A nice write up Ryan..and I can tell you..I know that feeling! I bought the damn car, and now the damn car owns me....a strange feeling for sure!
History is made in many venues. It's also made every day somewhere, and especially here in our chosen venue. I think history in a broad sense, the kind that spans more than the artifact itself, it's a bit more demanding. I had the privilege of rebuilding the rear windshield on a Packard parade car built for and owned by Juan and Evita Peron. For all the days that the car was in the shop I really tried to get the thing to move me in some way but I never got there. I was more interested in who they were rather than this one thing they had. It wasn't a truly functional automotive artifact in the sense most of us would be moved by. What Harm's is offering is more functional, has a significant but obscure place in the books, and I'd think the restoration and use afterward would be more satisfying because it's so specific. I'd also like the idea that in the big picture most would walk away thinking ..."so what's so special about..." because they aren't nearly as enthused by drag racing and it's storied past. It would so much more personal to own and operate the car decades later, even though it's place in history was established by someone else. It would be a rush to get the car to duplicate it's best runs, even more of rush to spend that race day with Mr. McCombs if he would be interested and willing. Not many cars could offer that idea.
I'd be more afraid of drunks! Didn't your momma tell you, nothin' good ever happens after midnight? One of my favorite college memories was me and my buddy driving around in the country for three hours late one summer night, in my '85 Caprice. We listened to Aphex Twin's Selected Ambient Works Volume II - it started when we drove out, and the second disc ended right when we pulled back home.
The Jalopy Journal
