I’m just going to write. Let’s see what happens.

• I have a hard time stomaching hipster music. For ten years I’ve read a gazillion music reviews of indie bands and I’ve tracked down the most promising bands. After a few listens online, I can’t find the fortitude to keep listening. It seems to me that the gushing fans that surround a lot of these hipster bands are often so in love with the image of the band that they somehow overlook the fact that their songs kinda suck. What good is a song if it’s not catchy?  But what they play here at Starbucks is different enough to be unfit for popular radio, but it’s still pleasant to my ears.
• Trucker Hats. They’ve lasted a lot longer than I would’ve imagined. When I filmed the Road Rules Challenge in 2003, I wasn’t sure if I should wear one because I might look behind the times. Here we are seven years later, and people still like them and they look cool wearing them. The guy sitting on the other side of the window on the patio is perfectly confident rocking his trucker hat. By my rough estimation, they’ve been cool now longer than they used to be uncool/whitetrash.
• Cargo Shorts. I’ve read no less than a dozen fashion experts proclaim that cargo shorts are out dated. Unfortunately, those declarations were all made over a course of the last 15 years. So apparently they were all wrong. Have you ever actually gone to a store and try to buy regular khaki shorts? It’s harder than you think. Me? I don’t like cargos because they’re too hot and floppy. Yet I still wear them.
• Flip Flops. There are a lot of pretentious fashion editors that despise casual footwear. I share their concern that people wear flip flops to way too many places–weddings, funerals, baptisms—but you will lose credibility if you wholly dismiss flip flops all together. Why? Because they’re casual, affordable, and freeing. That’s why bazillions of people wear them around the world. I’m one of them and I like it.
• Classic Cars: My father-in-law asked me what I imagine car collectors will look like in another 20 years. Who will they be and what will they be collecting? This paragraph could turn into a book, so I’ll keep this quick. There will never again be a car culture that we saw between 1944 and 1972. That was a rare time in America with a “youth culture” was formed and shared amongst Baby Boomers through some very good years for cars: hot rods, 1950s Mercys and Chevys, and of course the late 1960s Pony Cars & Muscle Cars. I know this because I’ve been to many car auctions, and all I see is a bunch of aging Baby Boomers trying to recapture their youth. By the time any of my generation gets super-loaded with cash, I doubt we’ll be fighting over a Hemi Cuda that was first enjoyed before our birth. Dudes will always like cars and try to collect them, but it’s not going to be as focused on a handful of American cars. It’s going to be more niche: Classic VWs, Kustoms / Sleds, Rat Rods, New Muscle Cars, Donks, Trucks, Vintage Luxury German, Supercars, etc.
• In two months I will be holding a newborn girl. Becoming a dad has been the most defining experience of my life. Although it’s hard being a parent, I’ve yet to find a life experience that’s as rewarding and affirming as parenthood. I’m eager to see Norah interact with a little sister. Norah has a lot of love. She takes care of her baby dolls like you would not believe. Whenever she can’t find one of them, she’s an absolute mess. Every Sunday at Mass, Norah looks up a the crucifix and opens her arms wide and says, “hug me.”  There’s just so much love beaming out of that 2-year old.
• There are many adults who work at this Starbucks. Seriously, I’ve seen several well put together people in their 30s serve coffee here this afternoon.
• Mom blogs. Candyce is addicted to blogs run by hip housewives and mothers.  Every time I get on the computer, I see a dozen open tabs in the browser, each featuring a different beautiful mom writing about her life experiences. After a year of this, it’s become easy for me to believe that moms rule the Internet.
• Twilight. I don’t care about these movies at all. Perhaps I’ve reached that point of adulthood where I am not expected to understand why these movies are popular. I suppose I could watch them and see what the fuss is all about, but again, I don’t care about these movies at all.
• Amusement. Last weekend I rode roller coasters in San Antonio and then played in a water park in Phoenix. Lots of fun. I will say that 1 out of every 5 adults at the resort’s water park had a tattoo. The wave pool looked like a flooded biker rally.

Alright, my coffee is all sipped-up. Time to pick up my phone and ride my bike home.

Pharell’s bike, on the other hand, is a fresh take on a vintage bike. Not another tough guy chopper. All executed with thoughtful, subtle details. Well done!

So what you are looking at here is a not just a car. It represents my affection for the Magnum and my wife’s admirable ability to keep our lives tidy.

Here’s what I love about this truck:

• Great paint! Go big or go home
• He kept the Chevrolet name on the hood and the emblems on the front fenders.
• Shaved the sideview mirrors
• Kept the chrome trim that stretches from the front bumper over the wheel wells all the way back to the tailgate. Most custom trucks of this generation will remove this trim and the truck loses it’s form.
• The front grill and bumper were painted white. My guess is that the grill was reshaped and maybe even welded to the bumper.

Here’s a cool Chrysler 300 that’s for sale here locally in Phoenix. I love the big rims and ride height.

How can you not love what Chrysler/Dodge has done in the past several years? The Dodge Magnum, Chrysler 300, Dodge Charger, and Dodge Challenger are all cool cars that ordinary guys can afford. It’s a shame that the company’s ownership has changed so many times in the past decade. It makes it harder to embrace their cars when don’t know who’s in charge. To use a sports analogy, it’s hard to cheer for a team if they change coaches every other season.

A cool custom Dodge Challenger…

1. Vespa Rocking Horse

Make no mistake: children love rocking horses. It’s about as much on-demand fun and adventure as a year-and-half-year-old can have imagine. It seams to me that rocking horses seem to come in two varieties. 1) The traditional wood “old timey” horse that is often uncomfortable and easy to break 2) The cheap plastic horse that’s is surprisingly durable and comfortable but still remarkably tacky. <– We have that one. My hope is that later in life I’ll be able to build a beautiful Vespa rocking horse like this one:

2. The LCD TV Easel from Restoration Hardware

Televisions may forever be a source of pride and insecurity for Americans. I recently read an article in an interior design magazine that asked ten hardworking designers how they address the sensitive issue of putting a massive blabber-box in a well-appointed living space. They only had two solutions: hide it or put it on display for all to see. What is interesting is that when they presented their solution, every designer—every designer—began their answer with a disclaimer.

1. “Since we’ll use it all the time, why hide it?”  -or-
2. “Since it’s a hideous black hole hung on the wall, we had not option but to hide it.”

There just didn’t seem to be a solution that was free of insecurity. Or maybe there is a solution. Check out Restoration Hardware’s TV stand that’s inspired by an artists easel.

Here’s why this works. You look artsy without having to commit to purchasing a piece of art. (I know that my art school friends hate what I just wrote, but I am of the sophisticated crowd composed of art patrons who believe that modern art is garbage. Garbauge.) Plus you can hook up an Apple TV and you have yourself a dynamic family photo album. What could be better?

3. Salt, Pepper, Sweets

Have you ever seen a fancy marker rendering of a new restaurant concept? You’ll never see salt and peppers shakers on the tabletops. Why? Because these tacky necessities interrupt the visual cleanliness of a restaurant’s dining area. It’s for the same reason that you will never see a rendering of a concept car that includes door handles, antennas, or windshield wipers. In other words, they just don’t look cool. I snapped this photo at Postino Wine Bar in Arcadia (Phoenix).

The slip of paper that reads “Gum Here” is a brilliant idea. For one, it’s punchy and clever… it adds an emotional lift in an unexpected place. Two, it’s a clean piece of paper for writing down phone numbers of new friends. Three, it helps the restaurant save money—little by little—by discouraging patrons from wrapping their A.B.C.* gum with a perfectly good packet of sugar.

4. McDonalds, Detroit Airport

McD’s is not a popular destination for hip people and they know that. It seems like McDonalds is trying to fix that. One example is an atrocious McDonalds near my home that was given a “spa-treatment” with acres of natural stone and earth-toned paint. They even had a “water feature” that tried hard to convince patrons that they’re eating cheese burgers by a babbling brook. You might actually think after reading those words that this could in fact be an improvement on the colorful plasticy interiors of most McD’s. But it was certainly not an improvement. One word: ridiculous.

However, the McDonalds in the Detroit Airport actually got a visual upgrade and looks better than most.

5. Water Closet

Okay, let’s get this out there: photographs snapped in bathrooms are of any worth to our civilization. There are few exceptions to this rule, and you are looking at one of them. Why did I take this photo? It’s a simple yet clever reinvention of the least-glamorous corner of our lives.

(Have you ever dropped your phone in the toilet? Don’t laugh—because it could happen to you. This doesn’t just happen to those who choose to multi-task by chattering with unsuspecting friends. No, if your phone has ever fallen out of your pocket while sitting on the couch, know that the same thing can happen on a porcelain throne. This is an issue of gravity. With gravity always comes drama.)

Here you have a discreet tray for you phone, keys, whatever. It’s there if you need it. It can be ignored if you don’t.

6. This Shed

This is a small but cool picnic area in the charming Agritopia community outside of Phoenix. What I love about this structure is the attention to detail. Take a closer look…

7. This Truck

This is the most interesting truck at the car show in midtown Phoenix last fall. A four-door (stock, I presume) Chevy C-10 from the late 1950s with a drastically altered suspension. It’s amazing to see that airbag suspension and big rims can make a previously unexciting pickup into something unique and cool.

Now let’s admire a beautiful custom 1970 Dodge Super Bee called The Mutant Bee.

What did they do? They shaved door handles, side marker lights, emblems, windshield wipers,  and antenna. They tweaked the suspension and stuffed big rims under the fenders. The “halo” headlights are something I’ve never seen before–but they look cool. The recessed grill that surrounds the headlights are black diamond-shape pattern, a subtle upgrade from the original vertical slats.  It looks like front air dam beneath the headlights is completely custom. The custom details are everywhere on this car. I don’t know much about the 1970 Super Bee, but after looking at photos of the original car, it’s clear that every change was for the better.

…but it would be nice to be able to have been around in 1970 to buy an original for around $3,000.

Read More about the “Mutant Bee”

Megan and Norah at LGO

Megan and Brad, the two happiest people in Phoenix.

