn't style. He wanted to make sure that who ever bought it would appreciate it and take good care of it. That was 20 years ago and I still own that car.
I've had two other cars that aren't really a part of this story, so I'm not going to talk about them. Both were cars that I drove on a temporary basis while work was being done on my baby.
With money that was left to me when my father passed away I decided to restore the old beast. Finding people who really know how to work on old cars proved more complicated then I expected. The first major change I made to the car was new rims, tires, and lowering the ride height. The car was dropped about 4 1/2 inches. New springs and shocks all around. This really helped with cornering, except that big bumps at high speeds would cause the car to bottom out. I might have gone just a little too low.
I must have gone to 15 different body shops before I found someone to paint the car. Many of the places I went to were asking a ridiculous amount of money to paint the car and they wouldn't guarantee that the rust spots wouldn't come back. They also estimated that it would take about a year to paint the car. Most body shops put restoration projects on the back burner and put a much higher priority on collision work.
In the end I settled on a young kid who was known locally for doing really cool custom paint jobs He was constantly repainting his own cars with all sorts of wild paint schemes. Seeing his work I knew he was the one to paint my car. Since he was running his own business and painting only one car at a time it seemed like he was going to be able to paint my car at a good price in a reasonable amount of time.
Next up was the engine. My brother has worked on pit crews for race teams for a number of years, so I went to him to see about having the motor rebuilt. That summer was a lot of fun. He and I worked on pulling the engine out together and while it was out being worked over we cleaned and prepped the engine bay. It was a great feeling to be able to do some of the work on my car myself.
Not long after the car was put back together I started having some issues with the paint. There were blisters developing all over the hood. The guy who painted the car had no problem redoing the paint, but I had started to have real concerns that there were a lot more problems ahead. Painting an old car is a skill and it takes years to get really good at it. I had unknowingly picked an amateur.
6000 miles after the engine had been rebuilt I had a major problem. Driving along the highway one night I came upon a section of road that had been dug out for repaving. There should have been road signs in place to warn of the dip in the road, but I got on the highway at the exit after they were posted. I hit the dip at about 70 mph and the car bottomed out so bad it bent the drive shaft and in turn that took out the transmission.
Having just spent $6000 on paint and $3500 on the motor I was completely out of cash to have the transmission rebuilt. So the car sat, waiting. There's few things worse then letting an old car sit for extended periods of time. The sun bakes the paint off when a car stays in one place for too long and parts tend to seize up.
It took almost a year until the car was running again and even then it was just barely running right. There were electrical issues, the carburetor had weird bugs, one of the shocks had blown out completely, and there was a crack in the radiator. Oh and the mufflers were totally shot. It sounded not unlike a tank.
I've been fortunate enough to have a mechanic, Stiles, as a roommate for the last 2 years. He's attacked one problem after another, prioritizing what needed to be done and addressing those concerns first.
As it stands now most of the mechanical issues have been addressed. The car runs incredibly well once it's warmed up. The carb still needs to be replaced at some point, but it only causes problems during cold starts in winter weather, so I can put up with it for now.
It's been ten years since the car was painted now and many of the rust spots have come back. The clear coat is missing in many areas and over all general wear and tear make the car's overall appearance less then desirable.
This past week the tide has finally turned though. This week Stiles has been addressing the rust spots and prepping the car for a new paint job. This is progress that makes me feel that things are no longer heading in the wrong direction . I've accepted the fact that this car will never be a 100 point show car, but it will live on, hopefully, as my daily driver for the next ten years.
There is no feeling like driving a true classic. Sure it can go relatively fast, but it's more about the times when simply driving down the main street of a town and you notice every head turns in your direction as you pass. The warm hum of a V8 flowing through glasspacks. Seeing people check it out whenever and where ever it's parked. People respect and love old cars. Even the police. I rarely am hassled or pulled over for anything. And believe me, when conditions allow, I don't drive this car slow and it hasn't had a valid inspection sticker on it in about 8 years.
It takes passion and commitment to maintain a car that is 40 years old. No matter what anyone else says or how they feel about it, to me, it's all worth it.
As seen in better days.
My first car was a 1976 VW Beetle. It was the biggest hunk of shit. The floor was missing and nearly every panel on it was rusty. It was fast, but it didn't have much in the way of brakes. It was fun to drive and it got me to work everyday for a couple of months. Just long enough to save up the money to buy a 1971 Pontiac GTO. It's a car that I wish I still owned. In all honesty it was in only slightly better condition than the veedub. There was a couple of huge rust holes in each quarter panel and you had to hold the steering wheel 3/4 of a turn to the right to go straight. But it was a GTO and had it been fully restored it would be worth quite a bit of coin.
