I remember when I was little, I spent a lot of time playing with my Hot Wheels. Mom would take me to the store and let me pick out a sharp looking Hot Wheels, then I was set! I strung that ugly orange track with the purple connectors almost the length of our trailer house, and I was in heaven!
As I grew into my pre-teen years, I needed something more to unleash my creative side, so I began building model cars as a hobby. After a while, I had amassed several boxes of spare parts, tires, decals, etc. I would heat up an old butter knife on the stove so I could chop the roofs off some cars, cut down the posts, and re-glue the roof to the car, making a chop top lowered effect.
I built low-riders and hot rods, did custom paint jobs with fish scales, fades, and even flames! I remember having a large scale Ford Econoline Van model, whose interior floor I covered with cotton balls to resemble angel hair carpeting. I took wood-grained shelf paper and lined the interior walls to imitate wood paneling. I even built a bed in the back and made felt curtains for the back windows.
For the piece de resistance, I took an old bicycle pedal and removed the yellow reflector. I inserted tiny wheat bulbs behind the face of the reflector, then hooked it up to a battery to simulate the old "diamond" lights that some stereo systems had. Remember the ones that would "dance" to the beat?
Those were my Good Old Days. Hot Wheels were a quarter and model car kits were 75 cents. And no, I didn't walk 12 miles to school in the snow either! It seems to take so much to make kids happy and keep them entertained these days. What with video games, lackluster cartoons, it is amazing some of them actually have active imaginations (until the Ritalin kicks in).
Where am I going with this? Nowhere! That's the beauty of having a blog. You get crap off your chest knowing no one is going to read it anyway...
Good night John Boy....
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