We've probably all been in the old car hobby long enough to have wondered why there are some locally owned cars that we seldom if ever see. At the AACA meet this past Saturday, I was asked on more than one occasion if I knew Mr. Somebody who lives in Hummelstown and is "into" Studebakers. Or "You must know the Whatchamacallit family. They're big into old cars."
Well, now I think I know why some people decide to keep their old cars in the garage and not take them out. My subject line tells the story.
Yesterday, two days after Grace was awarded an AACA National First Junior, I drove her to work -- so my coworkers could see the fruits of 10 years of labor, and so the people at the local glass and radiator shops could see what their labors contributed to. I've been working 6 AM to 2:30 PM. We're on flex time, so since my wife and I get up early (oh dark thirty), why not get an early start on the day and have the better part of the afternoon to devote to what I want or need to do around home. Two-thirty comes, and I leave work. I head over to Auto Glass Technology to show Lisa and Andreas what the car looks like all finished. They loved it. Then I went over to Smitty's Radiator Service to show Ernie and his helper. They loved the car, too. Ernie is walking around the car, marveling at it, when he stops in back of it and says, "What happened here?" What happened where? "Take a look here," he says. There on the trunk lid is an 18- to 24-inch long scratch in the paint, much of it all the way down to the primer. Somebody keyed the car.
Now there is no way I can ever be made to think that anyone in our small building would do such a thing, but every once in a while people who are not Tyco Electronics employees are seen walking through our parking lot. Maybe they're taking a short cut from Faulkner Honda which is behind us, or maybe they've wandered in from the Faulkner GMC dealership that's next door.
Today I had our building manager put out an e-mail note asking if anybody in the building had seen anyone in the lot yesterday. No one had. Two of my coworkers came over to me to tell me that they had been out at 10:30 and 11:30 to look at Grace, and both of them said there was no scratch on the trunk lid when they were walking around the car.
So when I got home yesterday, I called JC Taylor to file a claim. Their adjuster called me today and told me that it will be covered under comprehensive, which has a zero deductible, and the sooner I can get an estimate to him, the sooner they'll cut me a check for the repair. So I took the second half of the day off to drive up to Antique and Classic Restorations in Germansville, PA. The subject line is the amount of the estimate.
I'm not angry; I'm not pissed off; I'm not upset. But I am baffled. What drives someone to do such a thing? I could almost understand if someone pried off the V8 emblems; the eights are gold plated. But to just scratch the paint? That's beyond me.
Oh well, that's what we insure our cars for. But one thing is for sure; I won't take my Studebaker to work ever again. Nor will I take Cathy out to dinner in it unless I can park it where I can keep a close eye on it.
And there's the rub: it's so much fun to drive and to see people wave and give a thumbs-up. It's fun to watch them fairly drool over Bob Bourke's finest design. I just hope nothing like this happens again. That might just sour me on taking Grace out of her garage.
Kindest regards,
Alan Mende
Hummelstown, PA
I'm not a mechanic; I don't even play one on TV.
Well, now I think I know why some people decide to keep their old cars in the garage and not take them out. My subject line tells the story.
Yesterday, two days after Grace was awarded an AACA National First Junior, I drove her to work -- so my coworkers could see the fruits of 10 years of labor, and so the people at the local glass and radiator shops could see what their labors contributed to. I've been working 6 AM to 2:30 PM. We're on flex time, so since my wife and I get up early (oh dark thirty), why not get an early start on the day and have the better part of the afternoon to devote to what I want or need to do around home. Two-thirty comes, and I leave work. I head over to Auto Glass Technology to show Lisa and Andreas what the car looks like all finished. They loved it. Then I went over to Smitty's Radiator Service to show Ernie and his helper. They loved the car, too. Ernie is walking around the car, marveling at it, when he stops in back of it and says, "What happened here?" What happened where? "Take a look here," he says. There on the trunk lid is an 18- to 24-inch long scratch in the paint, much of it all the way down to the primer. Somebody keyed the car.
Now there is no way I can ever be made to think that anyone in our small building would do such a thing, but every once in a while people who are not Tyco Electronics employees are seen walking through our parking lot. Maybe they're taking a short cut from Faulkner Honda which is behind us, or maybe they've wandered in from the Faulkner GMC dealership that's next door.
Today I had our building manager put out an e-mail note asking if anybody in the building had seen anyone in the lot yesterday. No one had. Two of my coworkers came over to me to tell me that they had been out at 10:30 and 11:30 to look at Grace, and both of them said there was no scratch on the trunk lid when they were walking around the car.
So when I got home yesterday, I called JC Taylor to file a claim. Their adjuster called me today and told me that it will be covered under comprehensive, which has a zero deductible, and the sooner I can get an estimate to him, the sooner they'll cut me a check for the repair. So I took the second half of the day off to drive up to Antique and Classic Restorations in Germansville, PA. The subject line is the amount of the estimate.
I'm not angry; I'm not pissed off; I'm not upset. But I am baffled. What drives someone to do such a thing? I could almost understand if someone pried off the V8 emblems; the eights are gold plated. But to just scratch the paint? That's beyond me.
Oh well, that's what we insure our cars for. But one thing is for sure; I won't take my Studebaker to work ever again. Nor will I take Cathy out to dinner in it unless I can park it where I can keep a close eye on it.
And there's the rub: it's so much fun to drive and to see people wave and give a thumbs-up. It's fun to watch them fairly drool over Bob Bourke's finest design. I just hope nothing like this happens again. That might just sour me on taking Grace out of her garage.
Kindest regards,
Alan Mende
Hummelstown, PA
I'm not a mechanic; I don't even play one on TV.
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