The reason I let that car go was I was offered a 1969 Buick Skylark. It had been my friend's grandmother's car and when she passed away she left it to him. He had driven it for about a year, but it just wasn't style. He wanted to make sure that who ever bought it would appreciate it and take good care of it. That was 20 years ago and I still own that car.
I've had two other cars that aren't really a part of this story, so I'm not going to talk about them. Both were cars that I drove on a temporary basis while work was being done on my baby.
With money that was left to me when my father passed away I decided to restore the old beast. Finding people who really know how to work on old cars proved more complicated then I expected. The first major change I made to the car was new rims, tires, and lowering the ride height. The car was dropped about 4 1/2 inches. New springs and shocks all around. This really helped with cornering, except that big bumps at high speeds would cause the car to bottom out. I might have gone just a little too low.
I must have gone to 15 different body shops before I found someone to paint the car. Many of the places I went to were asking a ridiculous amount of money to paint the car and they wouldn't guarantee that the rust spots wouldn't come back. They also estimated that it would take about a year to paint the car. Most body shops put restoration projects on the back burner and put a much higher priority on collision work.
In the end I settled on a young kid who was known locally for doing really cool custom paint jobs He was constantly repainting his own cars with all sorts of wild paint schemes. Seeing his work I knew he was the one to paint my car. Since he was running his own business and painting only one car at a time it seemed like he was going to be able to paint my car at a good price in a reasonable amount of time.
Next up was the engine. My brother has worked on pit crews for race teams for a number of years, so I went to him to see about having the motor rebuilt. That summer was a lot of fun. He and I worked on pulling the engine out together and while it was out being worked over we cleaned and prepped the engine bay. It was a great feeling to be able to do some of the work on my car myself.
Not long after the car was put back together I started having some issues with the paint. There were blisters developing all over the hood. The guy who painted the car had no problem redoing the paint, but I had started to have real concerns that there were a lot more problems ahead. Painting an old car is a skill and it takes years to get really good at it. I had unknowingly picked an amateur.
6000 miles after the engine had been rebuilt I had a major problem. Driving along the highway one night I came upon a section of road that had been dug out for repaving. There should have been road signs in place to warn of the dip in the road, but I got on the highway at the exit after they were posted. I hit the dip at about 70 mph and the car bottomed out so bad it bent the drive shaft and in turn that took out the transmission.
Having just spent $6000 on paint and $3500 on the motor I was completely out of cash to have the transmission rebuilt. So the car sat, waiting. There's few things worse then letting an old car sit for extended periods of time. The sun bakes the paint off when a car stays in one place for too long and parts tend to seize up.
It took almost a year until the car was running again and even then it was just barely running right. There were electrical issues, the carburetor had weird bugs, one of the shocks had blown out completely, and there was a crack in the radiator. Oh and the mufflers were totally shot. It sounded not unlike a tank.
I've been fortunate enough to have a mechanic, Stiles, as a roommate for the last 2 years. He's attacked one problem after another, prioritizing what needed to be done and addressing those concerns first.
As it stands now most of the mechanical issues have been addressed. The car runs incredibly well once it's warmed up. The carb still needs to be replaced at some point, but it only causes problems during cold starts in winter weather, so I can put up with it for now.
It's been ten years since the car was painted now and many of the rust spots have come back. The clear coat is missing in many areas and over all general wear and tear make the car's overall appearance less then desirable.
This past week the tide has finally turned though. This week Stiles has been addressing the rust spots and prepping the car for a new paint job. This is progress that makes me feel that things are no longer heading in the wrong direction . I've accepted the fact that this car will never be a 100 point show car, but it will live on, hopefully, as my daily driver for the next ten years.
There is no feeling like driving a true classic. Sure it can go relatively fast, but it's more about the times when simply driving down the main street of a town and you notice every head turns in your direction as you pass. The warm hum of a V8 flowing through glasspacks. Seeing people check it out whenever and where ever it's parked. People respect and love old cars. Even the police. I rarely am hassled or pulled over for anything. And believe me, when conditions allow, I don't drive this car slow and it hasn't had a valid inspection sticker on it in about 8 years.
It takes passion and commitment to maintain a car that is 40 years old. No matter what anyone else says or how they feel about it, to me, it's all worth it.
As seen in better days.
VIEW 25 of 39 COMMENTS
Glad you had a good time at the show...they put on a fucking awesome performance, and yes...they did play that song which was very cool. They ended our show with "sunday morning" which I literally had my fingers crossed for them to play...it's one of my favorites and it was so fun to dance and sing to. I'm glad the weather held up for you...it was drizzling mostly during the show but it was nice because it was kind of refreshing.
Tell Tony that I don't mind if the shoes are a bit banged up, I kinda like it better that way