Mr. Monkey, Norah's new best friend. She chews on his head.

Later in the afternoon, I went to the Chandler Car show and snapped some photos of my favorite rides. After you click on each photo, you’ll see my thoughts about the car beneath.

(You’ll have to wait some time for the photos to load because they’re big photos…perfect for a desktop wallpaper.)

1. Nissan Cube

It’s official debut is at the LA Auto Show in a couple months, but some photos of the Cube leaked yesterday (thank you, Autoblog) that prove Nissan has the courage to put asymmetry into production:

Don’t hate me because I’m different.

The Nissan Cube stares down the incumbent Scion xB. Photo from Edmunds

If you are interested in a battle of the boxes, head over to Edmunds.com to find out what they thought of a Japanese-spec Cube they played around with earlier this year. My favorite line from the article:

Nissan is finally convinced there are enough of you to buy its Cube, a boxy car so far out on the funk continuum that the Element and xB might as well be Corollas.

The more I look at the Cube, the more I think of the neo-80′s crew Fanny Pack from America’s Best Dance Crew. They occupy a charming space in pop culture that is both odd and cool. …okay, maybe more odd than cool, but they had enough style to earn a poem from Lil Mama.

2. Suzuki Wagon-R / Mazda AZ-Wagon

There is not a lot of buzz online about the Suzuki Wagon-R / Mazda AZ-Wagon, but it’s worth noting that the look of half box/ half compact car (think Scion-xD) is sticking around.

3. 2009/2010 Honda Element

I saved the best for last. It looks like late next year Honda will give a clean new look to my beloved Element…

Source: Autoblog.com

In the photo gallery below, I’ve compiled several clean custom sedans I’ve found online from the past 40 years. With stock rims and suspension, most of these cars are forgettable family haulers. But with big rims and a low stance, these sedans have a whole new look on a Friday night cruise down the strip.

The Smart car is finally in the US! I’ve followed this little car since I first saw it eight years ago on the narrow streets of Rome. I learned from an the Italians that it was a collaborate project from Mercedes Benz and Swatch, the fabulous watchmaker known in the US for its vibrantly styled wristwatches in the mid 1980s.

I was seven years old when the Swatch watch craze shook up my hometown. In hindsight, my fascination with those brightly colored watches hinted to my future career in design. It sounds a little silly, but I had a “designer’s crush” on those watches. I was fascinated with every detail…I couldn’t get enough. I could stand and stare at those watches for hours. (I particularly loved the watches with the graffiti-influenced characters by second-wave pop artist Keith Haring, whose influence you can see in my work today.)

A few years ago I was listening to an NPR story celebrating BB King’s 80th birthday. There’s a point in the story where BB King describes the joy of putting on a set of new guitar strings:

“That’s the time when I am so motivated, when the strings sound fresh. The tone is–I don’t know the word–but it’s so pleasing to my ears.”

If you listen to the story, you can hear the passion in his voice as he closes the sentence. He’s a musician and I’m a designer, but we both know what it’s like to be hypnotized by what is inherently beautiful. And when I first spotted the Smart car parked on a cobblestone street in an ancient alley in Rome, I knew I was looking at something special.

So you can understand why I’m so excited that the Smart car is now in America. There’s a dealership not far from my house, so I’ve seen many of these cars zipping around streets and through the neighborhoods. It looks like everyone is having fun, but I had to do some research to see if the car has what it takes to compete with traditional cars…

The Bad

Writer Eric A. Taub offered convincing review of the Smart Fortwo Passion in The New York Times. You can read the full review on NYTimes.com, but here are my favorites parts:

Uncanny good looks:

“…its shape and colors draws admirers as if it were the latest gadget from Apple.”

Bad handling:

“Rounding curves on city streets, the body roll was pronounced, causing a friend to reflexively grab the dash. When accelerating, the dreadful 5-speed automated manual transmission shifts awkwardly and slowly. It may be enough to make you reach for the Dramamine: the engine temporarily slows as the car is about to upshift, jerking the driver forward and then back with each shift. Several times, my wife threatened to walk home.”

Underwhelming gas mileage:

“In the mileage department, the Smart also failed to live up to expectations. Even with its tiny engine, the two tankfuls of gas consumed while I had the car worked out to readings of only 30 and 34 miles a gallon. That was less than the 36 m.p.g. E.P.A. rating for combined city/highway driving, and certainly not “amazing” as Smart’s press materials proclaim.”

The Good

All that bad news is enough to discourage buyers. But I read some good news on Autoblog.com this morning:

IIHS President, Adrian Lund, made it clear that normally bigger and heavier vehicles are the safer choice, “but among the smallest cars, the engineers of the Smart did their homework and designed a high level of safety into a very small package.”

I found it amusing that the car even looks cute when it’s getting smashed up, almost like bad guy that you just killed on Super Mario Brothers. I almost expect the car to flicker a few times and then disappear…

I’m not suggesting that BMW used the AMC playbook. That’s not a good idea, because you’ll notice there are no AMCs around today. But it is interesting how few new ideas in the automotive world.

The Toyota FJ and Mini proved the white roof is a cool thing.
But will it work for the Flex?

A couple years ago I wrote about how car manufacturers are releasing new cars modeled after older cars. If you are interested in this stuff, read it and enjoy the photos comparing old school and new school. Here is one of my comparisons from that blog:

1. 1960s Ford Bronco (top)
2. The titanium tough-bot Bronco concept that never made it into production (middle)
3. Concept preview of the 2008 Ford Fairlane (bottom), which was renamed the Ford Flex.

In that blog, I wrote this:

“Concept cars usually don’t get manufactured, but they often hint the visual direction of future vehicles. In this case, the Bronco’s style pointed to the Ford Fairlane concept which debuted a year later in 2005. Although the Fairlane and Bronco have similar lines, the rumor is that the Fairlane will be released as a 2008 replacement for their minivan. I’m afraid the Fairlane will become a bore as soon as it’s marketed as practical and economical.”

It looks like Ford will make the Fairlane Flex, even it is a year late. I haven’t seen the car marketed yet…Ford discreetly added the Flex to their line-up on their website with little commotion. I’m trying to figure out if the Flex has enough cool points to succeed. To get an answer, you have to ask the basic question…

Can Practical be Cool?

Here’s the deal. Car manufacturers spend millions of dollars each year trying to make family cars look “cool.” This statement seems so simple that it can’t be true. But it is true. Most of what you see on car lots today are the result of people needing family cars, but not wanting to look like they are driving family cars. Here’s an abridged history of the last 20 years of self-conscious car buyers with children.

The minivan stormed America in the late 1980s because they were practical, but more “sporty” than traditional full-sized vans (think church van) and the non-sexy station wagon (think National Lampoon’s). Unfortunately, the popularity gained from it’s innovative functionality was lost as soon as everyone sobered up and realized that minivans= family haulers. So stylish people started looking around to see what else was on the car lot. What is this? A Ford Explorer?

We all remember the SUV frenzy of the 1990s and the earliest years of this decade. Everyone and their mother drove an SUV because it symbolized independence and versatility. A subplot in that 15 years was that the very essence of the SUV–elevated ride height, 4 wheel drive, truck-based platform–was evolving out of the pack by natural selection. Car buyers liked the looks of the SUV, but they wanted it to behave like a car.

This highly evolved SUV is now called a CUV, short for Crossover Utility Vehicle. But don’t be confused, the CUV is just a tall station wagon. And what is a tall station wagon? Nothing but a mini-van without sliding doors. Why do we keep coming back to this minivanish vehicle? Because in the end, practicality rules.

The Ford Flex: The CUV Anti-Hero

The Ford Flex is a unique vehicle in the cluttered me-too CUV market. Ford decided to be bold. Rather than having a car dressed up like an SUV, they opted boxed out a station wagon. Essentially, the stretched the Scion xB or Honda Element.

The 2009 Ford Flex. Boxy? Yes. Cool? Hmmmm….

Ford understood that their new creation would be misunderstood, so they worked hard to give it a fresh start. The first move, the best move, was to upgrade the name from Fairlane to Flex. The next move was to not tell people it’s a replacement for the Taurus X, a flattering name for Ford’s lame-ass CUV that replaced Ford’s lame-ass Windstar minivan.

Ford’s most interesting decision to give the Flex a fighting chance at “cool” was to hire the cool kids: Chip Foose and DJ Funkmaster Flex. The two went to work to customize the Flex before it hit dealerships.

I happy that Mr. Funkmaster got a shot at customizing the new Ford Flex, because he didn’t have much to work with on that dorky Ford Expedition project from a couple years ago. If you want to see what Mr. Funkmaster did with the Flex, go to Flex website. I don’t like it, probably because it looks like they took photos of his creation with their cell phone.

Instead, check out Chip Foose’s Flex. Mission accomplished.

Summary

It is difficult to predict whether or not a car will sell. Afterall, car manufacturers spend a gazillion dollars trying to figure out what works, and they often fail. I’m rooting for the Flex because it reminds me of the woody wagons in the 1930s-1950s. I get nostalgic when I look at the car, but this isn’t enough to make me buy it. (If Honda made it, I’d buy it tomorrow. Fords today are more reliable than they were 5 years ago, but I’m not in a mood to gamble.)

I hope some young car customizers see the potential in the Flex and make it their own.

But the real stars of the videos were 1960s Chevy Impalas with hydraulics that made the cars bounce. I had never seen anything cooler in my life. I turned 16, and I bought a ’61 Chevy with every intention of adding hydraulics. (My plans were ruined when no mechanic in my rural hometown in the South knew what “hydraulics” were.) Although my hoopty never worked out, I’ve always admired Snoop’s ability to pick cool cars.

Here’s the problem. Earlier this week Snoop’s newest album came out, and he’s looking G in from of a Datsun. See for yourself:

That’s a Datsun 510 Wagon from the late 1960s or early 1970s.

An original ad promoting a few of Datsun’s finest automobiles.

