Broken pencils are pointless.

Yesterday I went to Barrett-Jackson and today to Russo & Steele. Roughly 2,000 cars and 10 million people. I took some pictures but this is the only one for posting. The others were all of late-50's Chevy trucks - close-ups of things in the engine compartment or interior that I wanted to have for my own restoration. "How does that hook to the linkage? Ah, that's how it goes."

I'm not sure I'll go back to Barrett-Jackson. The changes I've noticed over the last few years have crossed a threshold and I'm not sure it's worth the $22 this Scotsman had to spend to get in. Instead of most of the cars outside under huge tents most are now inside and behind ropes. So all you can do is walk by the front of the car, not give it a thorough look. And B-J is as much spectacle as car auction, with all kinds of businesses hawking and hustling things totally unrelated to cars. Too many people, too tight a space, and too much hype.

Today was so much better. R&S has all their cars under tents outside and you can open doors, hoods, and crawl underneath if you want to. (I did lots of the first two.) Talked to some interesting people, including an older lady from Portland, OR selling their early 80's Mercedes 230 SL pagoda top with 44,000 original miles. And a guy selling a 1962 T'bird that's a very nice survivor.
Just cars and car people.

I've decided I'm one of a handful of people in the world restoring a 50's Chevy truck to near-original. I probably looked at two dozen of them over the last two days and all but one had been heavily customized. Put in a V8 with chrome everything, throw on some fancy wheels and low profile tires, and cut a hole in the dash to install a monster sound system, then run it across the auction block.

If you're a spectator at B-J like me you paid $20 for a ticket that allows you to walk around. If you've got more money than I do you can buy a bidder's ticket that is worn around your neck and allows you to sit in a special section. Oh, you also have to provide a bank statement showing you can afford to bid on a car. (I don't know how much has to be in that bank account, I just know it's more than I've got.) Some of the people wearing a bidder's ticket look like they just walked in from working in the garden, and they're the ones often bidding on the six- or seven-figure cars. Others are pretty clearly wannabes dressed to impress, strutting around to garner all the attention they can.
That's another reason I prefer Russo & Steele. Almost no pretense. Just people.
That's probably because there aren't any TV cameras there.

It seems like Europe could be headed for some serious social unrest over Islam. Most Muslims there are immigrants, which combines xenophobia and religious extremism in a way that could begin to look like the antisemitism of the late 30's.

Because I've spent a few hours the last two days at the auctions my mornings have started early to get prep done for Sunday. The upside: no problem getting a table at Starbucks. Pretty much have the place to myself. But by the end of the day I'm whooped.
That would be now.