"We have the Bill of Rights. What we need is a Bill of Responsibilities." - Bill Maher

Pam's been gone all day. Josh & Aubri did an event today that involved climbing various peaks in the Phoenix metro area. The full list included seven trails, some extremely challenging. They did six of the seven but missed the start time deadline for number seven. The still covered 22 miles in 11 hours of hiking. (They're crazy.) Pam has been in at their house spending the day with Megan and Caedon, getting her grammy fix.
She'll be exhausted, too.

Yesterday I went to the Goodguys car show in Scottsdale. Their promo said "over 3,000 cars and trucks" but I counted and their were only 2,816. But because it opens on Friday I suspect more showed up this morning.

They also have a large inside arena for vendors and a swap meet area out back. Besides wanting to look at all the cars - every type imaginable - I wanted to go to the Tucker's booth. They are located in Las Vegas and cater to people restoring GMC and Chevy trucks. I ordered new bumpers and picked them up at their booth, saving a significant amount of money on shipping.

I was feeling whooped from the seven hours I spent painting on Thursday so I didn't spend as much time looking at the cars & trucks as I normally would. Mostly I just walked up and down the aisles giving each a quick glance and stopping at the few that caught my interest. I also paid closer attention to the late-50's Chevy trucks, looking to see how things that were missing on mine are supposed to look. But 90% of them had been heavily modified, turned into rods. It made me think mine will be in a small minority - stock, with just a few safety and discreet performance upgrades.

Here are a few of my favs, with a brief comment on each.

They're not practical drivers, but I like the look of a classic hot rod. This one has that look, but it also has a modern V-8, AC, and a convertible top hidden under a panel behind the seat that makes it almost invisible. I'm guessing this one's pretty quick.

Different takes on a theme.

This is a late-50's Chevy truck with the same body style as mine. I took this pic because it shows a very common mistake. That fender emblem should be swapped with the one on the other side so that the red oval to the rear of the truck. Chevy was trying to channel the flames of a rocket in flight. A lot, maybe most, people putting them on think the taper should go to the rear, but not in this case. (I didn't tell the truck's owner.)

This rod has the more authentic flathead V8, and is painted in a flat finish that mimics the look of primer. Old school look.

This is a Kaiser Darrin, the only car ever made with a pocket door. They were also one of the earliest fiberglass bodied autos.
They didn't sell well, like Kaiser's other cars, and shortly after this the company went belly up.
Notice that this door system means no side windows.

It makes no practical sense, but it isn't supposed to. It's a piece of rolling art, and it takes a ton of skill to build something like this.
I like it.

This won Best of Show last year. It was up by the pavilion with other past winners, but this one was my favorite.

Lots of beautiful cars, some that weren't, and a sign that the car culture is still alive and well in the U.S.

A couple of hours well spent.