Not meaning to sound whiney, but is it summer yet? I'm doing my best to be patient and wait to hear more from Captain Kirk and the Tale of two Dusters.
I was very proud of myself today. A very good friend's son is 19 years old and is now stationed in San Diego where I retired. His name is Josh and he has been telling me that he was out looking for an older style car. This is the same young man that I recall talking to about his desire to join the U.S. Navy back when he was in high school. I told him what to expect, as I had almost 20 years in at the time and was ready to retire. Since then he graduated high school, joined the Navy and now he wants a classic car like mine. That made me feel great!
A couple weeks ago, he wanted to treat his girlfriend to a weekend out on the town, but he wasn't even able to rent a car since he's only 19. Base regulations required that he be at least 21 to avoid the $500 deposit. I was willing to let him borrow my Dodge Dart, but the brakes were being worked on, so he ended up lucking out and I let him borrow my '72 Dodge Challenger for the weekend. He told me about all the extra attention he received every time he went through the gate and a different guard was on duty. They'd ask him "Nice car, who let you borrow it?" Since then, his passion to get an older muscle car has been simmering. When we're really young boys we call it puppy love when it's a dog we're yearning after and a crush if it's on a girl. What do you call it when it's the burning desire for the rumble of an engine the sensuous feel of the wheel against our hands and the wind rushing past through an open window. The freedom that the road is opening before us and the destination isn't determined. I vaguely recall hearing it being called wanderlust.
I'm proud that because of the influence of this forum and the story of Captain Kirk's project, that I helped to influence my friend's son into considering his first muscle car project.
From the first time I arrived at my friend Dan's house a year or so ago, I checked out the old Duster sitting in the driveway. It was rather unsightly. Cobwebs grounding it and faded pink paint between the patches of primer gray. The front tires bowed in like broken knees and a transmission poking out from under the front of the hood. It still had the lines of a 1973 Duster, but not much else. The lower panels (all of them) are mostly rotted away and the frames around the windows in places are rotted all the way through. But there is still potential there. I've heard of worse being reincarnated. Anyhow, I digress. I saw, but didn't even ask much about the car back then. Then the last time I visited Dan, I finally asked him about the duster slowly rotting in the sunshine. He explained that it belonged to a friend of his and she was just leaving it there until she managed to get the time to fix it up. Fast forward to last week. Now the car has to go. The house it's being parked at is being sold, so opportunity knocked. I asked for the woman's phone number and she seemed nice enough. She told me her dream of fixing it up and I hated to do it, but I had to be the one to bring reality into the equation. The Duster is beyond normal, oh just needs one or two things fixed in it and it's good to go. The car hasn't moved in two years and hasn't been run in the same time period. Other than draining the gas tank, no storage prep at all. Granted, it's southern California, but still, there is a lot of rust from the 5 years the car spent in Washington State.
So today I bring Josh to see this car. In its current state, It's rather unsightly, uncared for and appears even unwanted. But when I parked my 1968 Dodge Dart next to it, you could see that it was as Josh put it, "It's meatier than the dart." I could see the twinkle in his eye. He was already hooked. Yes, the lines and the stance even on deflated tires shows that the potential is there. I found out today that I was wrong about the color too. What looked to be pink was actually sun faded red. Demon red as Dan put it. I could see the color in the door jams.
Josh was excited the whole way back to the ship, (he's about to leave on his first deployment to the Gulf) he was bubbling with excitement. He had taken some pictures of the Duster with his cell phone and was talking with his friends about what it's going to look like when he's done with it.
I find it hard to throttle him back. I don't want to rain on his parade. I'm thinking I should let him read about Captain Kirk's adventures, and maybe he'll have a better realization of what he's about to undertake.
Anyone have any thoughts on how to temper his enthusiasm without squelching that passion?
Thanks in advance,
Kori
I was very proud of myself today. A very good friend's son is 19 years old and is now stationed in San Diego where I retired. His name is Josh and he has been telling me that he was out looking for an older style car. This is the same young man that I recall talking to about his desire to join the U.S. Navy back when he was in high school. I told him what to expect, as I had almost 20 years in at the time and was ready to retire. Since then he graduated high school, joined the Navy and now he wants a classic car like mine. That made me feel great!
A couple weeks ago, he wanted to treat his girlfriend to a weekend out on the town, but he wasn't even able to rent a car since he's only 19. Base regulations required that he be at least 21 to avoid the $500 deposit. I was willing to let him borrow my Dodge Dart, but the brakes were being worked on, so he ended up lucking out and I let him borrow my '72 Dodge Challenger for the weekend. He told me about all the extra attention he received every time he went through the gate and a different guard was on duty. They'd ask him "Nice car, who let you borrow it?" Since then, his passion to get an older muscle car has been simmering. When we're really young boys we call it puppy love when it's a dog we're yearning after and a crush if it's on a girl. What do you call it when it's the burning desire for the rumble of an engine the sensuous feel of the wheel against our hands and the wind rushing past through an open window. The freedom that the road is opening before us and the destination isn't determined. I vaguely recall hearing it being called wanderlust.
I'm proud that because of the influence of this forum and the story of Captain Kirk's project, that I helped to influence my friend's son into considering his first muscle car project.
From the first time I arrived at my friend Dan's house a year or so ago, I checked out the old Duster sitting in the driveway. It was rather unsightly. Cobwebs grounding it and faded pink paint between the patches of primer gray. The front tires bowed in like broken knees and a transmission poking out from under the front of the hood. It still had the lines of a 1973 Duster, but not much else. The lower panels (all of them) are mostly rotted away and the frames around the windows in places are rotted all the way through. But there is still potential there. I've heard of worse being reincarnated. Anyhow, I digress. I saw, but didn't even ask much about the car back then. Then the last time I visited Dan, I finally asked him about the duster slowly rotting in the sunshine. He explained that it belonged to a friend of his and she was just leaving it there until she managed to get the time to fix it up. Fast forward to last week. Now the car has to go. The house it's being parked at is being sold, so opportunity knocked. I asked for the woman's phone number and she seemed nice enough. She told me her dream of fixing it up and I hated to do it, but I had to be the one to bring reality into the equation. The Duster is beyond normal, oh just needs one or two things fixed in it and it's good to go. The car hasn't moved in two years and hasn't been run in the same time period. Other than draining the gas tank, no storage prep at all. Granted, it's southern California, but still, there is a lot of rust from the 5 years the car spent in Washington State.
So today I bring Josh to see this car. In its current state, It's rather unsightly, uncared for and appears even unwanted. But when I parked my 1968 Dodge Dart next to it, you could see that it was as Josh put it, "It's meatier than the dart." I could see the twinkle in his eye. He was already hooked. Yes, the lines and the stance even on deflated tires shows that the potential is there. I found out today that I was wrong about the color too. What looked to be pink was actually sun faded red. Demon red as Dan put it. I could see the color in the door jams.
Josh was excited the whole way back to the ship, (he's about to leave on his first deployment to the Gulf) he was bubbling with excitement. He had taken some pictures of the Duster with his cell phone and was talking with his friends about what it's going to look like when he's done with it.
I find it hard to throttle him back. I don't want to rain on his parade. I'm thinking I should let him read about Captain Kirk's adventures, and maybe he'll have a better realization of what he's about to undertake.
Anyone have any thoughts on how to temper his enthusiasm without squelching that passion?
Thanks in advance,
Kori
