Monday, April 27, 2009

I hope this doesn't sound like I'm ranting here...

So, I drag the old truck up in front of the shop. I roll up my sleeves, don my gloves and get ready to create automotive art.

Right about now is when the peanut gallery usually rears their heads. To non car folks, they see the truck and usually the first thing they do is call it junk or ugly or hopeless.

So, I sit there seething. I have countless photos of literally dozens of old cars I have built over the last 15 years. Everyone of them started out as an unloved, left for dead hulk. I have never built a car or truck from a nice starter vehicle. They always have wasp nests in the corners, rotted tires, busted glass and the like. Not one of them looked ugly, neglected, or hopeless when completed.

I also have never built a car that failed to impress even non car people when completed. I have stacks of pictures, magazine recognition, trophies from shows, all of that. I feel that my track record speaks for itself. I have yet to fail on knocking a home run in the shop.

Yet, ignorant bystanders continually criticize what I do until the final hours when the end is in sight and the build in done. Then and only then, do they see what I have seen all the while, potential.

This truck is an example of this. Yes, it is pink. Yes, the hood is missing, the headlight is broken, no engine, flat tires. The list of discrepancies goes on and on.

What I know is that 50 dollars worth of paint stripper and weekend of work will make the pink paint a distant memory. To your average idiot, the pink paint is a deal breaker. They'd never mess with something so ugly. They automatically discount the whole deal as hopeless and pointless. I'd bet Jennifer Anniston wasn't too remarkable before the boob job either, but look at her now. A little paint removal and new tires and she is a knockout. The potential was there, it just needed to be drawn out into the open.

Sorry if this came across as a rant, but I have been doing this my whole adult life and I think that I have a pretty good grasp on my vision and ability. I just get very bothered when someone ignorant makes an offhand remark about something they know little about.

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