MAGAZINE

It's just that every time you get ready to disable the thing, some opportunity to use it looms up on your agenda, and you gotta go. Driving them is sure more fun that cleaning them. Even repairing them doesn't stand up to the drive. So we get these things that were born carshow-ready, mung them up, and after a while....patina. Almost by accident. That's a noble result, but you still have to crawl under, clean, fix, tweak, adjust, improve and.........admire. Admire? Yeah. Nobody else gets to see what you wrought underneath your car while you were building it. It was, and is, for your own consumption. If you went way out of your way to do it real nice, and didn't really expect the whole world to know about it, you probably did it for yourself. And kinda forgot about it.

We hadn't remembered how slick this one was on the bottom, and were further gratified when we discovered that the last season hadn't been too unkind to it. 'Made us want to call Carambia and Beard and remind them what a nice job they'd done.

So the project gets popped-outta-gear because you find yourself with your hands folded behind your head on the creeper just diggin' the freakin' thing. There is no way to know how long we were under there accomplishing nothing........may have dozed off..........did a lot of talking to 'self'........."I forgot he did that"..............."might have to grind that thing down with the die-grinder - it's hit the 'shaft before"...................."my God! Look at the dent in the oil pan! He! He! That musta been the rock that 'jumped' out from under the motor home we were about to pass that day...."..........."There's still some brake fluid coming out of that rear fitting. Ken Gross noticed that in 1994...hmmmmm"...." The shift linkage is all perfect...I guess we got something right for once..."........"One e-brake cable sprung loose"..."'Gotta talk to Rod about that little exhaust leak puffin' outa that flange.."

What happens is, you see that it's all pretty righteous, the car has been up and not useable for two weeks and ...and....and.....Yup. We got Roadster fever... It doesn't feel any different than it did when we were kids and just wanted a roadster. It's like you never had one. You want to get in it, Lock n' Load, lite it off, grab a gear, and go look for the twisties.

It's been down (up?) long enough that you miss it like you never even had it.

Dozing off at night, envisioning going up that pine-lined hill with the exhaust drone rebounding back at you, interrupted by the drop in revs during that perfect shift........ ........That never happened. But you imagine it, just like a kid waiting to turn sixteen who's never even done any of it before. He's sure he knows how it will feel, he goes through all the motions. Imagination. Dreaming it into reality...someday.

So it is that when you have become part of this rolling sculpture - a part as vital as the front axle or steering shaft, you have peace because it is always there, available to you to jump in and put your mind in the right place, any time it is called on. Any time but right now, because you disabled it for maintenance. (You gotta keep a backup car in the starting-blocks, Dummy. Ed.)

You're no good without it. It's no good without you.

How do we solve the problem? Shorten the projected time for the project. Call the tin-bender. Warn the painter that you'll be beggin' your way in there next week. Polish those parts tonite instead of waiting 'til Saturday. Check those tire specifications, get them in here and mounted before the thing is running again. Do it today. It doesn't matter if you have a real job. Do both.

Ya see, a boy probably should not be without his roadster.