Round Up Ready

I spent the weekend changing oil and cleaning up my hot rods in anticipation for the Round Up. In doing so, I drove my ’38 for the first time in months. I have just been so excited about the model-a coupe that I haven’t been all that inclined to get the old car out. I’m glad I did…

Washing one car after the other kind of depressed me. The model-a is pretty much perfect in every way, but the ’38 is beginning to show it’s age. The paint is still pretty nice, but the bumpers (that took two years to source and cost me a mint relative to my college kid pay check) and some of the bright work is starting to dull, the under carriage isn’t as clean as it once was, and the interior is starting to sag a bit.

Not only that, but focusing on my handiwork after staring at Tardel’s for so long is enough to get just about anyone down on themselves. The model-a is just put together with so much more smarts…

Still, I soldiered on with my car wash and when finished I took the ’38 out for a drive. It made everything so much better. I had forgotten just how quick the old bird is and just how much fun she is to drive. And while banging through the gears on the back roads of Drippin’, I remembered all the history I have with the car. Long drives from Norman to Midland with my dog sleeping on the package tray, picking my wife up for our first date, asking my wife to marry me, taking my little girl around the block for the first time… I’ve lived through a lot of great moments in that car.

Once I got back home, I was able to park her next to the model-a without a hint of shame. There is no doubt that the new coupe is as close to a dream car as I will ever own and that I will never have the talent to put something together that is just so damned perfect, but that doesn’t make my old coupe any less special. History and personal experience goes a long way man…

I’m a lucky guy. I never thought I would ever own two lifetime cars.