By Klassic Kruisers Kar Klub

Car Fanatics – Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder

Mar 31, 2011 | 10:16 PM

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. If you are anywhere near a car fanatic, it’ll make your life easier if you keep this phrase in mind! Let me explain with an example.

I am driving down the road one day with a non-fanatic friend of mine when a rusty 1963 Chevy pickup drives by.

“Nice truck” I mumbled and then caught my friend’s ‘deer in the headlights’ look out of the corner of my eye. At that point I had to explain to my friend that to us car guys, a vehicle doesn’t necessarily have to be a perfectly shiny gem to be a thing of beauty.

If you’re like me, it takes two seconds to do a makeover in your mind on even the rustiest, most beat up vehicle and see it’s potential.

“So why are you telling us this Woody?” Everyone has different tastes when it comes to the style and type of vehicle they prefer and consequently, several different groups of vehicle enthusiasts have emerged over the years because of that.

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Here are a few of those groups and a bit of a description of them (some of these are even new to me so please bear with me if my descriptions miss the mark a bit):

Original/Stock/Classic/Etc.: This group likes to see a vehicle restored back to original which makes these vehicles easy to spot. When you see something that is 50 years old driving down the street and it looks like it has just come out of the show room, chances are it probably falls into this category!

Kit Cars: The majority of these vehicles are built on a donor frame which, for the older kits, was usually a VW. These kits can be bought in any number of styles and at various stages of completion. One of the most popular kit cars over the years has been the Shelby Cobra.

Rat Rod: Rat Rod has become a term that encompasses anything that is unfinished. These cars, until lately, were built to be driven rather than shown, and often from spare parts.

Rod & Custom: The term Hot Rod has been around for many years and actually pulls many different vehicle types into it. Classically these vehicles will be the traditional cars that have been modified in any number of ways. For those who are old enough to remember, the yellow 32 Ford Deuce Coupe in the movie American Graffiti was definitely an iconic Hot Rod.

Imports/Tuners: These vehicles are often heavily modified, including custom paint schemes, wheels, stereo systems and driveline modifications. The movie Fast and the Furious has numerous examples of some amazing tuner cars. Imports and tuners are also associated with the sport of drifting.

Hellaflush: This is a fairly new term which describes the ‘flush’ nature in the way the cars are modified. These cars have very low profile tires that are run as flush as possible to the body of the car.

Art Cars: For me personally this is sometimes the most interesting group simply because of the creativity involved in building these, dare I say, works of art! If you have never seen one of these creations, type ‘art cars’ into your favorite web search engine and hold on! You will find everything from cars covered in Pez dispensers to giant drivable shoes. For example, the picture with this article is an Art Car called the Dr. Seuss Fire Truck.

As you can see, car fanatics definitely cannot be lumped into one category. Whatever your particular interest is, there are probably 5000 more people out there that share your same interest. The bottom line is, dive in and have fun with whatever your niche is.

And if it is your thing, join up with a group that shares your interest….or start your own! Hmmmm, the Our Lasting Dedication For Antique Restored Trucks Society. I like it other than I just figured out the abbreviation for it. Maybe I’ll rethink this one!

Keep the rubber side down!
Don ‘Woody’ Wood
For more information please email the Klassic Kruizers Kar Klub at: klassickruizerskarklub@gmail.com or visit us on our website: www.klassickruizerskarklub.ca