As the lockdown grinds on, Elaine and I have begun enjoying dinner with friends by ZOOM light. With our laptop propped on the opposite side of the table, we share dinner and conversation with good friends. Not only does seeing friends lift one’s spirits but it has provided needed motivation for me to abandon the Unabomber look.

In “Like children we love” I share an unexpected classic car experience.

How have you continued to enjoy you Classic Vehicle passion during the New Normal?

Like children we love

Having launched Drivin’ News, I decided to take a brief staycation at a favorite destination, my garage. Birthing the blog consumed a significant amount of time. Occurring as it did during the Covid-19 lockdown it served as a time gobbling blessing. However, being time consuming it had kept me away from my garage. No longer.

Decked out in suitably scruffy garage attire, I entered my detached 2-bay to the fanfare of my garage door clacking up its track. Flicking on the lights, a comforting familiarity embraced me. Battery tenders glowed green, the ‘61 Corvette, purchased in 1967, sat in peaceful repose in the left bay. The ’53 Jaguar XK120 to its right radiated a timeless beauty. Between the two lay a ragged shard of broken plywood amidst a sprinkling of wood fragments.

Broken plywood? After a frozen moment absorbing the incongruity of its presence on the garage floor, my eyes flashed everywhere in pursuit of clues.

My gaze quickly fixed on a massive branch and the gaping hole it had created in the ceiling of my garage. Wood dust and splinters lay all about as a reminder of the violence done to my roof. Retreating to the exterior of my garage, I climbed a stone wall to assess the damage from above. Around eight to 10 inches in diameter and an easy seven feet to eight feet long, this maple missile had snapped and plunged a good thirty feet before breaching my garage roof. Like a giant uncarved totem it stood straight and proud as if providing a mast for my garage.

Amazingly, despite its considerable destructive potential, other than my roof, damage was minimal. Actually the lack of damage astounded me.

Plunging with the force of Thor’s hammer, Mother Nature’s bullet nosed missile, after splintering the roof, wedged against a husky 2” […]

In these uncertain times society as a whole faces life altering demands imposed by social distancing and imposed isolation.

That said, look on the bright side, as car people we have been well prepared for this solitary experience by the endless hours we have spent in our garage alone or with the same loyal friend or family member by our side.

Mustang Madness Revisited

Rich Varjan has accepted this unfortunate situation as an opportunity to sequester himself and his son Christopher in their garage with the 1969 Mustang that Varjan bought and raced in 1973. Last driven in the late 1970s, Varjan’s Mustang has suffered decades of neglect followed by spotty efforts over the last 15 years to bring it back to life. Now with few competing distractions, it appears the Mustang’s time has come.

Varjan a gregarious and genial bull of a man has been a “car guy” since his teen years growing up in Oradell, NJ. Today he operates European Exchange, a highly respected transmission repair and rebuilding business in Hackensack, NJ.

By the early 2000s Varjan’s Mustang sat literally as a sad shell of its once high performance self. Little remained of critical support structures. For “Collectible automobiles” class members it was the epitome of the “Buy It Or Bury It” question. In Varjan’s mind the choice was clear, scrap it or start from scratch with a tube chassis. As Varjan says, “Anyone in his right mind would have scrapped it. Still that Mustang meant so much to me, I decided to rebuild it.”

Varjan envisioned the resurrected Mustang returning to life in full out Pro-Street trim. While street legal, a Pro-Street car’s signature high performance engine and NHRA roll cage clearly screams track racing. His Mustang would not disappoint.

Stroked to 393 cu. in. with 13.5 to 1 compression, the Mustang’s original 351 cu in Windsor has been totally rebuilt. Dyno tested at over 600 horsepower, the stroked Windsor quietly sulked in a corner of the garage as it impatiently waited to be mated to the custom race tuned tube chassis Varjan had fabricated in the mid-2000s.

Having the awesome power delivered though a 6-speed Richmond transmission and 4.56 gears consummates a marriage made for quarter mile heaven. To get that power to the pavement, eighteen inch Budnik forged wheels wear Mickey Thompson Sportsman tires […]