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and local weekend shows here – al-
most anything within a two-hour
drive.
The year has been a whirlwind of
shows, shows and more shows. People
ask why I do it. Why do I spend so
much time going to these shows? Is it
to win a trophy? Is it to earn money
(ha!)? What I tell them is this: I’ve had
the car when it was my daily driver,
I’ve driven it across the country and
up and down the East Coast. I’ve
driven it in sun, snow and rain and
when it got to the point it was no
longer safe to drive, I parked it. At one
time it was in my driveway and then I
moved it to my father’s driveway until
he passed away and then moved it to
a buddy’s barn until I started the
restoration. I always knew I would put
it back on the road; I always knew that
I would start driving it again. If I had
to do it over again there are, of course,
things I would have done differently.
But the main focus was to drive it and
enjoy it, and to share that enjoyment
with others.
We were coming back on the Bal-
timore Beltway from the AACA Mu-
seum one evening about dusk and a
late model Z28 pulled up alongside.
The passenger rolled the window
down and yelled across, “
Clone?
” My
wife yelled back, “
Nope, its real
.” The
Z’s passenger’s eyes got real wide and
she said, “
Cool!
” and smiled as she
gave us a thumbs-up and they drove
away.
That’s the beauty of driving this
car – that’s the real trophy. When
some young kid comes up and stares
at the car, and has that look of a bud-
ding car enthusiast, that passion for
all things fast and hot – that’s when
you know you are doing the right
thing. I plan to end the year like I
began, on a ride of a few miles, to meet
up with a couple of other owners. We’ll
sit and talk about how great it is to be
able to experience owning a legend
and how it’s important not only to ad-
mire it, but to drive it.
We’re ending the rainiest year in
history around where I live and I’m
planning on the “Last Drive of the
Year,” to be followed up the next day
with “The First Ride of the Year.”
In 2019 I’m planning on driving it
more to shows further and further
away and for 2022 I’m starting to
make plans to drive across country
again. I’m not changing the gears but
I may go up a size or two in tires. And
I have to find that little but persistent
water leak on the right side of the
windshield. The plan is to try and ei-
ther recreate one of my cross country
trips or to hit each state capital in all
48 states.
So while I can understand that
some people like to have that perfect
concours car or that occasional sunny
day driver, I’m going to try and hit the
250,000 mark in the next three years.
After that I might start slowing down.
The SHELBY AMERICAN
Spring 2019 57