Jil McIntosh

Hot rods: just too much damn fun

Last night being one of the first in recent memory without a torrential downpour, I fired up the Studebaker and headed out to the local cruise night. I'd forgotten just how much fun I can have with this truck.

The Stude used to be my daily driver from April through November; it was how I got to work, bought my groceries home, and how we hauled everything from a queen-sized mattress to our kitchen cupboards back from the store. It saw less use when I started reviewing cars, because you can't judge a vehicle when it's sitting in the driveway. That's a shame, because this little truck's a blast.

I went out to a local cruise night, one of the real ones that are still the way it "used to be". No offense to the guys who work so hard to present regular cruise nights each week, but I'm not a fan of being told what year vehicles can come into the roped-off area of the mall parking lot, and here's your ticket, and park where the attendants tell you, and when the last prize of the night is drawn, everyone fires up their cars and drives straight home via the shortest route possible.

No, this one out here (Pete's Big Bite in Whitby, Ontario, if you're ever out on a Friday night after about 9 pm) is as it was in the beginning: you come in, wait until one of the families getting a meal gets back in the minivan and vacates a spot, you double-park if necessary, and you hang around and talk cars until you've had enough, and then you slowly cruise on home because the night's so nice, and the car's running just right, and you're in the coolest thing on the road, and it's just good to be alive. Gas is how much a litre? At times like this, I really don't care.

Why I don't like car auctions

Last year, at a cruise night, someone came up and looked at my 1947 Cadillac. "That's worth about $80,000, right?" he asked.

That's about four times its value, but rather than give him a deal at $65,000, I asked what made him guess so high. Well, he said, one went at Barrett-Jackson the other night for that.

I don't like car auctions. They're too big, too noisy, and after a half-dozen go over the block, far too monotonous. But what I really don't like is that I think they're detrimental to the old-car hobby. Just as celebrity chefs have sent trendy fish to near-extinction, car auctions have sent otherwise ordinary vehicles into the stratosphere, from which they seldom return. Instead of people driving their cars to shows and cruise nights, piling in the family to go for an ice-cream run, and having fun with the old-car hobby, buyers have become speculators. They treat these machines like mutual funds, storing them away until the next sucker pays $150,000 for a 1958 Chevrolet and they bring them out in the hopes of getting rich.

Look around you: old-car owners are old. When I ask what it'll take to keep this hobby going into the next decade, the answer's always the same: "We need younger people to get involved." But if you're determined that your hot-rodded '32 Ford won't change hands for less than $75,000 -- because that's what they're all asking in the National Street Rod Association's classifieds -- what younger person do you think is going to buy it? And if they do invest that much into it, where do you think they're going to drive it?

I saw it in the money-soaked 1980s, when cars ran on cash instead of gasoline; it wasn't uncommon for speculators to buy and flip them without even seeing them. In 1982 I turned down a 1959 Cadillac at $5,000 because it was overpriced; five years later, they were trading at $60,000. Not every car that crosses the auction block is ridiculously priced, but these are soft-porn TV shows, and they're going for the money shot. If you can get someone to pay you eight times what your car is worth, well, good for you. But then don't complain when you go to a "classic" car show, and a Chrysler K-Car is the oldest thing there.

A busy day in the paper today ...

I have three stories in today's Toronto Star newspaper.

The cover story, on upcoming old-car shows, can be found here. My thanks to photographer Richard Spiegelman who had a 1957 Chevrolet picture -- I couldn't find one anywhere in my files.

Earlier, I'd written a rant here on airbag safety, which I massaged and turned into an opinion piece. It's in the paper here.

And finally, I have a review of the Mitsubishi Lancer, which you can access by clicking here.

The Year of the Car

This is a big year for the history of the automobile. In 1908, General Motors of Canada was founded, and the Model T first went on sale. Cadillac won the coveted Dewar Trophy for the interchangeability of its parts -- a big deal back in the days when most parts had to be individually machined before they'd fit -- and the Thomas Flyer won the New York-to-Paris race.

The Fisher Body Company was organized, the first four-wheel-drive motor vehicle was built, most cars went to left-hand steering, and Oakland was introduced, a nameplate that would eventually become Pontiac.

It was a pretty exciting time for the horseless carriage, and to that end, Michigan has a full range of activities planned to celebrate what it's calling The Year of the Car. This includes events at The Henry Ford, Meadowbrook Concours d'Elegance, the Detroit Festival of Speed and Style, and the Woodward Dream Cruise.

You can find it all under one roof at MotorCities. Cruise on over and have a look.

Something new: glossaries

I'm slowly compiling glossaries that will help explain some of the terms related to new and old cars. Bear with me, as it's an ongoing process, but you can find them through the new links to the right. I've tried to keep the definitions as simple as possible -- cars are complex and the last thing you need is an equally confusing description!

Boyd Coddington dead at 63

Hot rod builder Boyd Coddington passed away earlier this week; my story on him for the Toronto Star is here.

Coddington was always difficult for me. He wasn't my favorite artist-in-metal; he did a lot more cars that didn't turn my crank than those that did. But when he caught my attention, he did it full throttle. Chezoom and CadZZilla will rank at the top of the list for as long as people care about cars. And because of his television exposure, a lot more people care about cars. There's a legacy right there.

Watt's that?

A homemade Watts link in action, in my husband's under-construction 1957 Cadillac. Them what ain't fans of the genre won't be too interested, but I'm actually very impressed at the work he's doing on it. Just don't tell him that, okay? It'll go to his head.

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Thinking outside the box

This is what's turning my crank today. This is Hot Rod Jakob, and it's a Volvo.

Yes, a Volvo.

This amazing machine was created in Sweden by award-winning car builder Leif Tufvesson at his Caresto shop, and after a tour of the Nordic countries, it'll come to SEMA in Las Vegas in November 2008. Tufvesson showed his last two Volvo creations there, as well.

He took his inspiration from the 1927 ÖV4, the first series-production Volvo. This new version faithfully copies its hood curvature, windshield frame, radiator shell and grille, but uses a carbon-fibre chassis, Volvo T5 turbocharged five-cylinder engine, Volvo M90 transmission, and steering wheel and shifter lever from a P1800.

Tufvesson is no stranger to the North American hot-rod scene, but he grew up working on Volvos and for a while built concept cars for the company, so "instead of obtaining inspiration from an old Ford, as is usually the case in hot rod circles, I wanted to build something that meant more to me personally."

Inspiring it is, and my hope is that enthusiasts on this side of the water will look past their long-held traditions that a hot rod must be a North American vehicle, and appreciate this phenomenal piece of work for what it is. I can hardly wait until November and a chance to see it in person.