MAGAZINE

EVOLUTION

Peter Vincent had photo'd the coupe early-on, so we asked him if we could use the image on the cover of "2000" and he consented. Then this came in the mail!

NEVER LEAVE EM ALONE. THEY MAY GO BAD. OR BADDER!

REAR AXLE MUST DOUBLE AS A COAT RACK IN TRUNK

There it is. A second life (or could it be third?) accomplished with cosmetics. Who knows what evolutionary hands were laid on the running gear. Hop Up Guys might build em and drive em and maintain them for a long, long time or.......some have itches that gotta be scratched.

Que bella vita.

RAN ACROSS A PAL

"Cool," says I. Wished I'd been in a hot rod. And, ya know, that cat was having some fun. Not just some 'paint and sounds' guy heading to work on 'show and tell' day. He was acting up a little......no real physical threat to society but....actin' up in a hot rod. Then it hit me. Axle had recently told me he'd got a yella coupe he'd been wanting , Axle is from that area, and that guy sure acted like a Shifter. I pull up along side, right after he makes a blast under an overpass where he makes noises only a hot rodder could love, and I lean out of my stocker - a greybeard - mind you, and start to say something to him. I know he's thinkin', "This farmer is gonna complain about my drivin'", and I say, "Axle?" and remind him who I am (imminently forgettable, I usually gotta re-intro myself). And we go on.

Later I e-mail him, tell him the coupe is bitchin and tell him how good it sounded under the overpass, and sheepishly apologize for my 'Clark Kent' rig, thinkin', "That's all we need.....a Yute catchin' me in my daily routine tryin' to make a living, no evidence of a hot rod, and ...........................he lets me off the hook! Tells me what he has for a stocker and we get a laugh at our own expense.

We may be hot rodders 24-7, but we may not always look like it. A guy's gotta do what a guy's gotta do.

PROJECTS THAT INSPIRE

The dash is going to be blessed with a big-car instrument panel that we have used before, but Ryan has one-upped the deal. Look at the glovie doors going in it. Dashboards are an opportunity to excel, and this one is excellent. All gennie parts, a perfect balance of scale and, well, that's the individualism that IS Hopping Up an old car. He's far enough along, we don't think any of you can steal his idea and beat him to it, but here it is:

LET'S SEE THIS ONE ALL DONE, BOB?

NUFF SAID

IT'S ABOUT ATTITUDE

TAILDRAGGERS

'36 PHAETON WITH THE GOODS