One of my own personal criteria that I’ve developed over the years to mentally rank the relative “wow” factor of vehicles is to gauge its first impression punch. What will the impact on the average person be when they see it for the first time?
This works quite well for most new cars, and your average car on the street. If your generic economy car wouldn’t even get noticed if you were honking your horn and flashing your lights, you’re probably driving a Toyota. If passers-by point cruelly and laugh, you have one of the new happy-face Mazdas. If they stop dead in curiosity, probably a new Kia Soul. But I digress.

What about when a car is significantly more unique; either a new exotic, or a custom-built classic? For these cars, I revise my scenario; what would be the response among people who know cars, and have seen a lot of them? The examples I use are the valets at a nice hotel or restaurant, who probably see a half-dozen $100k cars every night, and the traveling crowd at a car show. How would they respond to a particular car?
I don’t think I even need to answer that question with the Diamond T. The builder has “first impressions” down to an art-form. Not only does he have a beautiful hot-rod, but an equally beautiful car-hauler to get it to the show. Created by Steve Darnell, it’s one in a series of pretty amazing creations he’s cobbled together. Clearly, the man knows how to make an entrance.
Special thanks once again to Jim Brennan (aka UDMan) from over at CarDomain for sharing his beautiful high-res photos with us. Go check out his article on the truck and show him a bit of love.