You probably don’t know this, but I am a member of Toastmasters, serving as an officer in our corporate club. We meet once a week to give speeches, get feedback, and work to improve our public speaking ability. Yesterday, I heard a speech which made me really think: it was called “Stay RAD: Avoid Burnout”.
RAD stands for Rest, Activity, and Diversification. It was that last point, Diversification, that got me thinking. You see, like a lot of people, I get pretty comfortable with my routine. Stuck in a rut, I drive the same road to work every day, and do more or less the same thing at my desk all day. I hang out with the same people. I also tend to think about and write about a lot of the same cars.
Today, I want to change things up a little. I took a slight detour this morning to an abandoned service station I had seen not long ago and found something rather special. It appears that someone has been storing several classic cars in the old service area for quite a while.
This old service station – complete with a three-bay service garage and a “NO TRESPASSING” sign scrawled on the window of the store – has become home to a seemingly random collection of classic cars. I have no idea whether these cars are owned by one person, or if they’re being stored for someone else. Clearly someone checks in here once in a while, just based on the relatively clean Dodge/Mercedes-Benz/Freightliner Sprinter van off to the side.
In the spirit of diversification and changing up my routine, I want to simply present these cars to you and give you a couple of basic facts. Then, I would like you to tell me what you know about them, since many (read: most) of you are more knowledgeable than I.
The Mercedes above is a 190. All I know off the top of my head about the 190 is that this a small car, and that I saw a 1990 190E last weekend near a friend’s house. I’m guessing this one is a late 50’s model.
It’s air-cooled, it’s roughly the same design concept as the 190, and it looks to be complete. What is it?
I do know a little more about this car. This looks like a 66 Dart with a 273 V8 under the hood. It’s got brand-new tires on all four corners and a gorgeous cordovan paint job.
This is a 65 Thunderbird hardtop in a gorgeous light blue. It’s probably got a 390 under the hood, which is significantly bigger than the 302 under the hood of my truck. Must be a heavy car.
I love this Chevette. Apparently my family had one when I was young, but I don’t remember the car. I do remember Dad’s stories of racing it, though… funny how the brain works.
Like I said, you all should weigh in on these cars. Educate me. Tell me what I need to know about these classic machines. Also, take a lesson from me and change your routine up once in a while, even if it’s a simple as taking the long way home.
You’ll be glad you did.
![http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7394/9338839690_69d9ca59fa.jpg"](http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7394/9338839690_69d9ca59fa.jpg"){kind=link}
![http://farm5.staticflickr.com/4074/4811874891_3abbaeec1a.jpg">](http://farm5.staticflickr.com/4074/4811874891_3abbaeec1a.jpg">){kind=link}
Leave a Reply