Don’t get me wrong, Datsun made some cool cars. The Datsun 510 makes a vintage Japanese racer that wins respect at a car show. Datsun also made the original Z cars that were reintroduced early this decade as the Nissan 350Z. But Datsuns cannot be gangster cool.

My guess is that Snoop was stoned on the day of the photo shoot, and he thought he was posing in front of a ’64 Impala wagon.

Kids, don’t do drugs!

First, take a look at the original concept drawing. This is the kind of stuff they taught us at Georgia Tech…it makes me want to bust out my tools and start drawing. It’s rare that a finished product looks so close to the original drawing. Most drawings are sensational and cool, but unrealistic to fabricate with a real car body. But here they got it right.

The idea.

The reality.

The minor difference don’t amount to much, but they are worth pointing out. They removed the “parking lights in the hood”, something Chevy should’ve done before the truck ever left the factory. They used a stock grill instead of the Rolls-inspired grill in the concept. I would’ve liked to see them make the bumper as it was in the concept sketch with the concrete-scraping crease along the lowest portion of the bumper.

Here’s some more photos:

Notice the smoothed-out tailgate and the deleted bumper.

To make room for big rims, you have to remove the inner fender well. Now the top of the wheel rises well into the engine bay. Other classy details are leather seats and suicide doors.

To pull off this ride height requires a lot of reworking of the frame. The photo below shows all the modifications beneath the bed. Typically, the gray frame would be pretty flat from front to back. But here, the frame rises up and over the rear axle to allow for the low stance. The two yellow boxes are batteries for the airbag suspension.

Beneath every cool truck is an unexciting foundation.

Let’s talk about the bed, because that’s where all the magic happens. First, the wood looks fantastic juxtaposed against the chrome strips. This is the pinstriped suit of the auto world. Second, the leather panels tucked around the perimeter are subtle, yet luxurious. The inset frame of stitching gives it an extra detail. A poor man’s version is to paint the bed to match the interior. (Take a look at the Datsun truck in a previous blog.) Lastly, you’ll see that the fenders rise just to the top of the bed because the rims are that big and truck is that low. On a stock truck, you’d might see 10-12 inches separating the two.

Well done.

Chevy got low low low. That’s the University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, AZ, home of Super Bowl XLII.

The glamor shot.

Summary: Big Rims Save Lives

Big rims have saved many vehicles from the junkyard, including this generation of the Chevy truck. Throughout my childhood, guys were only interested in the generation that came before and after. (Check out ChevyTrucks.com for a detailed history with photos.) But this generation didn’t have many fans because it’s body was so wonky. If you wanted to describe the truck like it were a person, it had a big head that goofy glasses.

But big chrome rims fill out the fenders and allow the truck to have better proportions. The trucks that were once forgotten are getting dragged out of desert junkyards and into the welder’s shop. Just look at how this 1963 Chevy looked on day one.

I read online that the owner invested $100,000 to make this truck look just like he wanted. By the time the time ran out on the auction last night, the highest bid was $15,000, which did not meet the minimum reserve.

All of these photos were taken here in Tempe. I love the special photo effects that give it that sci-fi feel.

1974 Datsun truck. This is a badass little truck with clean lines and an impressive ride height. Although I wasn’t alive when all of this went down, I’ve heard that Datsun and Toyota pioneered the “small truck” concept in America in the 1970s. These trucks don’t have a large following with classic car fans, but you’ll occasionally find one customized at a local car show.

I’m guessing they shaved off the door handles. I like that the bench seat matches the color of the bed liner. It makes the truck look more like an open-air SUV.

1970 Chevy C-10. The 1970-72 Chevy C-10 shortbeds are my all-time favorite truck because they have balanced proportions and clean lines. This primer black truck proves that you don’t have to do much to these trucks to make them look customized.

There’s nothing prettier than an understated chromed-out front end.

1970 Chevy C-10 stepside. I show this because I love the gray-on-gray paint with the subtle red pin stripe to separate the two tones. I don’t care for the rear flared fenders on these trucks because they look like an afterthought–the designers didn’t spend much time getting it right. Although I’m guessing that the builders of this truck spent some time smoothing out on the top of the bed to clean things up. Most builders don’t bother with the drama and remove the bed altogether and replace it with a Chevy bed from the 1990s Silverados.

Nice paint.

1972 Chevy C-10 Cheyenne Super. This is the best-looking truck that Chevy has ever put out. On most of these trucks, the cab is painted the same color as the side stripe (usually white.) On the top and bottom of the strip is two pieces of chrome trim inset with a wood panel. The colors are custom here, as is the blacked-out side trim.

Notice the grid-like stock grill, bumper with inset lights.

1999 Chevy Silverado. This was the last year of the body style that began around 1988. This was a complicated era for trucks because in the 1990s America fell in love with the extended cab pickup. (Then in the 2000s they moved on to a bigger crush with the quad-cab pickups. ) The problem with these longer trucks is that they no longer have the tidy proportions of the standard cab truck.

Notice the clean line that begins near the hood and stretches to the end of the bed. I like the smooth chrome bumper, stock grill, understated side-view mirros, and new custom leather seats.

2000 Chevy Silverado with Escalade front clip. Cadillac dressed up the Chevy Tahoe SUV with a new front clip and created the Escalade. It seemed lazy if you ask me, and I didn’t expect that anyone was gullible enough to invest primo dollars on a SUV that was obviously a Tahoe. I was wrong. People bought it…a lot of people.

Since then, I’ve seen a few SUVs around town that were born as Tahoes, but the dude owner invested in a Cadillac nose job so he could impress women who are easily impressed. On the other hand, I think it’s creative when dudes add the Escalade clip to their standard cab Chevy Silverado. There’s no intention here of convincing people you are more rich than you are. You’re just having fun mismatching body parts that came out of the GM factories. Plus, it looks cool:

From the windshield forward is all Cadillac.

I snapped this photo at Barrett-Jackson a couple years ago. It’s a 1939, but I don’t know what type of truck it is. I love yell0w-letter tires that give the truck a beefy, street-fighter appeal.

1939

Tougher than nails. Notice that the door panels bevel out; most Hummer body panels are deliberately flat. I love the exposed hinges on the doors and bolt heads on the fenders.

With the roof panels removed, there’s enough room for a surf board. My guess is the slotted vent near the windshield base is an air intake for the engine. This allows the SUV to drive in deep water without the engine inhaling water.

Don’t miss the rugged details of the hood.

A loaded gun.

If I would’ve stuck with Industrial Design as a career, this is the type of drawing I would be doing for a living. I’m kinda jealous.

Halo? Anyone? I think Hummer knows who their demographic will be for the HX.

H3T Concept: Looks great on the moon and in your driveway.

The sweet chrome around the windshield is gone, as is the titanium-looking rocker panels are blacked out. Although the small cab looked cool, the quad-cab will be practical.

The H2 SUT was the H2 with the back notched with a small truck bed.
But the H3 Truck has a long wheel base to make room for a useful truck bed.

Notice the dirt bike wheel clamp in the front of the bed. I say it’s time for Hummer to sponsor the X-Games.

Customize the H3T?

I know that car guys get all worked up when it comes to customizing trucks and SUVs. They argue that these are rugged vehicles that help men explore jungles and mountains. It’s a violation to the species if you tame a wolf to become a house dog.

I understand why purists think the way they do, but I don’t agree with them anymore. The reality is that most people don’t have enough money to buy a new vehicle like the H3T and then use it exclusively off road. He needs it to run errands, haul furniture, and pick up a friend to go to a movie. This is how real people live in the real world. It’s not a sin to buy a Hummer and then keep it on paved streets.

Here’s the deal: the world is ready for a new breed of custom cars. I don’t need to see another ’32 Ford, another suped-up Japanese racer, or a million-dollar muscle car. It’s all been done. Imagine a tough, menacing SUVs creepin’ low through town. Urban warriors.

To give you an idea of what I’m talking about, look at Dwayne Wade’s H2 Truck that earned the the “King of Bling” at GM’s annual competition. The most noticeable change to his truck are the massive 30″ inch rims. Can it go off road? No. Does it look cool? Yes. That’s enough for me.

Baller!

Summary: It’s time for someone to start dreaming about what they’re going to do to the Hummer H3 Truck. There’s no shame in it.

The original concept sketch.

A computer rendering

The real deal: KITT 2008.

Now that we’ve looked at the pretty pictures, let’s talk about what this means for the “stock value” of the Ford Mustang.

Why Knight Rider Will Break the Mustang

1. It’s not a Pontiac Trans Am. The switch to a Mustang may not mean much to most people, but to car guys, it might seem like a violation the purity of the original show. Putting a Ford Mustang in the place of the Pontiac Trans Am is like two teams trading quarterbacks on the day of the Super Bowl. The universe is in chaos. But when you take a few minutes to think about it, you’ll remember that the original Knight Rider was an average show that only lasted four seasons. You are giving Pontiac too much credit if you argue that the new show is doomed to fail because they cast a Mustang as a crime fighter.

2. Knight Rider didn’t help the Trans Am. I’m sure that the original Knight Rider boosted sales of the Pontiac Trans Am back in the 1980s, but it hasn’t made the car a legend. Really, it’s been 27 years since Knight Rider debuted, giving America plenty of time to get excited about the Trans Am again. I’ve been to dozens of car shows in the past decade and I rarely see a 3rd Generation Trans Am (1982-1992). You can’t blame it on the fact that they aren’t old enough to be collectibles again, because I regularly see rows of 1994-1996 Impala Super Sports. If you’re not into anecdotal evidence, consider the the fate of the original KITT: the 1982 Knight Rider Trans Am sold for a pitiful $20,000, lot #732.1 at Barrett-Jackson in 2002. That’s less than the cost of a 2002 Chevy mini van. Lets pause to think about how uncool that is.

3. The show will flop and drag the Mustang down with it. This would be a valid fear if the release of this new body of the Mustang was timed with the debut of the show. But the Mustang came out four years ago, and it has a solid fan base amongst all demographics (young and old, male and female, Republican and Democrat.) A TV show can’t destroy that. If this show does flop, nobody will blame it on the Mustang.

