Talked about maintenance up there but they (those cool-ass hot rod cars you drive) are likely to break for no damn reason, and at the absolute wrong time. On the big run. Yeah. Or on a turnaround with a couple pals. Or right when you gotta be there early to be part of something special. They can break. Fail. Take a poop, go on the stretcher, wheeze out, croak; die.
And that can get you down. Down to heartache...or up to fury.
Sometimes we'll rationalize that it's the price you pay to be cool. Or we wanted it too bad. Whatever, it is, there can be pain in it and ya know what? You can walk away. It may be an hour or three months, but you can walk away.
Unlike having a boat (in the water, not on a trailer) where you gotta be a sailor 24/7. Oh, yeah, mon frere, you are never not a sailer.
They sink. They fill the bilge with leaked fuel. The covers blow off in the Santa Ana winds. They rust and break and wood dry rots and crumbles, and they continually bang against their parking spot the whole time you are gone doing.....anything else. Always with some costly effect.
If you get full of your hot rod.....sick of it....sure that it's trying to break your spirit....certain that it can think...and do so with spite and vengeance.... you can put that Snapon combination wrench right there on top of that front tire...right there.....spit on the garage floor...wash your hands......pee.....(in that order)......and go in and turn on the tube.
Ahhhhhh. The 'arc welder' in the living room. That mesmerizing flicker that's laid out strategically in front of that comfortable recliner...little table next to it to put your beverage on (you did grab a beer on the way in and forcefully open the top with a little splash to demonstrate your disgust, no?)......artfully designed to provide the isolation, solace and no-decision-making protection that you need from time to time....and there you are.
Flip around. Nothing very familiar.
Who are Will and Grace? And why is being a fag such a positive thing?
Oh yeah. We'll go to History Channel and see a Biography.
Johnny Vercace.
Flick.
Magazine. One of the newish ones. Cool. Here's '300 interior treatments' and 289 of them have the car manufacturers names (or flames) embossed in flat panels all over the place.
I thought we DEbadged?
Jeez.
Magazine down.
Lean back. Mellow thoughts. Pastures. That neat vista we saw the other day.....we were moving.....out in the country....fine weather......what's that in the foreground?
Oh. That's the radiator cap of a '32 Ford, chasing the white line on a decreasing radius turn....... and the audio is on....tires complaining a little. Motor revs up there, on compression...... until the apex ..........oh shit! We're thinkin' about hot rods again!!!!
Why are we doin' that already? It's only been 8 minutes!
What can we do? We were gonna take about 3 months off? Broaden ourselves. Go to theater or some such culturally-expanding experience.........a not-automotive museum.....an outdoor classical concert..................
'Guess that thing's not gonna fix itself.....wonder if that wrench is where I left it?
It will be, and then you'll patch it together and it'll run great and it'll look great (that wasn't EVEN the problem) and you'll go for a test drive and .........all will be at peace on the Westen Front............you will feel the epiphany.........the comfort that fixing something gives you...the 'it's all worthwhile' deal........and then the whole will come together and it will be the ride to glory...and you'll realize that the best ride of all is when no one is watching and you are doing it for you.....and your iron.
The glory will work its' way in later...... if it isn't sought.
Hop Up Honor; Stay Honor