Random car show on a random road

I love the pop open front window! What a great, clean car! Year unkown, model unknown...too many details ;) 

The nice thing about ripping around the country side following no real rhyme of reason is that you just bump into things. If you had a schedule or a place to be...well you'd be somewhere else at some other time. ;)

 I dig cars, always have and hopefully always will. It came from a few places but the root of it is all my dad. Coolest guy ever doing the coolest thing ever... along with the coolest wife ever because she was cool with him doing it. Cool beans! My dad used to rip around on Red Deer Lake in his VW bug on ice tires...yes folks...Ice racing, old school style. No 4wheel drive, no fuel injection, not much in the way of safety equipment and nothing but smiles (when the car was working).

Straight as a laser beam!

We  (the three kids) got to bust out the spray paint cans and paint it up. I was a bit to young to appreciate the costs, the commitment and everything else that goes with racing. I wasn't too young though to appreciate awesome!

 My sister turned into the VW head and even though my shelves had held VW books for years and I had a serious love affair with them (I wanted a baja style street rod back in the day)...but then I fell in love with my 73 Austin Mini which on hindsight is interesting because the only guy on the track to put a stop to the VW my dad drove was the Mini his friend John Cattle drove.

 To me when I bought it there was no other choice. I had driven a number of bugs and buses and I just didn't like the way the accelerator pedal sat. When I got in the Mini though it was like a custom shoe. Sure my brother is 6'3 with reach like an orangutan and looked like his fingers were inches off the ground when he hung his arm down...it wasn't a luxury liner...it was an Austin Mini!   

I may not have bought a bug or bus back in the day...but a Thing would be awesome anyday of the week. Of course I may take a Mini Moke over the Thing...but maybe not!

 Anyway back to dad. He raced the Bug, a fibreglass moulded Porsche powered beast (class c racing is what I remember, who knows if the class even exists anymore).  That car was so awesome that it kept wanting to shed it's driverside entrance door everytime the car got wound up and hauling! Not so much success in that car but what made those races awesome outside of my dad driving was a guy named Norbert who would win with regularity and when he drove over the finish line he'd be standing in his car, upper body well above the windscreen (standing in a convertible).That's right, standing in a convertible at top speed across the finish line...The Man (and the 80's)!

My dad has also had a lot of cars in his lifetime, way more than me to date. From a bug eyed sprite, to an oval window VW (convertible? maybe I don't remember. I do remember from stories that it had a porsche clutch in it that assisted in it being a fun car to drive), a duster, a 59 thunderbird (took the fabulous NJL to graduation in this bad boy) , two Karmen Ghias, a Rover, 79 Dodge van (hence my love of the dodge and the Chariot being a natural choice), a station wagon (model unknown just that it was the last car I can remember my mom driving before she stopped), then switching to modern day he turned to the Audi's and had two 5000's, an S4 (oh my god that car was awesome) and now he rides in style in his 91 Dodge Ram pickup up (diesel with a fat exhaust that sounds wicked and helps it haul some serious ass) and a Lexus E300. (these links are not actually my dads cars)

Nothing sets off a classic right like the spoked rims

When I was younger I didn't race...just raced around and cause trouble in my rides and my friends rides. The mini, the dodge colt, the cavalier, the chevette...all scenes of some sort of mischievous behaviour at some point...but always longed to get on the track like my dad...one day I still will!

and a finely polished motor...inspiration for when I take the house off the van again!

Wooden wheel, wooden dash, sore cheeks from smiling imminent!

 And of course all of this car stuff is awesome because while in Toledo I got to work with a great guy Harry B on his super sexy british roadster the 1960 MG with a Twin Cam motor. He's done lot's more work to it since I left and hopefully he will have a link online soon that I can post of the finish product. Needless to say it is so eye catching, he's going to drive Michigan rally drivers crazy with desire for such a gem once he get's it ready.

 And so I headed on...head filled with memories and dreams, eyes filled with waxed paint and polished wheels...the Chariot running smoothly and the open road ahead...next please!