Great, but not really

I LOVE this commercial. I mean really; what red blooded, slightly sentimental, American, gear head doesn't get a little misty eyed when watching this?



 Or this?



I do own a Chevy product and I will admit that it has wiggled its way into a small corner of my inky black--predominately VW occupied-- heart. (as a side note, said Chevy gets summarily kicked out of that corner every time I visit the gas station, which is often). Over the years Chevrolet has made itself a great brand and has had a large number of great designs, but Chevy's story isn't really a great one. A great story would be that of its rival, Ford.

The story of one man building an empire on his ingenuity and vision, and then decades later his decedents investing millions of dollars for the sole purpose of developing a racing program to settle a grudge match with an icon like Enzo Ferrari is only part of it. Such a tail of dreams, ego, and triumph doesn't always make for great brand building or bean counting (except for the time when Ford was the only domestic automaker that didn't take a government bailout), but a great story like that does inspire. In all honesty it's probably a more inherently American story then Chevy could ever muster,.... but the commercials are great all the same.

The Roaming Wagon

Any guesses where (or what) this is?

The winner of this contest is only entitled to the singular joy of making me mildly impressed. 
Best of luck! 

Verterans Day in Santa Monica

Not only was I not expecting to see this on the beach, but the homeless guy who insisted on arguing with the memorial's organizers over the actual number of dead veterans was too good not to watch. 

(actually, I found the number of homeless people sleeping on the beach shocking)

A Better Car Tale

In my continuing quest to be associated with all things having to do with car collecting I hauled a Jaguar XK120M up to a specialist in Blackfoot, Idaho of all places.

This place is actually located 15 miles or more outside of Blackfoot. It sits out in the middle of a field and as near as I can tell it used to be one of those ill conceived, self built hillbilly mansions. The interior is now gutted and contains all the trappings of proper garage. I wish I would have gotten a picture of it, but outside there were, literally, 50 cats or more. You may, in fact, have called it a heard. The man and his crew are geniuses though  and I can't wait to see what they do with it.

On a side note, the iPhone failed me on this trip. I had it look up the most direct route from Ely to Blackfoot and it led on a winding and tortuous route down supposed highways that turned out to be barely paved. Have you ever wondered what is hanging out in the Northwest corner of Utah? Well I now know.

FYI: TV is NOT Real

A month ago or more I put up a 1980 Volkswagen Caddy (Rabbit Pick-up) for sale on the inter-web. I got a quick response from an estate buyer in Southern California. I mentioned that the person I was selling this truck for also had a significant stockpile of vintage car parts. The guy got excited and we set up a day for him to come up and get the truck and then go picking in the warehouse. In my mind this was going to go just like the History Channel show "American Pickers", i.e. this guy would come up and be excited and load up his truck with a bunch of stuff and I would be left with a big stash of cash and it would all be done in about 45 minuets (not counting commercial breaks). Well, the guy was tired and a little cranky due to the fact that he spent all night on the road and my time estimation was way off. He spent ALL DAY pawing through stuff. He did load up his truck with a bunch of junk and he did leave me a big stash of cash, it just took forever and wasn't nearly excited as I had imagined.

Live and learn I guess.