I've been having a tough time with my Mercury lately and it's really got me down. I haven't gotten to drive it at all this year even though I've spent way more time and money than I care to remember on it. I walked away from it for a while and even considered a new hobby for a while, thinking that hot rods and kustoms were not for me. I had lost my octane desire, my "leadsled chi" if you will. That all changed this weekend. The wife and I drove to Winfield, Kansas on Friday to fulfill some obligations with Voodoo Jim and his lovely lady friend. I knew we were going to the Starliner in Wichita that Saturday morning and wasn't really excited because I didn't have a car (for me it's like going to an **** as a ******). After meeting up with more friends, Jim and I piled into the "Corn Cob Coupe" and blasted up the Kansas back roads to Wichita. Flying across the landscape made me remember all the fun times I'd had in my Merc and other peoples cars over the years. It also let me experience some things that I'd lost sight of. Things like having my ears ring from a screaming nailhead, the wind in my face, the whine and bump of bias plys. Even the tiny and annoying (in Jim's mind) clicking coming from the broken weld over the door. As we rolled down the road, all of these little nuances slowly started to wear away the calluses on my hardened kustom heart. I was feeling "it" coming back! What was "it"? It was the call of the grease, oil, gas, tools, sweat and love that goes into an inanimate object that can't possibly love you back, but, you just know it does. After looking at all the great rods and kustoms at the starliner, talking to lots of old friends, meeting some new ones and discussing my problems with others I returned home with my batteries charged and ready to get back to work on my baby. Soon enough she'll have a new motor and ******, a freshly painted undercarriage and hopefully some beautiful new wide whites. I am back! And Jimmy, thanks for the ride!
Good for you, JK. And good on Voodoo Jim for takin' you for a blast down the road a piece. We all get a little frustrated sometimes...but you sound like the type of person who couldn't really shake the hobby even if you tried. Good luck with everything.
Hey JK, Glad to hear that you got your mojo back!... A ride in that coupe probably helps clear one's head... Photos of you two coming in the Starliner.. Glad you made it up...duane (NM Sandrail)
sometimes you just gotta walk away. i drove my falcon for the first time in a year. i have had other obligations to tend to and the car would be a distraction. i pulled the cover off, fired it up and drove it to work saturday morning. it was like a new toy all over again.
LOL!! That is the funniest line that I've heard in a while.. Burnout is a serious problem within our Hobby. The best way to get over it is to go for a drive in a hot rod or kustom. When I did with out for a bout a year, you get into that Joe walsh song "Oridinary average guy" routine and it ****s but ya don't know it at the time. Your Merc is going to be Bad ***. Hangin out with Jim, Jeff and Dennis is the best way to get over the Mercury Blues. Saturday night we were hangin out at the hotel parking lot talking about old Hangin Dice stories. Ahhhh Good times.. It was Kool theorapy. Keep the faith brother! You'll have the Merc back on the road in no time. Happy Trails, Mick
Mick, funny you should mention Hangin' Dice. Weren't we talking about that Saturday afternoon? Thanks everybody for the words of confidence. I don't think I could be a writer though, that paragraph took WAY to long to write and I hurt too many brain cells. I will be driving the wheels off the Merc when it gets done. My goal is to make it to the round-up and back next year. Without a trailer, this time.
Watching Jeff's Caddy roll down the road is soo kool...When moving the rear fins look taller then the top. Very Kool illusion. Thanks for posting the pics. At the time that Hangin Dice was rolling, Wow there w***n't a place in the country kooler then the Kings Row parking lot. I wish it was still going. Watching twenty plus car cruising around shooting flames just because it was kool not because it was a planned thing. Remember the Male dancer that we tried to run out of the hotel? Watching him walk out of his room and go complain to the front desk was a blast. Cops show up and they told him that he was the one that needed to leave. Ha, ha, ha!! Happy Trails, Mick
JK, I feel your pain, I am old n' broke and sometimes want to totally stop being a car freak. But I have come to the point that I will do what I can. I can't run with the big dogs, but I am not staying on the porch. I am just running along behind and enjoying it all I can. A ride like that can do some super healing and awareness stuff. Atta Boy! Man what a cool shot of Jeff's bad boy caddy in motion. Rock on man. Man~Sololobo~
JK, I hear you. I couldn't tell you the last time I went to a car show. It may have been when you guys drove the Merc up to Salina! It was real good to talk with you and Jim both. I haven't seen him in a long time! I Hadn't thought about Hangin' Dice in awhile either. I remember the chair races, the thunderstorm, maybe someday Jim will forgive me for the trouble I got him in...........
How many miles can a wheel caster with stand before it falls off? LOL!! I think it was five laps at 50 MPH...
I still remember the mad dash on Sunday mornings trying to find ****er that had an open door and an intact office chair that you could secretly swap out so your credit card didn't get hit with the charge later. Good times. I also remember waking up way to early Sunday and walking by my Merc with about 2 dozen beer can artfuly stacked in a pyramid on the hood. I didn't even think about it until a very elderly couple looked at it and said "Oh look, that car must have won an award".
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