March / April 2013
GENEALOGY
I have always been interested in genealogy and family history. Not necessarily because my family was so famous or fascinating, but primarily because around 1900, a history was written about families in a town in Connecticut, my ancestors among them. It told of the relationships of the people who settled there in the 1600’s and their descendants down to the start of the 20th Century. It was done in a very factual way, but you could still use your imagination to embellish and fill in the gaps.
But, you say, I thought we were about cars.
In the same way, I find the magazine and personal stories about “barn finds” and notable cars also very interesting. You will have a car that spent its first years as an everyday mode of transportation until someone saw “something” in it and set out to fulfill a vision that only they had. Maybe they finished it and enjoyed it for years. Possibly due to unforeseen events it wasn’t finished or it needed freshening up and it sat for years behind the proverbial barn or in the rafters in a disassembled state until the original builder or someone else “discovered” and gave it a new lease on life.
This new life probably would include some of the original story, but also some embellishment and gap filling. As my brother-in-law says, “Never let the facts get in the way of a good story.”
Most “V thingies” can be based on just any passenger car engine. One big difference is many of our inlines are based on truck engines, from 235 High Torque up to a 292. Believe it or not, this gives us an opportunity to add to our stories.
I realize that a lot of military engines have been used, but what could be more fun than telling someone they had been beaten by a “garbage truck” engine or one from a dump truck? Another story could come from a fire engine engine ??? This is a lot better than having to say your base engine came out of some nondescript Biscayne or station wagon.
By the way, my engine originally came from a firewood truck.
What’s your story?
Will Willis
P.S. If you are getting tired of seeing the same old picture on the club Home Page, send a picture to our Webmaster Tim Tenold at tjtenold@pacbell.net .