Aren't You A Little Old For That?

   

   This has to be one of the more somewhat annoying questions an adult gets asked - "Aren't you a little old for that?" The question can be applied to any number of things, hobbies, or topics. To me, it's right up there with another age old question, "Why would you spend so much time and money working on an old car?"  I've been asked both questions far too many times over the years, but it appears to me that the frequency of them being asked is lessening. Maybe it's because people are finally giving up or perhaps I've entered geezer territory now that I'm over 60 years of age. The old car question usually goes either unanswered or has my stand-by answer; "If you have to ask, you won't understand." The kicker is, these questions have been around for generations. People have been working on, hot rodding, and modifying old cars for years in addition to collecting toys. So I guess we haven't answered the masses sufficiently enough. Maybe we never will.

   However, the too old for something, in least in my case, can be applied to my toy car collection as
well as my affection for old Warner Brothers / Looney Tunes cartoons; especially when watching classics that have Wile E. Coyote and the Roadrunner. One thing that I've always found amusing, especially as of late, is the endless supply of items the Acme company can and will sell to the consumer. Everything from massive industrial magnets, to jet powered sneakers, to rockets you can ride on that had handle bars. I was watching one episode yesterday morning, while taking a short break from my writing, that showed the coyote in a junkyard, and he managed to build a dragster from all that "junk". Looking closely at the dragster, it showed the definitive valve covers that belonged either on a 392 or 426 Chrysler Hemi engine, as well as a GMC 8-71 blower with all the trimmings. Man, I want a junk yard like that in my neck of the woods! I had to laugh as the dragster would only do constant wheelies (so how does one steer the thing) and as he chased the roadrunner through the desert, it handled like a slot car at top speed. 

  

In regards to my toy car collection, it would take multiple pictures to include it all. It occupies every exterior wall of my office with shelves and racks, and the cars also take up space on my desk, window sills, and some larger ones are on the floor. I've been collecting them for over 50 years and don't plan on stopping. My oldest grandson once asked me, "So what's going to happen when you run out of room?" That won't happen - there's always room for more with moving things around or coming up with more efficient shelf space. When I finally reach the point in life where I pass on and my stuff doesn't, I'm hoping that either one of my kids or grandchildren will take on my collection. If my wife outlives me, she has openly admitted that she would have no idea what to do with it all and would probably leave it my gear-head daughter to sort it all out. Do you keep it all, or some of it, or sell it all? The monetary factor can be very strong and all this stuff is inflation proof.  

   A few people would just shrug things off and say, "Boys and their toys". They may even think if you were a doctor, lawyer, or a CEO of some large corporation, then things would be different. I totally beg to differ. If gasoline runs through your veins, it does so regardless of what you do for a living. Case in point, the Chrysler Corporation and the Ram-Chargers of the 1960's. Lynn Townsend was appointed president of the Chrysler group around 1960. He also had two teenage sons who regularly paced Woodward Avenue in Detroit - one of the hottest street racing spots in the country. His sons said that Chrysler Corporation cars had no street cred. Mr. Townsend aimed to fix that - and that he did... in spades. With the help of a good many people who were also hot rod enthusiasts, that decade saw engines like the 426 street Hemi as well as the 440 six-pack engines, the Roadrunner, the Barracuda, and more speed with good looks than you could shake a stick at. The Ram-Chargers were a very loose corporation racing group that stood the drag racing world on its ear. And those guys were engineers and even a corporation lawyer. One has to remember, that all these people were young at one point, but never lost their young at heart as well as their passion.

   When I start my chemo treatments in jut over a week, it's been suggested to me that I do the things I love. And if that includes watching cartoons, or playing with toys, or watching funny movies, or doing whatever that I truly dig so I don't get "chemo-brain", then I'm all for it. 

Until next time, peace out.