2007 Best Ride Contest Winner
Drum roll please……
And the winner is….Chris Bednar and his 1970 Big Bad Javelin SST! Chris won the hearts of the community by connecting with his kids through restoring a real collector’s car. Here is his write up:
Well, I'm a single father raising a boy (10) and a girl (7). We were all stuck in our daily routine. I was either cooking, cleaning, doing laundry, or homework and I asked the kids, "Hey how about us doing something stupid? Let’s buy a car and restore it together. We'll have fun and be able to get out of the house and meet people.” Well after a year and a lot of hard work this is what we got.
We've been to about 12 shows and have met the greatest guys and gals (car people). Just good ole American fun. My kids know more about cars now then I do. I owe this car to all my daughter and son's help and to you guys for letting me tell my story. Also you can be assured that classic cars will move on in my family to the next generation.
You said it best Chris, pass it on to the next generation! I can’t tell you how many stories I have from restoring all those classics in my dad’s backyard.
So there you have! Congratulations Chris! You will be receiving a $500 Visa Gift Card. I would buy gas, but that’s just me. There will be more to come on this great story.
Don’t forget to submit your classic ride for the 2008 Best Ride Contest!
How to Park
I can’t believe I have to write about this, but it’s getting on my nerves and I need to vent. People, please park straight. I mean really, you cannot be in that much of a hurry that you can’t fix your crappy parking job? The only place that I will accept crooked parking is the doctor’s parking lots at hospitals. That’s it. And that is why they probably have their own parking lot. But for the rest of us, park straight. For the love of all things good, park straight. If there is a point that I want to make, it’s this, follow the lines and not the idiot in the spot next to you. “But Joseph, if I follow the lines, then I will be so close to the next car.” So be it! I will guarantee that if you park like the idiot next to you, he will be leaving first and now you look like the idiot. Plus, you may be the one to receive this neat parking sticker, www.yousuckatparking.com! Anyway, I have constructed a 4 step process on how to park. Here is goes:
1) ASSESS. First, make sure your car can fit in the spot. If you have a huge truck, please do not park in a compact spot. That’s just dumb.
2) PLAN. Second, as you approach the spot where you want to park, sway over away from the spot so that you create a larger angle to turn in to the spot. It’s pure geometry. The larger the angle coming in, the easier it is to correct yourself. The smaller the angle, the harder it is to correct yourself.
3) TURN. As you are turning in to the spot, keep the front corner of your car as close to the car in the next stall without hitting it and ONLY IF THAT CAR IS STRAIGHT. If the next car is crooked then follow the lines, not the car. This way, when you come to rest, the car will automatically be in the center of the spot.
4) CORRECT. If you are not perfectly in the middle of the spot, then feel free to back it out and center it. This is simple, back straight out, turn you steering wheel 1/8th of a turn towards the center and move back in to the space.
There you have it, ASSESS, PLAN, TURN, and CORRECT. Four simple steps to insure great parking. Learn them, live them, and love them. One of my favorite things is taking my big Navigator and parking perfectly straight next to a crooked parker so that they can’t get in to their car. Hopefully, that will show them the error of their ways.
Next week I will tackle parallel parking…..ah who am I kidding….never mind.
Check out some Crazy Car Control on my main page, just press play!
