I've not sent in my dues this year - intentionally. I'm out. It's not fun anymore - it hasn't been "fun" for at least a few years, in truth. Nothing to do with SDC or any of the polished egos that persevere here. It's just that after 40 years (about 8 of which SDC has steadfastly refused to acknowledge - in spite of my name in the rosters of those years), there's not much thrill and intrigue left to this pursuit. No sour grapes (in spite of the aforementioned deliberate oversight), no nuthin'. I just wanna do different things with whatever time fate affords me. I've had a great time, I've done things - Studebaker - that afforded me great satisfaction which would've left the average Joe scratching their heads over. I've never had any sort of a "bucket list", and still don't.
When I first got into cars, I had prior fascination with model airplanes - I even have a patent for a toy airplane that I developed in the 70s - never made any money from it, but it was satisfying nonetheless to develop something that combined my artistic talents with my fascination of things that fly. I've always found it satisfying to take a bunch of sticks and tissue and fashion it into something that would take wing - tho I haven't pursued that aim since the late 80s, and now it's beckoning me again.
There are other factors too. Among them is the fact that my wife's gonna retire in June and I want to spend more time focusing on things that I can do to assist her interests (gardening primarily - and we do it BIG time here). Another factor is the cost of gasoline. When it was two bucks a gallon, that was fine. 'cause honestly - I wasn't gonna own a bunch of Sunday show 'n shine curios. If I couldn't DRIVE them as they were meant to be - I didn't want them. I've said that for longer than I can remember. Remember: "We'd rather fix than switch!"? I took that motto to HEART - however crazy that sounds now. Regular is hovering at $3.50 here now. Sadly, our incomes have not matched that price growth in the past 20 years. Somewhere since '02, it's ceased to be fun when I had to think about what a day's casual cruising might cost. We're not one of the one percent. And I can buy a LOT of model airplane satisfaction for the price of a tank of regular.
For now, I hope to keep Pete (our 3E Transtar) and one other Stude car (I'm aiming for the '58 Provincial), but so much other stuff is gonna go. Don't get excited about my C-K stuff 'cause there ain't none. Not anything, that is, but this and that for those body styles. What I suspect is there's gonna be a couple ofr loads of stuff that'll end up on our local scrap yard scales.
Anyway, there ya have it. We (Ken Pyle and I) are trying to get this 64 R1 Hawk ready for ebay. It's gonna be there eventually. Beyond that - who knows. Like ol' "what-should-I-be-a-member-for?" Sal - I'll hang out here now and then. But my days with SDC are closing down.
When I first got into cars, I had prior fascination with model airplanes - I even have a patent for a toy airplane that I developed in the 70s - never made any money from it, but it was satisfying nonetheless to develop something that combined my artistic talents with my fascination of things that fly. I've always found it satisfying to take a bunch of sticks and tissue and fashion it into something that would take wing - tho I haven't pursued that aim since the late 80s, and now it's beckoning me again.
There are other factors too. Among them is the fact that my wife's gonna retire in June and I want to spend more time focusing on things that I can do to assist her interests (gardening primarily - and we do it BIG time here). Another factor is the cost of gasoline. When it was two bucks a gallon, that was fine. 'cause honestly - I wasn't gonna own a bunch of Sunday show 'n shine curios. If I couldn't DRIVE them as they were meant to be - I didn't want them. I've said that for longer than I can remember. Remember: "We'd rather fix than switch!"? I took that motto to HEART - however crazy that sounds now. Regular is hovering at $3.50 here now. Sadly, our incomes have not matched that price growth in the past 20 years. Somewhere since '02, it's ceased to be fun when I had to think about what a day's casual cruising might cost. We're not one of the one percent. And I can buy a LOT of model airplane satisfaction for the price of a tank of regular.
For now, I hope to keep Pete (our 3E Transtar) and one other Stude car (I'm aiming for the '58 Provincial), but so much other stuff is gonna go. Don't get excited about my C-K stuff 'cause there ain't none. Not anything, that is, but this and that for those body styles. What I suspect is there's gonna be a couple ofr loads of stuff that'll end up on our local scrap yard scales.
Anyway, there ya have it. We (Ken Pyle and I) are trying to get this 64 R1 Hawk ready for ebay. It's gonna be there eventually. Beyond that - who knows. Like ol' "what-should-I-be-a-member-for?" Sal - I'll hang out here now and then. But my days with SDC are closing down.
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