My wife and I decided to pretty much completely remodel our house and as such I've not had any time to update the newly created blog.
So anyhow... here I sit, making excuses... but as they say better late than never.
Cool Compromise
Last week I talked about dream cars; what are they and how do we get them?
I stated that almost everyone can single out a specific make and model of vehicle that they would love to own and drive (or just look at) and how everyone's dream car is different.
Today the concept of dream car individuality was clearly demonstrated to me in a training seminar here at the office.
The speaker asked each of us to state our name, position in the company and our dream car to the group. Finally!... a training session I can sink my teeth into.
Nineteen people... nineteen different dream cars... varying from a brand new Toyota Tundra, to a 1968 International Scout, to the likes of Ferraris and Lamborghinis; everyone had a unique answer. So I see this as almost a tried and true experiment... science if you will. Well... maybe not quite science.
Anyhow, like everyone else I also have a dream car and you can read about it in last week's posting. My dream car combines the handling of a sports car with fire and personality typical of an American muscle car; the 1965 Shelby GT350R.
Shelby is a word which is synonymous with inaccessable. No one that I personally know has one or can actually afford one... unless you're counting the 70s and 80s attempts by Ford to reclaim their past glory. Call me a purist, but I just don't see the thrill of driving a mid 80s Mustang with Recaro bucket seats and Shelby graphics kit... but that's another topic entirely.
So like many people I can't afford my dream car. Well maybe my back-up plan would work, or so I thought. A 1967-69 Camaro decked out like the vintage racecars from Penske and Yenko excite me... but to build it properly it's way above my budget. Then the solution hit me in the face... almost literally.
About a year ago my father in law asked me if I'd be interested in owning a Corvair.
A Corvair?... are you serious? What the heck do I want with a Corvair. It's the only classic Chevrolet that sounds like a Massey Ferguson tractor at idle. They're void of horsepower, carry no value what-so-ever and are just generally quirky cars... Right?
We strolled out into the back 40 and uncovered my new "prize". Once the 30 year old automotive cocoon was removed, a Nassau Blue 1966 Corsa coupe emerged. There she sat in all of her... well... glory.
Time had not been exactly kind to the little coupe. There was a little bit of surface rust eating away at the paint job, a few minor dents and so on. Spiders had long found safe haven within the interior and don't even get me started about the amount of dust on the seats and dash. In fact the car looked down right pitiful and unloved resting atop the jack stands.
As I walked around the coupe, observing her graceful body lines and hourglass figure, a thought suddenly occurred to me. "Now why is it that nobody likes these vehicles?" I'm mean...yeah,... it doesn't have much power but it's faster than the VW Beetle and has way more horsepower than the BMW Isetta; both of which have a cult like following. The appearance of both the interior and exterior is quite European... certainly not like anything else that Detroit built.
Standing there in the warm afternoon sun, I began to see styling queues incorporated a year later onto what would become the iconic Camaro. This car is actually quite beautiful.
From that point forward I've had a love affair with the car that would forever be known by the majority of Americans as the vehicle that was Unsafe at Any Speed... my new realistic dream car.
Over the summer I'm going to detail (in a couple of postings) how I plan to turn a sedate mid 60s commuter into a vehicle that not only turns heads... but corners as well.
Ira
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