My conclusion is that people liked KITT as a crime-fighter, but they didn’t like him enough to like to crown the Trans Am as a car worth collecting. If I could use a sports analogy, they liked KITT as a player, but it wasn’t because of his uniform. It doesn’t matter if Steve Nash plays for the Mavericks, Suns, or Celtics–he’s still the best team mate on earth.

Why Knight Rider Will Make the Mustang

I think there’s more reason to believe that a Mustang as Knight Rider will be a good thing for everyone…

1. Hollywood was good to the Delorean. Anyone from the 1980s can pick a Back to the Future DeLorean out of a parking lot at a car show, even if they don’t know what the name it is. The DeLorean may not be a quintessential “classic” like a ’57 Chevy, but it’s one of the few cars from the 1980s to be lionized by the American public. Keep in mind that it was a car was a piece of junk and it ruined GM’s golden child John DeLorean.

2. Hollywood was good to the Shelby Mustang GT-500. Consider what consider the 2000 release of the movie Gone in 60 Seconds did for the Shelby Mustang GT500 Eleanor. That car has an absolute rock star in the movie. At the Barrett-Jackson Car Auction in Scottsdale, the “original” Eleanor sold for $675,000. There were probably 20 Eleanors on the set used for different stunts, but the Eleanor that sold at the auction was the most functional, least beat up car. Did I mention that Eleanor wasn’t not even a real Shelby? It’s an ordinary ’67 Mustang fastback scooped out of a junkyard and dressed up to look like a customized Shelby. Recreating that car has become a cottage industry. These replicas have sold for six figures at Barrett-Jackson every year since then movie came out in 2000.

3. If OJ’s Bronco was good for Ford, Knight Rider will be good for Ford. You would think that Ford would’ve canceled their archaic full-sized Bronco by the time OJ used it as his getaway wagon on national TV. At the time, it was only driven by employees of the Forestry Service and the Department of Transportation. It had zero sex appeal. I read several articles after the murder trial that claimed that sales of the Bronco shot through the roof.

4. TV saves careers. Just for fun, I’ll use an analogy that car guys won’t care about: Jessica Simpson and Nick Lache. People wondered if these young lovers were smart when they chose to broadcast their first year of marriage on an MTV reality show called “The Newlyweds” back in 2003. The show wasn’t good for their marriage (divorced in 2006), but the show gave Jessica’s brief singing career a jolt of Hollywood that has aloud her to stick around for the last five years and she’ll probably around for another five. Not bad for someone with no tangible talent. (Don’t ask me to explain why Nick’s career didn’t do the same, I’d have to talk about the complex relationship between famous girls and the non-famous girls who love to hate them, thereby making her more famous.)

Conclusion: Ford Wins

Rumor has it that Pontiac will release a rear-wheel drive muscle car sometime in 2010 or 2011, but as of today, nobody knows if it will be branded as a GTO or a Firebird Trans Am. Regardless, it’s not worth it to GM to speed up the concept model if there isn’t a lot of commitment from NBC behind Knight Rider. GM doesn’t have time to mess around with a show that might end as soon as it begins, they’re in the fight of their life with Japanese heavyweight Toyota.

When it came time to turn on the cameras and start filming, NBC needed a star. Ford was ready with lots of hype and a badass Mustang with a tank of gas. Good luck happens to people who are prepared when opportunity arrives.

Chrysler announced last month that they’ll stop producing four cars: Chrysler Crossfire, Pacifica, PT Cruiser Convertible and Dodge Magnum.

Apparently the DaimlerChrysler relationship sucked and now they’re breaking up. The new owners are trying to make Chrysler a strong, profitable brand again. That includes closing some factories and getting rid of some of their models. I’m not an industry analyst and I have no idea how to run a car company, so I have nothing to comment about their strategy.

But I will say this: the Magnum is a badass car. Every custom car guy knows the Magnum is a rare success that stands apart from dull American cars. But the masses needed some convincing to dig the low-slung wagon, and I don’t believe Dodge did their job to market the Magnum. So now they decided to get rid of the car. Boo!

Chip Foose’s sweet magnum.

If the Magnum was a rock band, they’d be okay with not making it mainstream, but they’d keep their strong fan base and thrive in the indie rock scene. They might become legends in time. Unfortunately, the Magnum is not a rock band. Once the production stops, it stops. The show is over. Only time will tell if it becomes a classic.

Escalade School Bus. When I was a kid, I saw a customized, hot rod school bus on the cover of a magazine at the Ingles grocery store in western North Carolina. It was so cool and so outrageous that it made my young mind spin for weeks. This summer, I found this image online, and I got that same rush. I can’t explain it.

I’d buy it.

Kayaking in La Jolla. Candyce, Lauryn, Danny, and I went to La Jolla to rent some two-person kayaks to explore the caves in the cliffs of La Jolla. We were paddling along where the waves wash against the foot of the cliff when stumbled across a huge rock covered with seals. You would think that you would see something like that coming, but I was so caught up in the colorful fish that were swimming around the rocks beneath us.

We backed off the seal rock and watched it like a live performance of Discovery’s Planet Earth. Although I couldn’t figure out why, a male seal was really mad, and he barked and moaned like he was insane. He was just not happy with what was going down. I would think that it was us causing all the ruckus, but he was cool for the first 10 minutes. I couldn’t believe how loud that bull was. It echoed around the cliffs and bounced back on top of us. Maybe he’s just proud of his voice.

Invitation to Write for Suns.com. Near the end of July, I got a phone call from the VP of Interactive Services for the Phoenix Suns. He invited me to join their team of writers by keeping a blog on their website. I already write about the Suns here on supafly.com, but I like the professional challenge of writing for a wider audience.

Boris Diaw in Ratatouille? Speaking of the Suns, I swear they modeled the French chef after French basketball player, Boris Diaw. You decide:

Boris Diaw the basketball player, the animated chef.

Watching Transformers, Twice. I loved Transformers as a kid, even though we were only able to afford a couple of the toys. I got my fix from watching the Transformers cartoon after school. I can honestly say, there was nothing that got me more excited as a child than catching a full episode of Transformers with a bag of sour cream and onion potato chips. It was sensory overload.

The problem with my childhood experience of Transformers was that they never stepped into reality. The toys were always more simple than the cartoon characters they were modeled after. They always took forever to transform, so it was hard to play with them with the same action and intensity as the cartoon. I always wondered if in the future my car would ever transform into a robot and by my friend and soldier. I doubt this will ever happen.

But watching real cars and trucks transform into robots in a movie was exhilarating for me. It was a childhood fantasy that was alone in my head, now exploded onto the movie screen. I enjoyed it so much that I went back and watched it again. I’ll definitely add it to my DVD collection (Napoleon Dynamite, The Passion, The Shawshank Redemption, and Almost Famous.)

I also enjoyed seeing new American muscle cars battle it out.

Bumble Bee the Camaro and Barricade the Mustang.

Kanye West’s new song: Stronger. I can’t stop listening to this track!

Getting off Work, Going to the Beach. Nothing beats getting off work and then going to the beach for two hours. One notable accomplishment for me is simplifying my walks across the street and onto the sand. I now just go in my swimming trunks. I leave behind the chair, books, magazines, sketch pad, towel, umbrella, chair, and bottles of water. I just bring my keys to the house. It’s like having a pool in your backyard, except it’s 200 yards away.

Married at the Beach. Spending a summer out here with Candyce was cool when we were dating, but being married adds intensity and romance to the summer that is unique to newly weds. We make dinner together and eat it outside by candlelight. We go out every other day for a jog (Candyce) and for a bike ride (me) and explore the beach towns north and south of us.

Escondido Car Show. We went to a Saturday night car show in Escondido on Grande Avenue. I caught a glimpse of this custom Chrysler 300 rolling down the street.

The first thing you notice is the suicide doors up front. There are no doors in the rear because they were welded and filled.

Although the imagery is goolish and not my style, I love that it’s outrageous and unlike anything else I’ve seen.

Illustrating a Video Game. I’ve designed a lot of things, but this summer was my first time illustrating a Flash video game for lifeteen.com: Vatican Ninja vs. Pirates. There’s something magical about making a video game because you can take an outrageous concept and make it a reality. The idea behind the video game becomes more legitimate and matter-of-fact once it culminates into a fun, interactive experience. I don’t believe video games can teach morality, because in the end, people will only play it if it’s fun. Once they’re finished having fun, they’ll be done with it. Playing a game is a shallow experience and you can’t take them too serious. But games on our site could be fun to raise awareness for our summer camps and teach a little bit about the regional geography that tells the story. That’s the next game.

Not Remodeling My House. I know that as soon as I get back in Phoenix, I’m going to dive into a quick and intense remodel of the main level of my home. I’ve spent a lot of the summer planning, sketching, and finding materials for the project. Jeff and I have sat down a couple times to re-think the floor plan. The anticipation is boiling inside of me. It’ll be good to be back.

Jeep Wrangler Unlimited

Everybody loves the Jeep Wrangler. Seriously, you may never meet a person in your life who doesn’t like Jeep’s drop-top icon. But even with its universal fan base, owning a Wrangler only makes sense if you are young and single. The cool factor helps you ignore the obvious problems with the Jeep: poor gas mileage, zero cargo room, and small back seats that get heavy wind that brutalize your passengers once the top goes down. The Wrangler Unlimited may still get bad gas mileage, but you have enough room for some cargo and your friends don’t have to get wind-whipped on the way to the lake.

4 doors = Bigger Party

2007 Dodge Nitro

People don’t get too excited about SUVs anymore, and it’s a shame. The Dodge Nitro has the visual DNA of the earliest SUVs. It is tall, lean, and rugged. It reminds me of the earliest Jeep Willies. You can’t beat that aggressive snout.

It’s lean body shares many design cues from the super-bad M80 Concept truck that circulated the 2002 auto shows.

