Anyone who knows me, knows I'm a motorhead. I have been a gearbrain for over fifty years. One thing I've done in the past, is to restore a few, very near perfect, antique cars. I like Chrysler Products, because of my admiration for the founder of the company, Walter Percy Chrysler. If you find yourself among my closest friends, you'll already have received a really nice copy of his autobiography, "Life of an American Workman," First Edition, as a gift. I've done this for several years, and although the books are rare, I have supply enough to last me, the rest of my life.

My love of the antique restoration hobby takes me back to my youth, when, every time I wanted to make some change to one of my cars, my father said, "absolutely not!" If it wasn't something that the car came with, it wasn't necessary to add, subtract from, or modify in any manner, the original configuration of the car. I needn't tell you, my father was NOT a gearhead, by any stretch of the imagination. Now that I've made the attainment of the category, "middle-age," I think I'm going into my second childhood, wanting to build a modified, old, Chrysler-product, with a non-stock, fancy paint scheme, nice wheels, modern drive train, contemporary braking system, air-conditioning, and a really nice, comfortable set of bucket seats, and a Global Positioning System mapping guide, mounted in the dashboard. Above is an example of my dream-car. This one sold, last January, at auction in Scottsdale, AZ, for $510,000.00. Amazing!

I remember that in about 1974, I was heavily involved in restoring a 1948 Dodge Club Coupe, that had belonged to my grandfather and my aunt, when I read a front page headline printed by Old Cars Weekly, a newpaper for the hobby, that said, "Record Price Paid for Duesenberg Model J Roadster." In the body of the story, one learned that the very same auction company, http://www.barrett-jackson.com/ had sold the record-breaking Duesenberg for $500,000 bucks -- they kept saying that a half-million was a mark that may not be reached again for at least a decade. Little did they know that they were close to correct, but only because of the inflationary rate of interest going to double digits, during the Carter Administration. Once Ronald Reagan was elected, and the lower tax rates increased government revenues, the inflation vertually disappeared, and prices of these old treasures skyrocketed, to the point where a really nice hot-rod, (those terrible things eschewed by my father), will now bring the big bucks.

Keep in mind, that the above example is a very well done, professionally built, re-engineered masterpiece of Street Rodding, and drives better than the late model Dodge Viper, that gave up its engine for it, and probably worth every penny of the half-million it cost. That doesn't keep me from drooling over it. For now, I have only the dozen or so, photos; similar to the one above, and my dreams to keep my fantasy alive. It would make my day, just to be able to see it in person, and talk to the guys who built it, . . . or the guy who bought it.

God Bless,
Dan'L