Hot Rods

Happy Late Night, my Darling,

I was really excited to see your post this morning, of the car you used in your video. For one thing, it is super cool (more on that in a moment), and for another - you are really getting into the role of Producer now, arranging for such a major prop as that. The super cool part, for me, is that when I was a kid, I was fascinated by Hot Rods. That's what we called 'em, and they are probably still called by that name. When I was nine, I even had a subscription to Hot Rod magazine! I spent about a year building model cars, gluing them together and painting them with great care, and I built all the famous ones, including the "Red Baron" by Revell. Google it! :)

You may know this, now that you've worked with the owner of that Hot Rod, but there was a guy named Big Daddy Roth in the 1960s, who was an originator of what you might call "character" cars, i.e. Hot Rods with names like Rat Fink, and I built that model, too. :)

Big Daddy Roth built cars also for the movies, he was very famous for a while when the Hot Rod ethos was in vogue in the 60s. And of course he never went out of style, and I can see that one of the commenters on your photo refers to the car in your video as a "ratrod", so he must know about Big Daddy, too.

Make sure you Google the Red Baron! That was my favorite model. I actually won a blue ribbon for a model Camaro I built for a model car contest in 1970, which was held at a 7/11 (of all places). 7/11 was a relatively new enterprise back then, at least in the L.A. area, and this one had just opened and was one of the first in the West Valley area. I painted my Camaro a dark red, with sparkles.........took care to glue it using toothpicks, so no excess glue would show.

They hung all the entries to the model car contest from the ceiling of the brand new 7/11 store. Many kids entered the contest (and probably some adults, too). Model car building was a big thing for kids back then, and they let our contest entries hang for a while before announcing the winners. And do you know what happened in the meantime?

We had an earthquake!

Yep, that was the Sylmar quake, in February 1971. My first quake, and a big one, though nowhere near as bad as the Northridge Quake 23 years later. I had forgotten about my model at 7/11 in the aftermath of that experience, but nevertheless, I got a notification when the contest ended, probably by mail, that I had won a ribbon, so I went up there, to the 7/11......

and they gave me my model back, along with my blue ribbon, and the back axle had broken, because it had fallen from the ceiling during the earthquake. But other than that, it was okay. It had been hung in a plastic bag to keep it from dust, and after I got it back, I had that model back at home for many, many years, perhaps even into the 90s, and maybe even up until the Northridge Quake forced us out of our home. I think I may have had it all that time......  :)

The kicker is that I now live just up the block from that 7/11. It's been there 45 years now.

I think it's time they had another model car contest! If they do, I'll enter it.  :)

Because it's also about time I built another model car. ///

I had to tell you about it because your picture both reminded me and inspired me. Don't forget to Google the Red Baron (and Big Daddy Roth while you're at it).

I hope you had a nice day. Mine was quiet. I watched an absolutely classic Western this afternoon, "Virginia City", starring Errol Flynn, Randolph Scott and Miriam Hopkins. I had not heard of this one prior to a Google search for b&w Westerns, but it was stellar, and Flynn was great as always. More charisma you will not find in a movie star, he is one of my favorites. This evening was more reading of previously mentioned books, and of course my walk.

I also saw your post of your friend Annalisa's photo, and I really liked that too, because it's mountains and sunset - my kind of photo! :)

Well, Sweet Baby, that's all I know for tonight. Sweet Dreams and I will see you in the morning.

I Love You!  xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxooxo  :):)