The recreational car show season is about two-thirds of the way done for 2007, at least here in New England. There will be good cruise days sprinkled in until about Halloween, but as the summer winds down, so does the practice of four-wheeled gatherings. Every year as I stroll past rows of shiny fenders, my thoughts wander to what fun there is to be had with that vehicle that doesn't participate in workaday drudgery.
For project cars, it's a veritable prerequisite to have a garage. Note the shot of my driveway, and its distinct lack of a garage. Lacking a place to store all the accoutrements of the vehicular addiction hobby, let alone provide a proper roof over the heads of my vehicles makes upkeep of even our regular rides that much more difficult, never mind keeping the shine on anything special.
Still, the draw of something to wrench on that doesn't have to be back together for the Monday commute has a certain gravitational pull to us car guys. I should mention the other impediment to project car bliss. Money. Auto journalists don't summer in the Hamptons unless we're already possessed of a personal fortune. Obstacles aside, the lure of putting something right and even improving it through the efforts of your own two hands is a delicious prospect, so I have taken the plunge and gotten a 1958 Edsel project car that fits perfectly with the time, space, and budgetary constraints of my situation. It's there in the shot of the driveway, see it?
Okay, so it's an AMT/Ertl 1/25 scale model, but that doesn't diminish its status as a project car, does it? You've still got to have some chops to build the thing correctly, right? I'm looking forward to tuning up my airbrush skills and getting the finish on the body appropriately mirror-like, and I'll be doing what everyone else does to get the details right: studying whatever pictures and documentation I can get my hands on.
Just like a real project car, the Edsel's been sitting around a while, untouched. Back before I had a house, a child, or any kind of real responsibility, I picked up this kit with the intent of having some fun putting it together. Now if that's not the story of endless numbers of people with some car sitting in their driveway, slowly returning to its base elements, I don't know what is. So, I'm revisiting a project started long ago, and we'll be sure to keep you up to date on any successes or failures we encounter along the way. Now, anyone know how to use an airbrush?
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