1. Cowl and windshield angles
2. Cross-bar grill
3. Pronounced fenders and front air dam (beneath the grill)
4. Side vents
5. Wheels

Although I’d prefer the M80 to the Nitro, I’m happy to see that Dodge didn’t forget what they had right with the M80 concept.

The 2007 Dodge Nitro (top) and the 2002 Dodge M80 Concept truck (bottom)

They thinned out the visual mass of the Nitro by painting the C-pillars black, essentially removing the harsh lines that typically define the window for the rear seats. Typically, a car manufacturer will paint all 4 pillars that support the roof: the A-pillar near the windshield, the B-pillar that separates the front and back seat, the C-pillar that separates the back seat from the cargo space, and the D-pillar that finishes off the back of the SUV. What you end up with is three tinted boxes that define the different quadrants of the cabin. It also looks a lot like a school bus.

Is the H2 just a shortbus?

Audi TT, Audi R-8

Before I talk about the second-generation Audi TT, I have to share the car’s unique history.

When I was 16 (around 1995) my friend’s dad Dale gave me all of his car magazines once he was finished reading them. Although I was a bag boy and couldn’t afford a new car, I was fascinated to see the future through concept cars. Audi was making an outrageously styled car with a ridiculous name: the TT. Every other car was a streamlined piece of sheet metal that looked like a bar of soap. The TT was smooth, but it had bold curves and almost robotic-looking dimensions.

I lost track of the car for a couple years until I became a freshman in college. It was 1997, and Audi released that car and shocked the world. I was studying Industrial Design, and the whole department was buzzing with the outrageous success of this bold new car. We were excited that the auto world could be going in a new direction.

The ad campaign for Kobe’s shoe included the TT.

This first-generation TT was so popular that two years later in 1999, Adidas approached the Audi design team to help them design a shoe for Kobe Bryant, the young superstar of the Los Angeles Lakers. Imagine that: I shoe company outsourcing their design to a car company. You can see the similarities between the TT and the Kobe shoe.

The car, the shoe.

So it’s been 10 years since the first TT shook up the car world, and now Audi’s back with a bigger, refined second-generation car. I was a little skeptical of the new sheet metal wrapping the car, but I can see that Audi was sure to draw visual connections with their new mid-engine super car, the R-8.

The 2008 Audi TT (top) and the 2008 Audi R-8

I would write something about the R-8, but it’s as untouchable as private jet. I like bold, cool cars for ordinary people because that’s what we all end up looking at anyway. You might see one car worth more than $100,000 each day, but most of the scenery on the streets of life are purchased by working class people with families. Which leads me to the most bad@ss car on the streets today…

The 2008 Dodge Magnum

Anyone who knows me or reads my journal knows I think the Magnum is one of the top three coolest cars on the street, a car destined to become a classic for this generation.

When I heard that Dodge was going to update the car for this year, I was afraid they’d mess up a good thing. But they did it right: small changes to the grill and headlights, and a new hood scoop to remind people this car is mean. If you still one of the few people who don’t respect the Magnum, walk down the toy isle and notice how many little Magnums are hanging on the shelf. After that, go to player’s parking lot of your favorite sports team, and you’ll see the $30,000 Magnum parked proudly next to the $300,000 Bentley.

Bad to the bone.

The 200? Maybach Exelero

Okay, take back all that I said about liking ordinary cars for ordinary people. Sometimes I make exceptions, and this time it’s for the Maybach Exelero. I saw this mysterious car in a Jay-Z video earlier this year.

Jay-Z, I have your homework: Find words that rhyme with Exelero. Get back to me on your next album.

Apparently it’s a one-off car that cost $8,000,000 to build. Right now, everyone in the media is saying that this car will never be mass-produced, but I don’t believe it.

If they had no intention of creating a super-car and luxury-car, why would they let Jay-Z drive their eight million dollar baby? Mercedes resurrected the Maybach brand earlier this decade, and they put out the word out to the media mouths that they only expected pop stars and celebrities to own their cars. Now they’re skipping the papers. Jay-Z will do all the talking.

This car would look at home on the streets of Gotham.

The 2008 Ford Super-Duty

I don’t know much about the big trucks, but I know what looks cool. And Ford’s new Super Duty is as tough as you get. That 10-foot tall grill is enough to stare down any Japanese pickup, even a pack of ugly-as-hell Toyota Tundras.

Steppin’ tall.

The 2008 Volvo C30

This Volvo’s first hatchback in America about 40 years. I would quote specific numbers, but the thought of doing research on old Volvo’s bores me to death. All I know is that I’ve seen a couple old Volvo hatchbacks with big rear windows around the country. I’m sure the designers remembered those early hatches when designing the new C-30. It has a vintage vibe to it, don’t you think?

Why are all advertized European cars silver? And why are they always photographed on cloudy days?

Although I like the C-30′s clean, sporty lines, I doubt they’ll sell many of these cars in America. If you are in the market for a hatchback, the C-30 is too much money. If your in the market for a Volvo but don’t have a lot of cash, then the C-30 is just what you want.

This is why they’ll be purchased by young urban professionals (y.u.p.s.) or by parents who want their soon-to-be yups to drive one to high school. In ten years, these C-30s will be scattered around liberal college towns along with other recent lux hatchbacks or small wagons from Mercedes and BMW. Except they’ll be a little beat up and have dozens of activist bumper stickers. In other words, this photo is as good as the C-30 will ever look. It’s a shame too.

The 2008 Cadillac BLS Wagon

Rumor has it that the Cadillac BLS Wagon is going to Europe. Cadillac promises an alternative, bio-ethanol-fuel engine for the BLS Sedan and Wagon. That’s cool and all, but isn’t it cooler that Cadillac is actually making a wagon? I know there are some bizarre Caddy wagons floating around the Internet, and maybe Cadillac made some of those years ago. But in my lifetime, Cadillac has been all about big cars and bigSUVs. If this nifty little wagon does well in Europe, we might see it stateside in a couple years.

Cadillac’s first wagon?

Nope. Lowered Escalade = Cadillac Wagon

Other favorites coming out in 2008 are the Scion Xb and the Honda Element SC. Wow. This journal took me a lot longer to write than I thought. I’m actually tired of cars now.

The previous xB was built off the Toyota Echo platform, which was a super-compact car that was super-canceled because nobody bought it. The new xB is built off the Toyota Camry platform, which is an impressive foundation. Afterall, the Camry is one of the most reliable, stable cars of the past 20 years. This means the new xB is larger: a foot longer in length and three inches wider.

The engine is much more peppy than the first generation xB. It has a 2.4-liter four-cylinder engine from the Scion’s sporty coupe, the tC. It’s worth an extra 55 horsepower, now at 158 total. I enjoyed playing with the four-speed sequential automatic transmission. If you’ve never driven a car that’s set up like this, you’re missing out. It’s all the fun of a stick shift whenever you want it (passing, racing) but not when it’d annoy you (traffic).

The best part of the xB is that it’s really a Camry, except it’s not boring and not as expensive.

The custom xB on the bottom has new wheels, lowered suspension, and aftermarket GroundFX.

I know that small cars aren’t too sexy, and most car magazines and blogs ignore them for this reason. But there will always be a need for compact cars, so it’s worth drawing attention to companies that are making them and making them look cool.

Here are three concept cars from Chevrolet that I’m pretty excited about.

Chevy Groove concept, xB protege

Chevy Trax concept, almost rustic

Chevy Beat concept, would look good if it were really fast.

Marc Newson’s Small Car

Back in 1999 I was an Industrial Design student at Georgia Tech, and the buzz in all the I.D. magazines Ford’s 021c Concept by London designer Marc Newson.

The round-car revolution was coming to an end, so Newson’s style never rubbed off on any other Ford vehicles. Beginning in model year 2000, most cars became “wind-swept” or “new edge.” But his o21c concept is still stylish and clever.

Slick as a bar of soap.

I wonder why the rotating front seat has never caught on. I always love the suicide doors.

I suspect Marc Newson took inspiration from the small cars of the early 1970s. Keep in mind, this is the era when muscle cars ruled the streets.

Japan’s 1971 Datsun 510 still have a cult following with aftermarket racers. Photos from 510garage.com

You can’t keep your mouth shut when you have a big engine.

A sparkling, super fast new engine.

The 1971(?) Volkswagon Type 3 Notchback shared the same rear-engine as the Beetle. So all luggage was stored under the hood.

Wearing these shoes for the past week have made me happy. FINALLY I can be outrageous and impulsive all at the same time. And–this is the best part–there is no financial ruin waiting for me. If I were to continue the impulse buying after I bought my shoes, I’d go out and buy a Chevy Caprice Wagon from some guy in the desert and then make it awesome:

1. Airbags, 22 inch rims
2. Shaved door handles, antenna
3. Filled roof rack grooves
4. Impala SS grill, sideview mirrors
5. Ragtop roof.

I’ve always thought these cars would be cool to customize, and spending time out here by the beach just confirms this. There are several slammed woody wagons around town that always turn heads. Here’s some photos I’ve found of the best looking Caprice wagons online.

Nice rims, paint, and Impala SS grill. But I don’t like the stock side-view mirrors.

Once the side trim is stripped, you can see the smooth lines of the sheet metal. You can’t beat that ride height either. Slammed.

The rims belong on another car, but the woody flames are tight. Notice that everything is shaved.

Nice lines, clean paint, and sweet Impala SS grill and badges. But the best part is the ragtop. Imagine sliding that back on a sunny summer afternoon.

Clean.

Why I Won’t Do It

I’m obsessive about resale values of anything I buy. This lifestyle really wears me down, I admit. But I have to remind myself that I am successful mostly because I’ve made wise purchases and investments. I’m basically playing my cards right so I can hit a ripe time in life where I can buy things that fit my style. Right now I have to make sure almost everything in my house is a neutral color because it’s the easiest house to sell (whenever that time comes.) Classy stone tile floors are beautiful, and I like them. But my real desire is to illustrate the first level of Super Mario Brothers with mosaic tiles. But who’ll buy that house? I’m saving that for later. For now, it’s all about resale obsession.

