Like the car that carried around a couple of so-called bootleggers on the dirt roads and washed out bridges of Hazzard County....
Sometimes the car didn't survive the jumps. Okay most often the car didn't survive. So they made LOTS of General Lees. This one was in good shape because it wasn't jumped. And it was signed by my new good buddy George Barris...and that OTHER guy...
But THIS ONE actually got jumped. Several times. And it was auctioned for a fraction of what most would expect it to go for. (I think that's called a Recession..)
Doc! You built a time machine.....out of a DeLorean?
Go Speed Racer, Go Speed Racer!
The van from Little Miss Sunshine. Minus Grandpa's body in the back:
Oh man, Elvis's 1960 Lincoln.
Too much.
Steve and his boss Mike feel the same way about cars, and they have some great friends and acquaintenances who share their passion. Growing up, they idolized the drag racers and the street rodders who had the cool cars. One of their idols, Tommy Ivo, was a guy who'd grown up doing television roles and got into drag racing.
His four engine dragster was immortalized by thousands and thousands of little boys who used their model glue and paint to assemble Tommy's ride. So Mike decided to buy the original.
During the auction, he outbid Tommy Ivo, and won the car for $190,000.
After Tommy got over it, he came out and autographed the car:
Then stood with the guys and B.S.'d about the car:
Could you imagine standing around casually talking to someone you idolized throughout your childhood? I took photo after photo, capturing as much of the moment as I could. I would hope someone would do the same for me, should I ever finally meet Madonna.
And stand around talking about how awesome she was when I was growing up.
But then the moment got a little better.
Steve introduced me to Joe Amato. A drag racer who Steve has watched over the years, and yes, there's a model of his dragster in the house:
Too surreal.
