People have been interested in classic cars from day one, you can bet after the first cars turned ten years old that somebody noted to restore one of them, and it's the same way today, but now we have these import tuna cans that people seem to think are better then our American classic cars, the first gas powered car was built in the USA, and the best ones are built in the USA.
It's not as if I don't realize that other countries can build a good car to, it's just that I think that we do it the best of all, OK now that we have my monthly tangent out of the way, let's get back to the task at hand, and of course that task is to write this article for you, my loyal fans, and fellow classic car lovers.
The beauty of a classic, rather it's an American one or not just cant be overshadowed by the like of a fuel economy car turned hot rod, if you can call it that, the beauty of a classic car is the body lines, the crowns and contours of the sheet metal that the manufacture put on the car, in the old days it was as much about style, and standing out from the crowed as anything else.
The cars were plush right from the factory, and they came with custom paint, and high power engines, everything that a hot rodder could want, of course we modified them any way, to put our own flair and creativity in to the car, we wanted to show all of our friends just how good we could make our car look, and usually on a limited budget, we didn't have thousands of dollars to spend, so we made things, instead of buying them.
We built cars, and made friends, we didn't go around stealing cars and parts to get what we needed, we did it the old fashioned way, we earned it, our cars were not always the best looking, or the highest performance, well not all at once, we had to wait for the good things to happen, or make them happen by working two jobs.
Our muscle cars helped us make new friends, and new foes, we lived for a Saturday night on main street, and we lived for our cars, and to show them off to our friends, you know the old, check this new paint job out, look what I did to make more power, it was all about fun, it was all about us; our cars, and our friends.
We'd all hit the burger joint in our hot rods because we knew that our friends, and their cars and ladies would show up, there was nothing like a hot summer night with our friends, and our cars, and still to this day it's the same for me, well accept for the drive-ins have all gone away, obviously the car culture has changed, but if you look deep, it still remains the same.
I love the America, and all things American, the first time you think that drag racing is not an American invention, you'd better brush up on your history it all started in the late 1940's and early 1950's, and drag racing is where the whole idea for hot rods, and street rods came form, and still to this day these kids in their Honda's run the 1/4 mile to prove that their cars are the best.
This is only one way that things are still the same, a lot has changed, but a lot is still the same, we love to modify, customize, and restore cars, it all goes to show, that no matter how much things change, they will always stay the same, but my whole point here is people need to pay attention to the classic American cars, before we wake up one day, and the only place that we can see one is in a show, or museum, we don't need this to happen.
People need to restore these cars, or sell them to a person who love them enough to do it for them, classic car restoration is a huge ordeal, and a big job, but if it's done right it can also be a lot of fun, rather you do it with your family and make a big family fun time out of it, or if you take it to a shop, classic cars are meant to be one thing, and that is fun, if it's not fun for you, then do yourself a favor and sell it.
A classic car restoration doesn't mean that the car has to be all stock, I say have fun with your car, if you have an old camaro, put a new LS7 or LS9 in it, put a new 572 big block in it, put a sub frame with new corvette suspension and braking systems in the car, modify the rear suspension to take on new corvette suspension, make it your car, have fun, and enjoy the process of building it.
Nobody should tell you what to do with your car, or how to do it, it's your car, do it the way that you think that it should be, sure take advise for people who have done the same kind of work in the past, feed off of their knowledge, and use it to your best advantage, but make it your car, you'll be much happier in the end.
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