The root of my resale-obsession began in 2001 when I bought PT Cruiser for $17,700 shortly after they came out. That was a good price, $4000 under any new or used other PT I could find. Over the course of those 24 months, Chrysler flooded the market by systematically lowering the prices until they eventually became their entry-level small car. I knew it was time to get rid of it, and I ended up selling it for $10,000. That was a $7,700 loss in two years. Let’s do the math:

$17,700 – $10,000 = $7,700 loss

$7,700 loss / (365 days * 2 years) = $10.55 decrease per day.

That’s a $10.55 depreciation every day. It’s like owning stock in a really bad company. But both of the cars I own now are super-stable investments. My custom, chopped ’54 Chevy Bel Air is an easy sale, and it’s not dropping in price a bit. If anything, it’s going up. My daily driver is Honda Element, which I’ve owned for almost 2 years. What’s insane about that is that I haven’t seen a used Element advertised for any less than I paid for mine. So essentially, it’s lost no value. Score!

As an added bonus, the Element has 0 maintenance, and it’s utility allows me to do work around the house, all the while saving me the gas money I’d have spent if I bought a truck. I realize at this time I sound like a salesman for Honda, and I’m okay with that. Money saved is…well, it’s money that stays in my pocket.

I can’t believe it’s 2007 and my affection for the Caprice wagon is immovable. When I was 13 back in 1991, my Uncle John used to drive his family up to the mountains in his woody Caprice. The wood was cool if it were on a surf wagon from the 1940s, but it didn’t seem right on this modern car.

I detested the site of it parked in our driveway. In hindsight, I hated his station wagon for the same reason I hated anchovies and meat loaf—because people made fun of them on TV shows.

After four years, people still like the 300. You would think people would move their affection to some other car, but no. The 300 is more popular now than it was it’s debut year. Somehow word got out that it’s a cool car for cool guys. Guys who would normally buy a sporty car or an SUV realize that they can look cool and still be reasonable about the daily use of a family vehicle. It’s a dream come true.

The customs keep coming. Every year since the car was introduced, every guy who owns a custom car shop uses the 300 as his show car to flaunt his design skills. And it’s a rare car that can actually take some customizing and not look ridiculous.

The stock Chrysler 300, photo from 2003, compared to 300C customized by Dub Industries (and Photoshop.)

The stretched 300. Just recently Chrysler announced that they were making a long-wheel base 300. Lincolns and Cadillacs typically have made sedans that are slightly stretched so they can be used by limo services for patrons who want room but don’t want to ride in an outrageous stretched limo like a bunch of prom kids. Whenever I rode with celebs in NY, they always rode in stretched sedans. Many limo services already use the 300 to tote around the rich and famous. This says something about the universal appeal of the 300 because you can buy one for under $25,000—hardly an elite price tag.

Livin’ large.

Barack Obama drives a 300. He is fighting to become the Democratic candidate for the White House in 2008. Obama is uber popular because he’s charismatic and has style. It seems like the last president with that combo was JFK, who made the 4-door Lincoln Continental famous. (Unfortunately, it was also the car he was assassinated in.)

Rumors of spin offs. I don’t know if this has ever happened in the history of American automobiles: a 4-door sedan is so popular that they might make a 2-door or a convertible.

2-door Chysler 300 Concept from www.cwwcardesign

Aftermarket modifications from WestCoastCustoms.com

Chysler 300 4-door hardtop with suicide doors, from www.cwwcardesign

Ford wants to make a 300 too: The Interceptor. I gotta admit, this is a pretty badass car. This has “mob boss” written all over it. But as today, this is just a concept car. And almost every concept car looks cool and futuristic. By the time it gets to production, it’s edgy beauty always gets dulled down for the masses. If the production car looks this good, then the Interceptor will be the new 300. And that’s not bad, is it? Maybe it’ll be a new type of rivalry, like muscle cars in the late 1960s.

Gang. Sterrr.

Chrysler has another car up it’s sleeve, but I’m not convinced yet. The Chrysler Imperial Concept has that big sheet metal look of a Bently or a Maybach, but I’m not sure it does it as well as the big dogs. Like the Intercptor concept, I’ll have to make a call when it’s made.

1. 2009 Chevy Camaro
2. 2008 Dodge Challenger
3. 200? Jeep Gladiator
4. 200? Ford Bronco
5. 2007 Toyota Landcruiser / FJ
6. 2005 Ford Mustang, Mustang Eleanor
7. 2005 Ford GT-40
8. 2002 Ford Thunderbird
9. 1998 VW Beetle

1. 2009 Chevy Camaro
The re-release of the new Camaro with its muscle car looks will finish Detroit’s Big 3 reinventing of their heritage cars. Ford did it with the 2005 Mustang (see below) and soon Dodge will re-release the Challenger (see below.) I always thought the 1969 Camaro looked more mild than mean, so I was happy to see Chevy gave the new Camaro some growl. Notice the laid back windshield and the razor sharp lines of the fenders, hood, and sideview mirrors.

The 1968 Camaro compared to the 2009 Camaro

2008 Dodge Challenger
Out of the whole list, the Challenger looks almost exactly like the original 1970 Challenger. This car was made famous again to young audiences by the race scene from the “Fast and Furious Movie.”

I went to a muscle car museum a few years ago before I really new anything about muscle cars. (I prefer customs from the 1950s, and I was intimidated by the shear number of special edition muscle cars.) But as I walked through the museum, I kept coming back to a 1970 Challenger. It was undeniably the coolest car in the museum.Because the new Challenger looks like the old, Dodge will have to load the new Challenger with a ferocious engine and new technology or otherwise it’ll be known as a modern mistake. The image on the bottom gives an idea of how people will be customizing the 2008 when it comes out.

The 1970 Challeger compared to the Challenger concept car.

200? Jeep Gladiator
I gave a full impression of this Jeep truck in a previous journal, but I want to hit a couple highlights here. First of all, Jeep has never gotten its trucks right. They’ve always been interesting to look at because they retain the masculine Jeep trademarks, but they’ve never developed the same cult following as the original Jeep. Once the novelty wears off, they become odd balls on used car lot.

Jeep has to do this truck right, or the Gladiator will be forgotten just like the rest of ‘em. How they will do this, I don’t know. Off-road enthusiasts will clamor for rugged durability out on the trail. I’d prefer a slide-back cloth roof to set this truck apart from the more capable pickups produced by Toyota.

The antique Jeep pickup looks much like the Gladiator concept.

200? Ford Bronco, 2008 Fairlane
Although the most famous Ford Bronco is the white, full-sized escape wagon for OJ Simpson, the coolest Broncos will always be from the 1960s and early 1970s, which competed for the same customers at the Toyota FJ, the International Scout, and the Jeep. What made the Bronco fun was it’s upright posture and boxy silhouette. Plus, the roof could be removed to enjoy the summer. Like it’s rivals from that period, early Bronco’s have kept their value, largely because of demand from off-road enthusiasts.

At the 2004 North American International Auto Show, Ford introduced a concept for the new Bronco. You can see it keeps the sturdy dimensions of the early Bronco, yet looks refined and clean. Concept cars usually don’t get manufactured, but they often hint the visual direction of future vehicles. In this case, the Bronco’s style pointed to the Ford Fairlane concept which debuted a year later in 2005. Although the Fairlane and Bronco have similar lines, the rumor is that the Fairlane will be released as a 2008 replacement for their minivan. I’m afraid the Fairlane will become a bore as soon as it’s marketed as practical and economical.

The 1967 Ford Bronco shares many traits with the Bronco Concept, and the 2008 Ford Fairlane.

2007 Toyota FJ (Landcruiser)
The Landcruiser is one of the few vehicles–much like the Jeep–that will remain cool, regardless of it’s age. Most cars become dull once they become eight years old, but at that age, the Landcruiser becomes vintage while other SUVs turn ghetto.

The Landcruiser began is strictly a utility vehicle, similar to early Jeeps. The height of this “FJ 40 Series” Landcruiser is a highly-coveted boxy Jeep vehicle (see below) that is legendary today for it’s off-road capabilities. I tried to buy one of these in high school because I thought they’d be cheap, but they were a butt-load of money.

For the record, somewhere along the way in the 60s, Toyota produced the wagon/SUV that evolved into the modern, high-class SUV that rich people like to drive to Starbucks. So this new FJ is a re-issue of the original tough-guy Landcruiser, and it will share space on the car lot with it’s more refined brother.

Like father like son.

2005 Ford GT-40
The original Ford GT came out way before my time, so I was unfamiliar with the car until the car magazines started buzzing about it’s comeback. I believe that it was one of the first commercials during the Superbowl that year, and it was just straight-forward footage of the car on the racetrack. I don’ t think the original Ford GT was available to the public it was a pure race car.

By the time the GT was arriving at car lots, many original buyers had already turned around and sold the car for much more money. Supply and demand. The sticker price was between $125,000 and $150,000, but they were being sold for over $200,000. I got an up-close look at one of these cars at that was auctioned off at Barret-Jackson in early 2006, and it was stunning.

I think they got it right the second time.

2005 Ford Mustang
American cars had some really tough years in the mid-1970s into the 1980s. Very few cars made in that time will be remembered as cool, and the Ford Mustang was no exception. It was a pitiful, moronic looking car. Just look at this all dressed up 1978 King Cobra:

1978 was a bad bad time for the Mustang. It looked like the dorky kid brother who got a tattoo to look like his older brother, the Pontiac Firebird.

It wasn’t until the late 1980s that it started to get some muscle in it’s lean body and under the hood. The first totally new Mustang hit in 1994, officially ending the awkward years that began twenty years before. Most people won’t remember it today, but the 1994 Mustang was modeled after the 1964/1965 Mustang. It had side scoops, louvered-looking rear tail lights, and similar grills.

I had a fold-out poster of the 1994 Mustang my mom found in USA Today in 1993. I lusted after that car on the wall. Back then the TV show “Beverly Hills 90210″ was uber-popular, and one of the main characters, the beloved Brandon Walsh, drove a 1965 convertible Mustang. Everyone knew in 1994 that that 1965 Mustang coupe and convertible were awesome.

