Yeah my fellow Hoons, the past 90 days have seemed like a never ending Marathon for this olelongrooffan. It was exactly 90 days ago, Monday, March 2, after spending the weekend judging the Treasure Coast Builder’s Parade of Homes, that I had returned to my office to my job of catering to a bunch of rich folk who had built multi million dollar new homes with the company employing me and just trying to make them happy with their purchase, after the fact. Well anyway, after our usual Monday morning staff meeting I was instructed to see King Henry and Princess Diana in Di’s office. It was there I was informed that while I had done a great job, even receiving a five figure bonus the previous November, the services of this olelongrooffan would not be utilized at the company’s newest subdivision and I was immediately terminated. It seems there was a customer service team on the east coast who had worked through their warranted homes over there and that team would be relocated to perform the same duties in the newest company subdivision on this, the west coast of Florida. They were even at that staff meeting, noticed but unknown to this olelongrooffan. Yeah, this was the effect of not having a Hispanic origin (speculation) and possessing the least senority (fact) of any in the customer service department. When I returned to my office to pack up my shit, I stopped by the office of the guy who hired me, the only other white guy in the office, and let him know. He was floored and assured me that he had my back and would definitely give me a great referral. I loaded all my car related crap up and walked out that door without a look back. No debriefing, no regrets, no callbacks. So there this olelongrooffan was, 18 months into living there in FantasyLand and realizing that I was missing all of the cool car related crap I had been involved with to prior to moving there and decided to explore my options throughout the Sunshine State once again.


Since I knew the general rule of thumb about income levels and how that relates to the length of time for a career search, this olelongrooffan settled into the pits and garage area of life and just looked around to see what could be seen hoping upon hope that sometime in this lifetime I’ll be able to possess one of these. Anyway, at the ripe old age of the double nickel, I realized I was becoming a bit weary of having any and all irate customers and my superiors call me on my cell any time, day or night, to solve a problem. Yeah, once at 9:45 on a Saturday night, a homeowner called me to complain about a frog coming through her open sliding glass door into her living room. Yeah, honest to God true story. I told her to grab a broom, sweep it out and close the F-ing door. “Call me on Monday if there is still a problem.” In the meantime, said customer emailed Princess Di and did this olelongrooffan catch a ration of shit that Monday.

Alas, I digress.
Now my brother, thehorsefarmer, and his beautiful wife live in a quaint little burg just north of that big bay that is home of the Stanley Cup bound team while BigBrotherBob lives in the town named after the founder of the company producing the vehicles seen in the above image. They both encouraged me to break loose of the southwest and head to the big city. I admitted my precarious financial situation and thehorsefarmer was generous enough to open his home to this olelongrooffan and after spending 60 of those 90 days searching for a suitable position in FantasyLand, this olelongrooffan packed up my longerroof and headed three hours north to the tranquil countryside that is Pasco County, Florida.

During those 60 days spent down in FantasyLand, a lot of meetings were attended but for some reason or another, none of them felt like a ride I could get aboard and win some races with. Up here in TranquiLand, a whole damn bunch of team meetings have been held with one feeling more positive than the one previous. Plus, this olelongrooffan has been able to spot some pretty cool, well at least to me, cool stuff and share it with my fellow Hoons. The retired BBB and thehorsefarmer have been extremely supportive and one day, not long ago, the three of us, chaperoned by the equally retired barngoddess, spent a day just looking around flea markets just seeing what cool old crap folks tire of on a regular basis. thehorsefarmer even popped for lunch that day.

Well my fellow Hoons, one day after attending a cattle call to hire new employees for that sporting goods big box retailer originating from the new home of Marcal and my brother, Bus_Plunge, this olelongrooffan decided to take a detour on the return trip to TranquiLand and see what could be seen over there in that town where the Water is so Clear. I remembered that on the road from the Gulf to the Bay, there was a pretty cool old classic car sales place I thought I would check out once again.

