Something happens when you put paint or primer on a car. It's not just that the highs and lows show up, it's that it starts to become the sum of it's parts. A whole.
No longer are the new tail lights a focal point. The bare metal spots cease to be noteworthy repairs. The chopped top doesn't stand out. The frenched headlights just become part of the fenders. All of this fine, in fact it's the point we builders strive for, but it all had better work. And the color better be right, which in the case of this '51 Chevy, it is not.
I made this realization after we sprayed it that late Wednesday night before the show in Santa Maria. Yesterday I made the realization why.
Cole Foster, famed custom, hotrod, and motorcycle builder, wrote something several years ago that stuck with me, "...customs are spooky bad guy cars."
Here it is, April, 2010...
May, 2010 at Santa Maria...
Spooky it is not. The words that come to mind are safe, industrial, nice, and innocent. Yeah, no. It must be dark.
More from Cole, "...and dosent make me want to build cars to please the masses, or I would build some tangerine double bubbled fagsled, it makes me want to park them across the street from the show. I had a great time, saw my friends, show was steller and even got a 2 dollar trophy, not bad."
That basically summed up my weekend at the show, minus the trophy.
Spooky bad guy cars indeed! I try not to make it obvious when I lock my car door as I sit in traffic next to you guys! :)
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