Ironically, the 2005 Mustang is modeled after the 1967 Mustang fastback, which was the second generation Mustang. How weird is that? Two years of design evolution in the 1960s equals twelve years by today’s standards. That’s one way to look at it, but I believe the reality is that over the course of the late 90s and early 00s, people remember that Shelby edition GT-500′s and GT-350′s were freakin’ cool (thanks in part to the custom GT-500 called Eleanor in Gone in 60 Seconds.) And that’s what set the stage for the re-introduction of the Mustang in 2005.

The 1967 Mustang had a strong identity in the early years of Pony Cars and Muscle Cars. If you look at the same year Plymouth Barracuda, you can see that the designers at Ford knew what they were doing.

Aside from the modern wheels on the 1967 Mustang above, both of these cars are purely stock. You can see the striking similarities.

The infamous 1967 Eleanor above looks good, but I’m afraid the new Eleanor might look better.

2002 Ford Thunderbird
This was the first modern interpretation of a classic American car. Although the 1994 Mustang took some styling cues from the 1965 Mustang, the 2002 Thunderbird had an undeniable likeness to the late 1950s Thunderbird.

Notice the similar grills and headlights.

1998 New Beetle
Although the New Beetle was released in 1998, the concept was revealed in 1993 (codenamed Concept-1.) Young people today don’t understand the excitement we had in the 1990s about this car coming back.

I was 14 at the time, I will never forget when I first saw the concept car in my VW trends magazine. I bought the subscription because I saw some cool original VWs customized on my family’s trips down to Florida. A wildly-painted drop-top VW driving on a street lined with palm trees was the coolest thing I’d ever seen. It’s been 13 years since I first saw the concept for the New Beetle, so the newness has worn off. But I can honestly say the New Beetle is better looking than the original.

Again, I think the new one looks better.

It’s about ten in the morning, and it is still raining. I am sitting at Candyce’s coffee shop and everyone is scurrying in with their umbrellas. People in Arizona don’t get to use their umbrellas except maybe five times a year, so popping off the rain outside the door is a treat for us.

Everyone here is so excited. I mean, people are smiling because it has rained as much as it has, and every time we look out the window, we see more rain coming down. The parking lots are filled with puddles. Finally the dust won’t clog the sky. Rejoice citizens of Phoenix!

I usually get here to the coffee shop earlier, but it was easy to sleep in when it was cloudy. I think it’s Feng Shui that says you should sleep with your bed positioned so your wake up with your face to the east. I’m sure this means something spiritually, but practically, it’s hard to sleep in with the sun shining in your face. I mean, it’s painful to sleep in an extra fifteen minutes with the world’s biggest flash light in your face.

But this morning there was no sun because there was only clouds–nature’s snooze button. I slept until nine, and then I laid there for another half hour just listening to the rain. I could almost hear my lawn laughing with relief.

In the more northern parts of the valley it actually snowed. So all of those tall desert saguaros are dusted with white. I imagine the nature photographers are scrambling to get up there and snap some photos before it all melts. A snow-covered cactus is guaranteed to make at least one month in a nature calendar.

I am just so excited today. I guess this is how the people of Boston felt when the Red Sox finally won.

:::

On another note, I just saw in the paper that Toyota is really going to manufacture the retro-styled FJ–a vintage Jeep-looking truck. I first saw the FJ a few years ago in magazines, but most cars that cool never make it to the showrooms. I’m happy to see more stylish cars being made. Right now we have the Chrysler 300, the Dodge Magnum, the Ford Mustang, the Scion xB, the Nissan 350, the Honda Element, the Hummer H3, and the Mini Cooper. These cars make driving the streets more interesting. Who wants to be stuck in traffic behind a Toyota Camry?

I don’t have enough time to talk about all my theories about what makes a car a classic. It would take hundreds of pages. But one thing is for sure, if people don’t like the car when it comes out, it has little chance of being a classic in the future. Just because it’s old doesn’t make it a classic. There are acres of cars from 1957 rusting away in junkyards across the country. But it’s hard to find a 1957 Chevy in a junkyard because they’ve been pulled out, dusted off, and restored. Why? Because people loved them then, and because of that, they love them today.

This theory fails when you consider the Ford Taurus of the 1990s. People did like them then, but I would bet my life savings that nobody will be scrambling to buy a Taurus off the auction block in thirty years. So a new classic has to be more than popular, it almost needs to have mythic proportions. Celebrity status. When you say the name, an emotion needs to flicker in people.

So I’m betting that it will be the 2002-2006 Cadillac Escalade. I know skeptics would argue several points, like the fact that an SUV has never been a classic. (To them I could point to the Toyota FJ’s, early Land Cruisers, but I admit those are niche collector cars.) They could also point out that they aren’t rare. (I’d remind them that neither were muscle cars.) They might even argue that they don’t like the crowd who drives an Escalade. (I’d point out that the muscle car owners were an unruly bunch, and kids in chopped ’50 Mercs raised hell too.) And didn’t it have a lack-luster beginning? (Yes, but have you seen the early Barracudas?)

What makes this pick for a classic most difficult is that it’s popularity comes from hip hop culture. And most car collectors now don’t get the hip hop culture. But all of the toy cars in the stores are from hip hop culture. They sit on huge rims. They are status symbols of wealth and power and cool. I don’t like that it’s all about looks and not about performance, but that doesn’t seem to bother people. Another thing that I don’t like is that the Escalade is just an upgraded Chevy Tahoe. I would like a classic to be a stand-alone success. But not many people seem to mind, so I guess I shouldn’t either.

Most car people would agree that the Dodge Viper will be a classic. It has all the standards you look for: it made a big splash, it’s rare, it’s very fast, and they just look terrific. I don’t know enough about Vipers to tell you which edition will be the most collectible, but I predict all Vipers will be worth a good chunk of cash in 20 years.

My other two picks aren’t as much of an underdog as the Escalade, because they are still relatively new. If things continue to go well with the Chrysler 300, they could become classics too. It helps that they can have a huge engine, but more than that, high school boys are lusting after a four-door sedan. It takes a lot to make that happen. My buddy in minor league baseball says that most new players are buying 300s and pimping them out. That’s a big deal.

My other pick is the Dodge Magnum. It has mixed reviews today, but it’s still a special car with a big engine. Yes, they are wagons, but they are badass. If you roll up in a Magnum with dark tint and 22 inch rims, everybody knows you are cool. I see it as a new classic station wagon, the Chevy Nomad of today. I think I just talked myself into getting one.

On the retreat earlier in the week I talked with James for a while about cars and fist fights. Although he’s a well-groomed athletic guy in his 40s, you would never have guessed he averaged one fist-fight per month from fifth grade all the way until he graduated. He has scares like you wouldn’t believe. I didn’t have scare stories nearly as cool as his. His enemy stabbed him with a screw driver; I fell on cut my eyebrow on a rock when I was seven. I guess that what happens when you are raised in a rough part of town.

So anyway James and I decided to meet up at a car show this morning in downtown Chandler. It’s always the high-dollar hot rods that make a show the most memorable for me. I talked to one guy who had a Foose-designed ’32 Ford. I asked the owner how he could afford to higher Chip Foose, and he told me he knew his dad–legendary Sam Foose–and Chip designed his car while he was still in college. How cool is that?

There were also two Boyd Coddington cars that I saw at Barrett-Jackson two years ago: Chezoom and Whatthehey. Together, they were purchased at the auction for about $750,000. I was surprised they didn’t have the cars roped off. I mean, these two cars are worth more than the rest of the cars at the show put together.

I bought a magazine as a kid and Chezoom was on the cover. I held onto that magazine until the the pages wore thin and broke from the staples. The silhouette of that highly custom ’57 Chevy is etched in my memory. Just to see it in real life is like meeting a sports idol.

I spoke to the guy standing by the cars, and he explained that the owner is putting together a local car museum from his collection. After talking to this guy, I come to find out that many of the cars I’ve lusted after at Barrett-Jackson were purchased by this local guy and are going in his museum. For a car guy, there is nothing cooler than having a museum like that close to within a few miles of your own garage.

James and I had lunch at a legendary Mexican place and talked about working for Life Teen. He and I both enjoy working, knowing that what we do is helping people. But at the same time, we agree that many things need to change in order for Life Teen to continue to be a strong organization. It was a difficult conversation to have, but I know we both needed it.

:::

I heard there was another car show in Tempe, so after lunch I drove over to see what they had going on. It wasn’t as good of a show, so I stepped into a modern furniture store close by. I used to spend every free Saturday looking for modern furniture when I first moved to Phoenix back in 2001. I guess I was excited to have an apartment bigger than my shoe box in New York City, and I could finally have a pimped-out place. This store had well-made furniture at reasonable prices. I mean, it’s easy to make cheap contemporary furniture charge a lot so people will believe it’s quality stuff. I’ve seen it a thousand times. I don’t need any furniture now, but when the time comes, I’ll definitely go back to that store.;

Of course no Saturday is complete without me driving through a new neighborhood. I’m obsessive. This afternoon was fun because I revisited a neighborhood in Tempe I first discovered a few years ago. Most of the valley is flat, but these neighborhood is hilly and centered around lakes. It’s all man-made geography, but that doesn’t bother me. Because you drive around this place and you feel like you are at the beach. Three-story houses are built on the “cliffs” that surround the water. It was a lot of fun.

I finished my leisurely Saturday by taking Candyce to Ennie’s cookout. Ennie’s parents are in town from Texas, and we had a Texas-style cookout. There was a good group of people there, and we had a great time eating, laughing, and visiting. We played a DVD game about movies that turned out to be a lot of fun.

Today was just a good day. The older I get, I become more comfortable with just ENJOYING my days, rather than trying to accomplish things. I tell myself all the time now: it’s okay to have fun.

I’ve been famous for a couple years after being on two reality shows. Through that experience I’ve met a lot of famous people in the entertainment industry. Some of those people have shallow fame.