Well, appropriately enough, while traveling down Missouri street, this grouping of rare but desirable old taxi cabs was sighted by this olelongrooffan. Of course, I had no choice but to stop and gather a few images of them to share with all ya’ll here in the Hooniverse. This is by far the largest group of Checkers I have seen to date, and most likely will ever see. But then again, this olelongrooffan once said that about GMC Motorhomes and now I see them literally everywhere.

Now, not all of these were in pristine condition. In fact more than a few of them had suffered the ravages of time and the salt air and roads, presumably in The Big Apple as well as down here in the coastal Sunshine State.

And while that Aerobus with its multitude of doors is a bit much for this olelongrooffan, (unless I need a funky camper conversion) that standard issue four door longroof checks every box for this olelongrooffan with reference to desirability, rust be damned.

Yeah, those Aerobuses are quite rare and to see one in presumably running condition and still available to get out and earn a living is pretty cool to this olelongrooffan. I can’t remember a time where I have ever seen one of these out and about trolling the streets or airports but I sure hope to while I am still on this side of the green stuff out on the lawn.

And those folks at that old school cab company even have an Aerobus quasi civilian version as a backup, just in case a standard issue cab is not fancy enough for some high faluting clientele.
So, as it turns out, I was just around the corner from that classic car showroom and stopped in to chat it up with the boys about the old classics they had available. As I was chatting it up with TheManInCharge I nonchalantly inquired as to whether they might be looking for any additional sales staff? “Yes we are. Why? You interested?” Well, my fellow Hoons, we ended up chatting it up for another two hours and ended up that meeting with another set up for this olelongrooffan to meet up with Pete, Senior the week after Memorial Day.

As I took leave of TheManInCharge and that dream holding showroom, (not just for the buyers of those classics but for this olelongrooffan and what the opportunity that impromptu meeting could lead to), I remembered I had put my previous day’s refrigerated leftover lunch on the black dashboard of my longerroof to warm up in the hot Florida sun. And it was just the perfect temperature for consumption.

So this olelongrooffan headed down to the Bay at the end of the street and enjoyed some warm leftover chicken and shrimp scampi prior to heading back to TranquiLand. The only better car warmed up meal this olelongrooffan has ever had was when my daughter’s mom and I were in France eons ago, cruising around in a small Fiat belonging to one of my sisters who lived there. We stopped at a patisserie and bought some quiche. I took mine and put it under the bonnet on top of that motor until we found an appropriate spot to enjoy a bottle of wine and a bite to eat just down the road a piece. When I put that quiche on that motor, I caught a load of it from my non car living wife. But my fellow Hoons can bet your sweet butt that when we stopped and this olelongrooffan pulled that piping hot egg concoction from under that hood, that gorgeous blonde mother of my daughter was first in line for some of it. And of course I shared. That’s just the kind of guy I am. For what that does me.
Alas, again I digress.
And how did that meeting with Pete Sr. turn out?

Well, my fellow Hoons, this is the view I have from my desk overlooking the lobby at PJ’s Auto World here in scenic Clearwater, Florida. Yeah, Pete Senior agreed with TheManInCharge and offered this olelongrooffan a position as a Classic Car Consultant schlepping classic cars, street rods and late model quasi exotics here in the Sunshine State.

This is the view from my desk over my left shoulder, overlooking the front row filled with Hemi muscle cars, street rod phaetons and even a one off fiberglass special famous for its ties to Bob Hope, yeah, that Bob Hope.

And over my right shoulder is this view of even more classics, including a Dan Gurney Mercury Cyclone Talladega, number 21 in the Talladega registry. Funny, prior to the past year or so, I had never seen one of these in the flesh and prior to my new gig here I had seen only two, both of those at auctions. Now, I am sharing office space with one.

And if this olelongrooffan should stroll over to the door to the basement and crack it open, this is the sight I get to enjoy. The longroof is the only classic one we have in stock and it is my self imposed mission to get that one to a new owner, post haste.
So yeah, life has sure changed up for this olelongrooffan in the past 90 days but given what fun I had schlepping trailers a few years back, I know this gig is going to be even more of a blast. And this olelongrooffan cannot think of a better way to Celebrate Life.

And my fellow Hoons, just wait until Fastback Friday.
Image Copyright Hooniverse 2015/longrooffan