That's Carol and me about halfway up to Mt. Baldy 'testing'
the Spencer² hiboy before delivery to Dennis Higginbotham.
How are your New Year resolutions coming along? I'm here to tell you I might as well not even make any. I'm half through January and my resolutions are already shot to hell. My wife Carol says I sound like a broken record about being busy and not having enough time to do anything but sleep and I know there are plenty of readers out there in the same boat. With all that's going on I've found that the most enjoyable free time is my drive to and from work.
When my wife Carol wanted to move my only request was not getting caught up in the commuter hassle of L.A.'s notorious east/west traffic. I wanted the commute to be on the north/south surface streets out of the Pomona area. We settled in La Verne. It's a great old citrus town nestled in the So-Cal foothills above Pomona. The location is good and just twenty minutes north of the shop. What's cool is there's about a half of dozen or so different routes to work in and around the Fairplex and I try to take a different one each day. Just cruising south on "E" street next to the Pomona drag strip brings back great memories of my dad and me attending the races almost every weekend during the 50's.
We've always got some pretty cool rolling stock around here to commute in and "road test," so I got in the habit of trying to drive something different other than SO-CAL's bad to the bone "DUB'd out" black Lincoln Cartier Town Car. For instance last February we finished the Spencer² deuce hiboy. Then after its debut at the GNRS I racked-up a 1000 miles of "testing" before delivery to Dennis Higginbotham, hey someone has to do it.
You know a lot of guys brag on having hot rods touted as daily drivers but they're not. And that's too bad, because driving them is what it's all about. If you have a hot rod that's evolved into a "Garage/Trailer Queen" because your lifestyle is hectic you might think about dropping into the driver's seat more often and make the trip to work a lot more enjoyable, man it really works for me.
Having fun commuting to and from work really doesn't require a collector car as long as it's cool, clean and somewhat modified. Almost every morning I take a little time to myself and no matter what I'm driving it gets a wipe off with a car duster (you know the car duster is a great little invention for clean freaks like myself, I don't know what we did before they came to the industry). Next I clean the windshield, turn off the cell phone, drop in a CD and I'm off to enjoy one of life's simple pleasures, cruising to work in a cool car. The trek just seems to put a good spin on the start of the day and I truly enjoy myself for that brief twenty minute ride. It's a time to set the stage and no matter what the task ahead may be, it always seems to take on a better light by the time I get to work.
The close of the day is no different, no matter how tough it's has been. I get in the car and by the time I get to the corner I'm taken back to the simplicity of man and machine. It is a way of life for a true motor head; the car gives you a place to wind down. I feel sorry for people who tell me that cars are just transportation. They are missing out on a hell of a lot of fun and in my crazy flat out world, the cars I enjoy bring a bit of sanity to my life.
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