After reading the notes concerning the twits that just OWN their
expensive cars, I have to relate a story about my friends dad. Dave's
whole family was into restoring old cars (Dave had a 41 Packard, his
brother-in-law has a 50 Studebaker, etc...). When Dave's dad came
across an old 32 Auburn (sp?) and bought it to start a restoration.
Then came the first heart attack. The second one came about six
months later when he was in the garage working on the Auburn. He
couldn't do the restoration. The car went to a proffesional
restoration shop the specialized in Auburns, Cord, and Dusenburgs.
We, (Me, Dave, Brother-in-law, and Dad) would go to the shop every
weekend and do grunt labor (Dave once spent a day masking off the ring
on the hubcaps so that they could have a 1/8" strip of paint around
it, etc.). We did the time consumming simple stuff, the pro did the
skilled stuff... We got to know him quite well, and we all became
friends. It was fun hanging out at the shop, and where else can you
sit in a Dusenburg, or go for a spin in an '32 Auburn Boattail
Speedster (the real thing, not a poor copy?).
Any how, when the car was finished, it was trucked to Montery for a
show, and got 99 points (it was trucked from S. Calif. because
something was wrong with the back axle). The next car show was in
Long Beach, and the car was driven to the show (about 60 miles). It
won best in class (very expensive class), and one of the judges
commented that he was impressed that the car was driven to the show,
and when they arrived, Dave's Mom got out the picnic basket and
blanket, while the rest of the family started waxing off the bugs,
etc.
The point of all this is: Yes a lot of rich people buy restored cars
to show them off, and couldn't care less about them, but many of them
are actually into the car as much as the typical lbc owner on this
list.
lbc content: The owner of the shop really liked lbc's, and drove an
MGB. He just made a much better living off of restoring expensive
(the Dusenburg was waiting for the custom made, $2,000 timing chain to
come in) cars instead of lbc's. Oh, by the way, this all happened in
the late '70s...
Tim Mullen mullent@ymv5.ymp.gov Chantilly, VA
72 Elan Sprint "If you have to ask what it is,
you won't know how to drive it" - Old Lotus Slogan
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