Thanks for the compliment, gmckustom. (I do in fact have an eye for a "Quality witch". What red-blooded male doesn't?) Remind me to return the compliment some day.
I'll excuse you on the grounds that your behaviour is rather like that of an immature twenty-something whippersnapper who is still wet behind the ears, and whose daddy hasn't taught him how to behave in public yet.
Please could other responders please refrain from trying to insult me--just for expressing an opinion--while we're trying to discuss this stuff? It's soooo lame.
Gmckustom, You have a point about cars in TRJ built out of the owners' garages. But your point is only valid up to a point. Sure, a few are created/restored that way. But there's a huge emphasis in TRJ on the megabuck pansymobiles that have nothing to do with the real spirit of hot rodding. Like where the "owner" is really no more than a rich egotist with unlimited resources who commissions some specialist outfit(s) to buy in all the most expensive pre-manufactured stuff, fabricate a bunch of other stuff, put a million hours into the bodywork, nail all this crap together, cover it in a gazillions coats of red and clear, chuck in some strategically placed leather, billet and/or chrome, and call the concoction a hot rod. This, my friend, is nothing to do with hot rodding. This is a pansy show car--just as chevman32 points out, only more politely.
As for the old timers. Some like shine, some don't. (Speaking as an old timer myself, I say real hot rods don't shine.) And I doubt many of us old timers are daft enough to be impressed by something that looks the way it does just because it's got scores of thousands of dollars in it.
Funny, I didn't greatly care for the look of the steel headliner in the 54 although it's a work of brilliant and ingenious craftsmanship. Isn't it great to disagree about all this stuff? Isn't that part of what makes it interesting?
Christian
