I haven't had much time this month to put my thoughts on paper, so I decided to fill some of this space with a couple of photos from the reason I've been so busy. I just got back from the Americruise. A normal travel schedule for a car show is generally a couple of weekdays and the weekend. The Americruise for us is not a normal car show. I was on the road seven days before the event and two afterward.
You can read all about it next month as we bring you the details of our two tours sponsored by Sacramento Vintage Ford and Painless Performance Products and the goings-on at the event. The CliffsNotes version is I loaded up the roadster, which I once again borrowed from Roy Brizio after having him make a few visual changes. The roadster performed absolutely flawlessly, a testament to a guy and shop that know how to build a car meant to not only look good, but to click off miles like a Swiss watch.
This year was a little different because I took my 13-year-old son, Devon, with me. It was his first real road trip and I indoctrinated him right from the start. He would be riding approximately 3,000 miles through seven states in a roadster with no top, no A/C, no radio, and no heater.
Fifteen minutes into the trip he was telling me how great it was and I cautioned him to hold his opinion for a few days and see how he felt after spending some time driving through the Nevada and Utah deserts. Despite what you might think, he was still loving it a few days later.
Devon has always enjoyed helping me with my cars but never liked going to car shows because, as he puts it, "It's just a bunch of guys showing off." Can't really argue with him there, as most of the shows I've taken him to are just that. But this was different; he was out on the road with rodders who were using their hot rods for their intended purpose. He took every opportunity he got to get out of the roadster when we stopped and talk with anyone he could about their car.
By the time we got home, all he wanted to do was read some of the many hot rod books I have in my bookcase and make a list of the things that needed to be done to our '47 Ford so that it might be ready for next year's Americruise. Although Devon has always been ready to help, he has never taken the initiative before to try and get started on one of the projects.
So my point is this: If we want this hobby to grow and bring new blood into it, we need to do more than just "take a kid to a car show," because most of them are pretty boring. We need to get them out on the road and show them what these things can really do. We need to let them experience why we spend so much time building them, which I hope is to enjoy the road and not to just sit around a car show hoping to win a $5 plaque.