Muscle Car Shortage

If you grew up like my kids did, with a father who loves classic cars, it’s probably not too surprising that my daughter Tiffany has a fondness for muscle cars. I came of age in the era of the muscle car and had a bunch of them when she was a kid. So she definitely wanted to take her daughter Destiny to Hankster’s Hot Rods in Daytona Beach while they were here. Hankster’s is a combination car museum and collectible car showroom housed in an old roller-skating rink, and it’s always fun to stop in and see all of the neat old cars on display.

But this time around it was a bit of a disappointment. I don’t know if there is a muscle car shortage or what was going on, but they didn’t have even half of the number of hot rods and muscle cars that they normally have.

We all have a dream car, and Destiny’s is a 70s-era El Camino, so she quickly fell in love with this one. I had a buddy in the army who had one very similar to it, and I took every opportunity I could to get behind the wheel.

Parked next to the El Camino was a Dodge with a 440 cubic inch engine. I had one of these for about 24 hours once when I was in the army, but it had more horsepower than I had guts and I decided that discretion was the better part of valor and sold it to a friend of mine.

As I said, while the showroom is usually full of old Mustangs, Camaros, GTOs, and Corvettes, this time around Hankster’s didn’t have very many old cars I felt were worth drooling over.

Instead, they had a bunch of things like dune buggies and old pickups and SUVs. Not that there was anything wrong with them, but it wasn’t what I had come to expect to see there.

They even had a couple of conversion vans from the 70s. Again, nice to look at, but not their typical inventory.

Tiffany fell in love with this Volkswagen and suggested then if I bought it for her, she could drive it home to Arizona, and I wouldn’t have to get up early tomorrow morning to take her to the airport. Sorry, kid, I’m not that easy.

When we left Hankster’s we took a stroll through nearby Dunlawton Sugar Mill Gardens, admiring the new troll house they had on display.

Then we went to Aunt Catfish’s on the River for dinner. We got a window seat, allowing us to look out across the river to the high-rise condos facing the ocean in  Daytona Beach. Dinner was delicious and we all left with full tummies.

This is the girls’ last day here, and I’m not sure what we will be doing. But whatever it is, I know we’ll be having fun cramming in the last bit of adventure we can before they have to go back home

It’s Thursday, so it’s time for a new Free Drawing. This week’s prize is an audiobook of The Driving Lesson by my friend Ben Rehder. While Ben writes some excellent mysteries, including the wildly popular Blanco County series, this tale of a boy and his grandfather on an unplanned road trip across the country is a coming of age story that will tug at your heartstrings. To enter, click on this Free Drawing link or the tab at the top of this page and enter your name (first and last) in the comments section at the bottom of that page (not this one). Only one entry per person per drawing please, and you must enter with your real name. To prevent spam or multiple entries, the names of cartoon or movie characters are not allowed. The winner will be drawn Sunday evening. Note: Due to the high shipping cost of printed books and Amazon restrictions on e-books to foreign countries, only entries with US addresses and e-mail addresses are allowed.

Thought For The Day – The best way to appreciate your job is to imagine yourself without one.