I don't know what it is about these bad-arse vintage cars, except that people give them a lot of clearance. Some guys can have 90-grand Audi TT Quattros or some Porsche SUV that's more expensive than my house, and folks look at them and think, "Douchebag. He's so pretentious with his car." But then there's those of us who live for the garage, and when people see the result of our endless weekends of work in our Firebirds or Novas or GTOs, they immediately want to chat us up. We've got working man's cars. That and OUR cars have little flecks of finger flesh in the undercoating. (I'm a little clumsy with the grinder.)

I wouldn't trade my leaky, creaky bird for a brand new Ferrari. Okay... I totally would, but I'd be selling it immediately and looking for a new T/A.