Re: Enough

[farna@xxxxxxx]

On November 1, 2005 Mahoney, John wrote:

> Ghost flames --- on a '34 Pierce-Arrow!  That's what I'd like to see...

That would be nice... and also a shame. I saw a 1930s Packard at a street rod show. All done VERY nice as a rod, modern IFS, wheels and tires, interior all in new crushed velour... all tastefully done to complement the car. But it's a full fledged classic!! I mentioned (aloud) that it was a very nice car, but I hated to see a highly collectible item done as a street rod. The owner heard and actually replied that he felt the same way too, but it was little more than a very rusty shell when he found it. He had researched parts and such for a possible restore at first, but found he'd have three times the money in it and much more than it's final worth in the end (we've all been there!) -- to much more for it to be a real consideration. So he rodded it and has a bit less than what it would be worth as a restored car in it. 

But I've seen a gruesome trend in the rodding world. Some of the "checkbook rodders" now buy older restorations and/or really well preserved drivers that have been saved for posterity and cut them up. About six months ago one of the street/hot rod mags printed a story on a guy who bought a 39 or so V-12 Lincoln Zephyr that was an older resto. It needed a little detail touch-up to be a show car again. It was chopped, modern warmed over EFI V-8 and trans installed, IFS, four bar rear, full custom interior and paint. The buyer didn't tell the seller what he intended, but took it to show the guy when done. Buyer said the guy came out and looked, then turned around and went back in his house without saying a word. Buyer didn't understand.

I have no problem rodding a basket case of a collectible car, but taking a nice collector car and cutting it up is all but a crime IMHO. I knew what I wanted to do to a 63-64 Classic wagon. I went out of my way to find one that needed everything but still had a good solid body. I found several that would have needed less body work but were good running/looking cars as they sat for $1500-$2000. It would have been easy to yank an aged but running 287 or 196 out and put my recently rebuilt 4.6L and drivetrain in, even easier since I could have run the V-8 three speed. Wouldn't have had to worry with the interior, and in most cases paint. Would have saved a good bit of money and time -- changed the interior as the original wore out instead of doing it all at once. But I couldn't bring myself to mess up an original or semi-restored car, even though a Rambler wagon is hardly a desired collectible in the general collector car world -- barely in the AMC collectible circle! I can't i!
 magine taking a beautiful Lincoln Zephyr and cutting it up! More money than sense. I understand wanting to start with a solid body instead of a rust bucket, but I hope this trend isn't a growing one. Of course most rodders don't have $10K+ for a "project car" (Gold Book lists a Zephyr at $10K in "fair" condition to $30K+ in "show" condition). 

> Or was America smarter when it demanded some personal responsibility?

Everyone wants to point fingers nowadays... I jumped on my USAF students every time they did that! I'd find something wrong, and ask "what happened", and get finger pointing! I'd get on them and say "I didn't ask WHO, I asked WHAT, and now I want to know how YOU'RE going to fix the problem! We'll worry about how to keep the mistake from happening again LATER, and discuss it with an individual if necessary." Or something like that. I'd also point out that whoever watched the person make the mistake without at least pointing it out shared some of the responsibility. If they pointed it out and the person blew them off, well, that's different unless it's dangerous or going to cause problems for someone/everyone else later. Then find me or whoever the boss is and point it out. You're not in high school anymore!! 



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