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For the love of a Street Rod. reflections by Ron Goben
March 31, 2008 By Tammy Pritchett
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It was a long stretch of cold damp weather in mid winter when the fever hit me hard. No I didn’t get sick, I mean the bug to drive my hot rod some where just for the h*# of it !! The sky had cleared and the sun was shining but it was colder than a witches ti…ah it was cold. I called to the wife and asked her if she wanted to go for a bite to eat. “ Sure!” came the immediate reply. So as she readied herself to seen in public I went to the shop to get the coupe out. Boy did it sound good when it fired! Especially inside the building. Those large tailpipes with megaphones on the end blared out a tune that I had been missing. Man I needed that sound. I pulled it up to the house and went in to freshen up a tad as well. When she finally came out of our room looking all neat and pretty she asked,” are you going or not?” Well duh, who’s waiting on whom here?? Anyway, she headed for her keys to hand to me when I said;” on no. today we’re taking the hot rod!” Whatever was her response. We got ourselves comfortable and buckled in and once again fired up the rod. I reached over and off the radio and headed for somewhere as yet undetermined. As we drove down the lane away from our house she casually asked why the coupe, did you miss it? Of course I detected a bit of sarcasm in her voice. Some folks just don’t understand the relationship between a man and his ride. I quickly replied that it was a pretty day and the car needed driving. But inside I began to contemplate her question. Just what was there about driving my old car that made me want to drive it? The answers seemed so obvious and so many yet hard to pin down. Naturally there is the pleasure of doing something different, a change that seems to add a spirit of adventurism to the trip albeit a short journey. There is a pride that comes with the ownership and usage of a unique vehicle that must be considered. The sense of accomplishment that one gets when enjoying the fruits of ones own labor is also a valid point. Whether or not you built the thing from the ground up or just ‘personalized’ the car to your taste is of little concern, when it’s yours its cool. Of course being among the elite group to be the first to recycle before it was popular to do so (since we do re-use a lot of stuff in building a car) has its own rewards. After months of searching the bone yards and swap meets for just the ‘right’ piece or part and then figuring out how adapt that part for use in our plan brings a feeling of self value. As we cut, grind and reshape what is into what we know it can be we put a lot of ourselves into every item of that auto. Not everybody can assemble a safe, dependable and attractive individualized mode of transportation from the collection of parts we use to form our idea of the perfect car. Now before I get too swell headed here let me insert that I have learned my limitations. When I need electrical work on the house I call an electrician. Like wise a plumber and so on. They in turn call me for their hot rod needs. That too adds to the reason for enjoying my car. There are those that own a special interest vehicle just for the ‘hey look at me ‘effect. Or perhaps it’s the ‘see how much money I can spend’ statement they are making. But those people really miss the fun in my mind. They are too busy protecting their investment to have any real fun with it. Just my opinion. I thoroughly enjoy taking yesterdays cars and shaping them into something that my family and I can enjoy riding in and driving. I crave the challenge of adapting this or that into a unit that was never designed to contain the part in the first place. I like a hands on job that makes me think and figure out the whys and how’s. Lighting the torch or using the metal brake to create a new part and putting it to use gets my blood to flowing. So driving what I built makes me feel good. After several miles of careful soul searching for the real answer as to why the coupe I had discovered many answers to her inquiry. Each and every one a valid and meaningful reply. Each in its own way a satisfying excuse to want to be a bit different in the vehicle I chose to drive that day. As we finally parked at the restaurant and walked toward the door I felt pretty good. There was a bounce in my step. My knees didn’t hurt. My rod run cap covered my not so covered head and the event shirt I was wearing hadn’t been washed so many times that it didn’t fit loosely. AS I glanced back at my coupe the answer to my wife’s question became very plain. While all the reasons I had rationalized with myself during our brief journey were indeed true, none were the obsolete total truth. You see my hair (what there is of it) doesn’t seem quite so gray. My middle age spread doesn’t seem to require as much yardage to cover. And my step contains more energy and less pain than before. In short I feel young again !!!!!!! Vain as it may sound the reason I drive my old car is because I want to!!! I feel as though life is good when my honey is by my side and we are cruising the USA. See You On The Street Ron |
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