I met three key people in the custom car world yesterday:

1. Barry Meguiar

The first was Barry Meguiar who is the host of Car Crazy on Speed Vision. Barry has built up an empire around his car polish. Well, they make more than that, and everything they make is high quality and every car guy really enjoys using. He’s a big fan of the car culture. Through his TV show he introduces the viewers to custom car people who make the whole scene come together. You never get the since that he’s just putting on the nice guy role so that he can sell more products. He seems authentic.

I explained to Barry what I wanted to do with Kustoms.com, and he seemed really interested in my concept, which is to create a website to help younger people understand the historical and social context of the classic cars they admire. I hope that a young person could see a ’57 Chevy and not just say that it is cool, but they understand what was going on in the world in 1957 and how what was going on affected the success of that car. You need to know what older folks think about when they see the car because they were alive when it came out. I don’t like the fact that many Americans forget their past in their pursuit of the future. I felt fortunate that Barry was truly interested in my plans.

I learned more about what he’s doing with his website: CarCrazyCentral.com. They are letting the website be the center of everything they do. I know this isn’t a new concept, but it is new for people who are in the TV industry who’s only priority has been their show. He invited me to visit their studio/headquarters in Irvine, California, where they produce their television show and the website. I’ll have to visit them on my next trip out to San Diego.

2. Chip Foose

Meeting Chip Foose yesterday was an honor. I admire his God-given talent and his dedication to crafting stunning custom cars. On television, he seems like a kind and authentic person. You can tell he stands for something. I was happy to get his autograph and then walk with him as he was leaving the event. I know what it’s like to have people wanting to meet you or build a 30-second relationship with you.

3. Billy Gibbons from ZZ Top

Billy Gibbons is one of the guys with the long beards in the band ZZ Top. Although most hipsters wouldn’t notice their music, ZZ Top has created music for car lovers and showed music lovers the world of cars. So in the car world, Billy Gibbons is royalty. The car world is fun because it makes celebrities more real. There’s a connection between guys who spend time under the hood of your car. It doesn’t matter what car you’re working on, it’s still working on a car. It requires hard work and passion.

Meeting these three guys was cool because they’ve done a lot for the car hobby. I know that they would each think that my ideas for kustoms.com is a good one, and they’d applaud me for the ambition. That’s what car guys do for each other, they encourage one another to do cool things. But I realize that the site really will just be a hobby site. It’s not doomed to failure because it will be my hobby, but it’s growth is dependent on my free time (which I have none) and money (which I need to put other places.) So in order to get the site up and keep it going, I’m going to have to figure out a business plan to bring in some cash too. If it is a source of income–however small–it is larger than a hobby.

Good News for the Ford Mustang

After yesterday’s car auction, I am happy for the American auto industry, especially Ford Motor Company. Ford introducing their retro-inspired Mustang last year was a bold move. Most people assume that if you do something retro then it will be popular. But when you do that, you run the risk of creating something that is forgettable ten years down the road. I mean, who really cares about the re-introduced Pontiac GTO from two years ago? The the GTO is legend with millions of people waiting to love it again. GM tried to do it again, and they failed.

Yesterday several customized 2005 Mustangs sold for well over $125,000. That’s pretty cool considering you can get a new one for less than $25,000. It’s a complicated discussion to sort out what makes a car worth a lot of money, and I don’t have the room to write about it. But anytime that your factory vehicle can be customized and sold for such big money is really good news for your company. This doesn’t happen with custom Hondas, Cadillacs, Lincolns, etc. One-year-old cars selling for that much was truly car history in the making.

I am excited for the smarts that Ford put together to promote their 2007 Mustang Shelby GT500. They had the GT500 concept car there at the auction, driven onto the auction block by Carroll Shelby himself and Edsel Ford. The winner of the auction doesn’t actually get that car, but they will own the first GT500 to roll off the assembly line later this year. That means their VIN will be XXXXXXXX0000001. For most people, this doesn’t mean anything. But for car collectors, this is the pedigree of your vehicle.

The other cool parts of the auction package is that you get a matching tool chest with the same VIN. Carroll Shelby added that he would autograph the visor of the concept vehicle that was there at the auction, and then they would install it on your new car. You get a trip up to the Ford Special Vehicles Team to actually watch your car be put together. To top it all off, the money made from the auction goes to charity. For a car guy, that is one heck of an experience!

My guess is that once they hit the showrooms later this year, the GT-500 will have a sticker price of $65,000 and because of demand, people will pay of $80,000 for them. That’s how it’s gone for other retro-inspired cars like the Chrysler PT Cruiser, the Ford GT40, and the Ford Thunderbird.

Given the excitement of the auction package (especially the VIN), I expected the bidding to top out at $180,000. I was shocked when the auction closed at at $600,000. That is 10 times the sticker price of the new car!

This is a phenomenal way to begin the Ford’s story of the re-introduction of the GT500 to their lineup. They will have a full year of fanatic buzz increasing the value of their cars before they even come out. Realistically, this could mean that every GT500 sold in 2007 is worth twice as much today than they were yesterday. Every car collecting expert had to change their their speculation after that gavel hit at yesterday’s auction. This will generate tens of millions of dollars in extra profit for Ford and for Mustang car owners.

I believe that I watched history in the making yesterday–all in the course of a ten minute auction. I know that millions of dollars of development and years of hard work and ingenuity went into crafting that storied ten minute auction. I truly admire the people at Ford and what they managed to pull off. There are executives at every other auto maker on earth who are green with envy this morning.

What Ford pulled off yesterday shows that although they may not make cars as reliable as the Japanese do, the American’s know how to WIN the game they can play. Toyota has no heritage, but Ford does have heritage. Ford created a stellar plan to bring value back to their name. Brilliant people made the plan, executed the plan, and American auto history shifted because of it. Bravo.

I don’t know what’s going on at GM. My guess is that they are taking drastic action to re-order their company. The SUV craze brought in a lot of money and helped GM hold off the inevitable, but now it’s time for them to start over–just like the airlines are doing.

I think the same thing is coming for the youth ministry that I work for. I don’t know what it’s going to look like, but over the course of the next two years, we will have to restructure our whole organization in order to stay alive.

I like cars because they inspire me to be more creative. Designers and engineers spend tens of thousands of hours refining a car before it gets to the dealership in your neighborhood. So you can walk through the lot and be inspired by the designer’s passion, dedication, and ingenuity. And that car dealership turns over each year, as newer cars debut and take the spotlight.

As cars get older, the guys on the streets continue the passion. They make the cars lower, faster, and more beautiful. The car culture on the street is more immense and dedicated than the people who actually designed and built the car in the first place. The streets determine how a car will take it’s place in history. I love that.

So when you go to a a hot rod show, you aren’t just looking at pretty cars: you are looking at countless hours of men applying their passion. A labor of love.

I was explaining this to Candyce, and she could tell I loved every bit of it. She asked me, “If you knew you could not fail, would you design and build your own hot rod?” This started a whole other conversation, and this is what it comes down to…

I would like to build a hot rod, and I could. But my real passion is helping people. That’s what gives me the most satisfaction. I could design a beautiful hot rod and that car could make some people smile, but it won’t make their life better. My websites make me happy because they help people, not because they are pretty.

So now I’m alone at my house at the end of the day. I know there are hundreds of hot rod builders back in their hotel rooms, smiling because their creation sold for so much money. I do wonder what that would be like to feel that way, but in the end, I know that God has put me in a place where my passions belong.

The tent was packed with 10,000 people. The richest of the rich sat on the floor leve, closest to the auction block. I would go to the auction just to hear the auctioneer. It’s an added benefit to see the cool cars. On top of that, you get to cheer for a guy as he unloads a quarter of a million on car that was five thousand brand new.

People were dropping cash.

$150k a dozen times for a dozen Shelby Mustangs
$174 for anything with a Hemi
$191k for a ’69 Mustang
$300k for old Mercedes
$350k for Boyd Coddington’s “Chezoom”
$500k for Boyd Coddington’s “Whatthehay”
$500k for a Chrysler Airflow
$3,000,000 for a Oldsmobile!

This was my favorite woody at the auction. Check out the roof of the tent. There were several of these large tents filled with cars as awesome as this one.

After an hour of watching cars go up for bid, I was in disbelief. I know a Sunday auction isn’t as spectacular as a Saturday auction, but these cars were consistently going for less than what they were worth. The first car I saw on the block was; a ’69 Chevy C-10 pickup with a 400 hp engine. Nobody was bidding above $8k. I could sell that truck in my driveway for $14k without a for sale sign. There was a flawless Dodge Charger R/T that didn’t even meet the reserve because nobody would bid over $16k. If you drove that car 30 miles down the road to the Barrett-Jackson auction, you could get ten times as much money.

If Barrett-Jackson car auction is booming and breaking records, this auction was small and near extinction. I didn’t know if I was wasting my time or if I was actually in the right place at the right time. So then my mind started spinning like a true capitalist.

There’s quite a supply here, and little demand. I can jump in on this and make some money. I picked up an auction sheet and began my tour of the auction lot. I inspected each car to see how much it was worth. My favorite was a showroom perfect ’72 Chevy C-10 Cheyenne Super. I’ve never seen a prettier truck than that.

After an hour and a half of looking over the cars, I stood on the far side of the auction lot. I could barely hear the auctioneer in the distance. I was all alone, looking across hundreds of sparkling hot rods. I imagined driving them around town and having fun, and when I got bored, I’d sell them for profit. How could I lose?

I thought about the big picture in life, and it didn’t make any sense to buy a car today. I already have a cool old car, my chopped ’54 Chevy Bel Air. My garage is full. If you think of a car as a chance to make money, I would do alright for myself it I bought a car today. But I can take that same money and put it into fixing up my house, or even put it towards another house.

But the bigger decision in my heart was choosing my passions. I cannot let opportunity and greed dominate my life. I’ve already committed 2005 to improving three of my websites: lifeteen.com, kustoms.com, and nomoho.com. I don’t want to spend time, money, or energy on cars.

I already have opportunity in front of me. I’d be foolish to get distracted and go looking for more.