"Automotive taxidermy"...

...was the term I dropped into the conversation, and it brought on a stare, followed by a knowing grin and a nod of agreement.

I was having a discussion with a friend of mine, and the usual bench racing turned to the topic of restored cars... namely muscle cars and classics, and soon to one-off's like customs and hot rods. Initially, conversation revolved around escalating costs involved with merely buying a muscle car in today's market. It's a large amount of money to even touch anything worthwhile, and it prices the average Joe out of the game from square one. Add to this the recent trendiness that revolves around said collecting, and the people outside of the hobby begin to think that any car manufactured pre-1980 is a collector car, and worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. All of this notwithstanding, we soon hit on the real meat of the situation:

Cars locked in museums.

Granted, I can appreciate a one-off ride being preserved for future generations to enjoy and study... and who wouldn't want a work of art like Cadzilla to be around for a hundred or so years? Yet, to keep the cars locked in a climate-controlled room, pampered (sometimes quite literally) by teams of "preservation technicians", to me, anyway, deprives us of the best aspect of building a car. Actually driving it, and witnessing it in action!

Granted, you're not going to pull a world championship-winning Ferrari F-1 car out for a jaunt to the Circle K (that'd be like asking to fly the Spirit of St. Louis over a stadium, dragging a banner advertising a tanning salon, or a space shuttle around for kicks), and I can't imagine risking the original Hirohata Merc in LA traffic. What I'm getting at is that taking a Camaro or a Mustang, whatever, and storing it inside forever is a waste of the car. Why not just commission a great scale model, or a nice painting, or even a Poloroid?

Cars today are fast becoming trophies. Watch a certain auction, where it's no longer about bringing enthusiasts together to trade vintage rides and share some time... It's about "dig how much money I have!", and then living in fear of enjoying the purchase. I cannot fathom anyone getting so behind this attitude, and helping to hype it. It's a hobby meant to enjoy. The moment anything becomes centered on simply getting rich from it, well... at that point, I've lost any respect for the person(s) involved.

Take the car, and drive it. Not onto a trailer, and then off of it, 30 feet to a spot at a show.... Take it to the drags. Go for ice cream. Hit the park, whatever. If you don't, it's the equivalent of stuffing the deer you bagged, and throwing away the meat. Why not just mount the front clip over your fireplace, and tell stories of the "big block that got away"? In my opinion, there's really no place in the hobby for automotive taxidermy...

And with that, I'll hop off my soap box here...

I'm In a Book!

Go figure…

The Hot Rod Art Book: Masters of Chicken Scratch

As a wide-eyed kid, I’d flip open the latest car magazines and drool over the works of my hot rod design heroes… Guys like Charlie Smith, Thom Taylor and Steve Stanford were (and still are!) the guys I looked up to, hoping to one day at least meet these giants among men. They, and other artists like them were my inspiration to head out and do what I love. Never did I dream that I’d be able to make a career of it, but the world works in an odd way… That, along with long days and longer nights paid off in allowing me to do something I love for a living.

Along the way, I have been beyond fortunate to have made great friends, and meet guys I read about in books as a kid, and all have played a great role in making those Math class dreams a reality. One such friend has been the immensely talented Dwayne Vance, a guy who cranks out work that continually makes my head spin, and who has contributed hours of enlightening and entertaining conversation over the years. When Dwayne called and asked for some samples of my work for a book project, I was floored… When he mentioned the names to appear in it, I was speechless… He rounded up Randy Ricklefs, John Bell, James Owens, Eric Brockmeyer, Michael Miernik, Max Grundy, Jimmy Smith, Justin Chin, Thom Taylor, Larry Wood and Steve Stanford! A veritable Who’s Who in our industry… and he had asked me to be a part of this… Amazing. Just amazing! To walk amongst giants like this, well… I still have no idea what to say, except “thank you, man”. Absolutely priceless.

A peek inside!

…and speaking of priceless, the book will be packaged with an instructional CD by Dwayne to accompany the outstanding look into how he does what he does! Hopefully it finds a spot on bookshelves all over the world, and becomes just what it should be: A valuable resource for countless wide-eyed kids drawing hot rods on folders in classrooms everywhere, gearing up for the day when we “old timers” can read THEIR incredible books.

The book is available HERE… Thanks for checking it out.