Lost Art

This one is decidedly off topic. Or is it? Follow along… See, I have a new neighbor at work. He’s 24 years old and is already a self made millionaire. He’s also a car guy. In fact, he has a collection of Vipers and vintage Mustangs – everything from the last Viper ACR-X to a vintage GT350. He doesn’t understand traditional hot rodding at all.

Yesterday, I was giving him a tour of my humble little office and showing him the Tardel/Cochran coupe as well as the ’39 sedan. As hard as he tried, he couldn’t make the distinction between a traditional hot rod and a restored early Ford.

“So, this car is hot rodded? But it’s slow, right? And has nothing but early Ford parts on it, right? How is that a hot rod? How is that fun?”

It would be easy for me to discount him as ignorant, but that’s just not the case. Traditional hot rodding isn’t something that appeals to the guy. For whatever reasons, it’s just not his thing. There’s nothing wrong with that.

But what I can’t stop thinking about is how he couldn’t relate at all to my passion. It’s not that he didn’t like the cars, it’s that he didn’t understand them. He couldn’t comprehend what has become my life.

And then, I ran into this movie on one of my favorite blogs (A Time To Get). Somehow, it all made sense after watching it. Take the time and do the same… It really is wonderful.

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