A Classic Car Guy Story
There was once a little boy
who spent hours playing with his small Matchbox and HotWheel cars in the dirt
flowerbed in front of his parent's house.
He also built orange plastic HotWheel Superfreeways in his bedroom and
down the hallway much to the dismay of his mother. His miniature automobile
collection was the envy of all the kids on the block.
When he wasn't playing with
his little cars he was terrorizing the neighborhood in his pedal car.
Once he even drove through a patio door in his pedal car and by the Grace
of God was unharmed.
At the age of six, this little snotnose could tell you the name of almost every
automobile on the road. Playing the
"guess what car that is?" game became a family favorite during vacations in
the Johnson's tan-colored 1966 Chevrolet Biscane Station Wagon.
 When
around 8 years old, his HotWheel cars were neglected and building model cars and
riding bicycles became more of a pre-occupation. He built dozens of model cars
and
modified them in every conceivable way. Sometimes he used his sister's Barbie
doll accessories for his special projects like when he "borrowed" Barbie's TV and
kitchen cabinets to customize the interior of his 1965 Ford Econoline van - to
the dismay of his sweet sister.
He carpeted interiors of models with scraps of material he "borrowed" from
Mom's sewing room and applied outrageous paint jobs to everything with wheels.
All that glue and thinner must
had a terrible effect on him, because after a couple of years
he stopped building models and started acting crazy.
Mesmorized by his hero Evil Kneivel
he discovered new thrills by jumping trash cans on his bicycle. Somewhere around
that
time he even started talking about liking girls and stuff.
Crazy. The model cars were proudly displayed on his shelves in his
bedroom but his well-intending mother "dusted" them until they were left in
pieces and finally placed into boxes and stored in the attic next to the
Matchbox and HotWheel collection.
At sixteen, out of a necessity
to express newfound juvenile autonomy, he bought his first car.
He paid for the car with money he earned from mowing lawns and cleaning
barnacles off of dry-docked shrimp boats. His first car? A clean, stock 1969
Plymouth Barracuda Fastback purchased from a neighbor for $600.
It immediately received slotted aluminum wheels and 50s-series Mickey
Thompson tires (but no Barbie accessories on this one). It ran great until one
day on the way to the beach a Mustang owner ran a stop sign and became Barracuda
bait. Humans ok, Cuda not ok.
A few years later the young man
went off to college and patiently waited for the day when he would graduate, get
a job and buy a cool car again. Graduation finally came. His thoughtful
parents anticipating the lad's need for wheels, surprised him with a monetary
gift that allowed him to search for another classic.
His peers were buying Hondas and such but he wouldn't be swayed. He
purchased a restored 1965 Chevrolet Malibu Convertible for $4500 in Houston,
Texas. For the following five years
that car saw more places in Texas than Colonal Steven F. Austin ever saw.
One day that Malibu, longing
for home I guess, headed west straight for Malibu Beach.
It got there just fine. While
in California our classic car guy met some other classic car guys and accepted a
job working at a world-renown classic car dealership.
His knowledge of automobiles increased. And he developed relationships
with some of the most outstanding automobile builders, collectors and specialty
car enthusiasts in the nation. He
sold automobiles to people all over the world, located cars for people who had
expensive and exotic tastes and appraised all kinds of automobiles for buyers
who lived far away.
He's still living in the land
of shiny metal street rods and soft leather interiors where crusin' is an art
form practiced by many savvy Californians. He's a grown boy now and still
loves cars of course. He never became a mechanic or a race car driver or
anything like that. But he's a
faithful enthusiast of design, craftsmanship and ingenuity. And he's owned
some really neat classics over the last few years too.
 To
share his enthusiasm with the world he started a fun web site for classic car
lovers like himself, and made it a friendly place to visit with lots of useful
information for classic car guys. It's
called, well, ClassicCarGuy.Com.
Maybe you've heard of it.
A word from Michael
I'm pretty much a car nut alright. And yeah, (blush)
that's me in the red cowboy suit. I know there are many of you out there who
share my love for classic automobiles. I
dedicate this site to all of you who have kept the passion alive and I
personally welcome you to ClassicCarGuy.Com.
I hope you will bookmark this site and keep us as handy as you would a can of
oil or a very large open-end wrench!
If you need any assistance
in selling, buying or locating a classic please let me know.
I will do my best to make you my top priority.
In the meantime please refer
us to the other kids on your block!
-Michael
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