Race cars, Movie Stars and Legends…

I consider myself lucky growing up in the great car era of the 50’s-60’s-70’s. I worked on some amazing cars in that era. Drag cars, sports cars, Indy cars and met some interesting people. Even some movie stars: Paul Newman, Steve McQueen and a few others. Recently met movie star and producer, Patrick Curtis, a great guy.

I have competited with and met with some great racing legends, such as: Don Garlits, Tony Ivo, Shirley “ChaCha” Muldowney, Jim Liberman, Ronny Sox and Martin, Tasca Ford, Frank Federici, Jim King, Mario Andretti, Sir Jacky Stewart and countless others. Back in the ‘60’s’ we never took anything serious except for race day.

Every so often someone from way back then will call or send me an email we’ll talk or correspond and share stories about the “Good Ole Days.” We reminisce about the fun we had back then building and racing cars. 

Mr. Chevrolet contestants, left to right, standing: 

Dick Harrell, Kelly Chadwich, Bobby Wood, Bruce Larson, & Malcolm Durham.

Kneeling: 

Jim Maybeck, Frank Federici, Mike Burkhart, & Jim Liberman. 

Not pictured is Mel Perry, driver of Norwood Chevy.

A great friend recently sent me a photo of some racing legends we knew back then. Great guys!

Keep them Rolling!

Bill

DRAMA! DRAMA! DRAMA!

Well, the drama keeps coming on TV. It seems every few weeks there is a new car building show. They air a new group of car builders that build more DRAMA than cars!

They manage to set themselves on fire, break stuff, and forget to do something important to the build just to add to the drama.

Is this good for the Industry? Maybe yes and maybe no. It’s like pro-wrestling or as they call it “Sports Entertainment”. So is this now called “Car Entertainment”?

All these car building shows have help promote the Industry on one hand and on the other have hurt it.

They find some wreck for $1,000 – spends $7,000 to fix it up and sell it for $15,000. And they do this in 8 days!

But in reality any one who has built a car, knows this is not a realistic formula!

This is nothing more than “Car Entertainment”!

But it IS FUN to watch. The only two shows’ I enjoy are 'Overhaulin' and 'Wheeler Dealers'. Chip Foose is the BEST! And those two guys in England have a great show. The rest just fall into the “Car Entertainment” slot. They try to outdo one another in the DRAMA department.

In my opinion, the car building Industry has benefitted from these shows AND these shows have also hurt the Industry with false hope and unrealistic expectations, not to mention unrealistic time frames.

It’s a 50/50 deal. If you enjoy watching the DRAMA keep watching, if you want a car built do some real extensive car builders search online and talk to some real car builders, not the “DRAMA kings”.

Hey, that’s a great name for a car building TV show!

Keep Them Rolling!

Bill