MAGAZINE

LAST WILL

Plated parts with pits all green,
The fasteners rusted through,
Their character survived the years,
And that's the big to do'.

Every rodder has a dream
That one day he'll fulfill
When some old coot will die
And leave a roadster in his will.

The lucky guy is US, of course,
A most deserving soul,
Who'll love the car and wax it up
And make its' drivetrain whole.

No guilt attached, the will was read,
And that you can't deny:
In spite of sons, and sons-in-law,
We're just a bitchin guy.

How you gonna fault a dude
Who made a good impression?
Who knew the kind of trans they ran
And Winfield's red' compression?

"This was what he wanted,"
Would say the grieving wife
"Go take the age-old roadster
And give it one more life."

But you all know, I needn't say,
It'd never frickin' happen.
Cuz if he died, all OUR good friends
Would have their jaws a-flappin'.....

"That digger' shouldn't get the car,
Cuz he's got more than me,
And I know of a richer cat
(Who'll gladly pay MY fee)"

So we'd be left with our own thoughts
To while away the time
And lookin' at OUR roadster,
"I think it's past IT'S prime"

It leaks a little fluid
From places front and back
With windshield pits and broken parts
Revealed up on the rack.

It burns some oil and makes a noise
When winding up in first
And according to the gas bill
It's developed quite a thirst.

The paint is shrunk and pitted
from gravel, rocks and bugs
The leather's cracked and faded
And there's heel-holes in the rug.

Maybe I've already got it-
The old rod of my dreams?
In my own garage for all these years
At least that's how it seems!

We've been so close I'd never seen
The fading setting in.
But we have aged together,
Bad paint, it's wrinkled' skin.

So I don't need the other car
To satisfy my need
Mine will go just as far
To sate patina greed'

And then it will be MY turn
To make the final plan;
Determine who deserves it;
Select the lucky man.

So if my ol' heart siezes
And someday it just might;
I've told my wife to crush the car
And save you guys the fight!

Mort 2000

HOP UP 2000

HOP UP 2000 LOOKS LIKE THIS

The Order Form (click here).

ANTIQUE NATIONALS

Don Small ran 70 MPH with his Roof T Bobtail, after running the oval in Visalia the week before and running the hillclimb in Auburn a couple of weeks before that! That's runnin' yer IRON, Boys; FLOGGIN' IT!.

Hop Up Pit Crew member Don Dillard made an amusing observation after the races. You can find it on his personal webpage at : http://www.geocities.com/MotorCity/Show/4034/

FTB on July 29

EARLY TIMES 35TH ANNIVERSARY PARTY

SQUEEZED 34 IS FROM GARAGE OF EX-ET JACK KEEFE; FOR 20 YEARS BEFORE WAS FROM EX -ET BOB DARRAH; BEFORE THAT FROM EX-ET DANNY (LEG SHOW) EICHSTEDT.

A couple of them had been LA Roadster guys before, so knew how it went and - as we all remember - probably because of proximity to the publishing world - ET cars, events and members were all over the magazines. One of the guys became Jake. Well, he was already Jake, but you know what we mean. Graves, Hotwheels Larry Wood, Woods, and a dozen other names you'd recognize from R&C articles of the 60's and 70's.

The club has always been a good one with a high standard for club cars when that was so important, and, like any live organism, changes have occurred. But fellers, you can't have any more fun than at an ET meeting: foolishness, laughter, ridicule, tall tales, hot rods..... and even a little beer happens, just like before. Yeah, they still drive hot rods to the club meeting, and go for a cruise' to dinner afterwards. After 35 years there is still one continuing member, there are more than several retreads, a couple of them ran with the ET group in the 60's but didn't join formally until the 90's, and new ones come in when the roster is depleted by someone moving or...............something more permanent.

COCO AND LYNN ARRIVE IN DOG-DISHED DELIVERY. TYPICAL OF BYRD'S FLEET. ...........RIGHTEOUS.

The party took place at Elwoods shop. Both sides of the street were lined with iron of current and present members and a few select pals including "Got Gas" Stewart from the LA Roadsters; everybody got reacquainted with those they may not have seen since the 25th and...the usual: foolishness, laughter, ridicule, tall tales,,,,hot rods.....beer. Que bella vita.

No gold-chainers here, Boys.

STREET LINED BOTH SIDES WITH GOOD RIDES

"YOU HAVE JUST BEEN ASSISTED BY A MEMBER OF THE....."

They were intended to demonstrate that the hooligans in their rolled up jeans and rolled up T-Shirt sleeves and balled-up old cars were, in fact, civilized, crafty, and courteous, along with....COOL.

Ed in Colorado, who hasn't been around the current scene much but drove his apparently cool 38 Ford coupe tail-dragger to Paso Robles, was on his way home when the flathead started to percolate. He and his Rib were hangin' out on the side of the road, felling kind pitiful, and a gangster-whited, slammed Riv pulled up, the driver got out and this greased, shaded, inked specimen strolls over and inquires what the problem is. It takes a minute before Ed knows that Ryan Cochran, who publishes The Jalopy Journal is, in fact, there to be of assistance.

Some three hours later, Ryan's Lady has made nice with Ed's, Ryan has BAND-AIDED A BAD HEAD GASKET with a tube of gasket fix and a Sears tool kit, Ed heads toward Colorado - not TOWARD Colorado, but all the way home TO Colorado, and has intro'd Ed to Jalopy Journal AND Hop Up and.............OK

This guy has a great hard edge and talks tough and if he chooses can cuss like he's been where WE been, and.....is in graduate school, has plenty of hands-on experience on the end of hand tools, and is something like 24. And donated all this time to the quintessential unknown cat on the side of the road. Now THAT is cool.

Later on, the Riv had desert cooling problems that were NOT to be fixed on the road, and it went home on the hook. To Oklahoma. Those two deserved better, but, until they're better paid, our stingy-brim is off to them.

ART DEPARTMENT

NO BAD ANGLES