Face o' Leaves

Well, Mopar Sunday was pretty good. I realised that I'm really not a car-show-person, but this event had a lot to offer - show and shine, drag racing, merchandise tents, even a swap meet. More on that later.

It was nice to go to a car event without the stress of interviews and photoshoots and deadlines. We cruised out in a convoy of sweet Mopars too, at the invite of Tony, the husband of a friend of a friend of my wife's. Tony's Satellite is a bit of a rat-rod, but is 100% big-block powered cool. In the group he brought along was an old CSM mate, Charlie, who took us out in the Big Block Oldsmobile for CSM's first big feature. Today, Charlie was driving a hot, lime green Dodge pickup that towed a white Super Stock race truck out for some quarter mile action. Turns out that classic car owners make up a small world.

Speaking of small worlds, I recently encountered Flamin' Wayne MacGregor a former part-owner of Drive Publishing, producers of Cruizin and Gasoline magazines. He sold me this: 

She's what Mopar people refer to as an "A-Body" - a '72 Plymouth Scamp. It runs a 318ci Fireball V8, a three speed 904 auto and the baby 8-and-quarter diff. All factory running gear, bar a Holley I installed last week and a set of twin pipes and tiny cherry-bomb mufflers. It sounds great, and the whole car weighs less than the wheels of my old F100. This means performance from the little motor is plenty to shift a cruising car around.

We've driven it a few hundred miles now, and the experience is something else - we can't back it out of the driveway without smiles and waves from passers-by. I think we might have found a keeper.

NH

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Righto Nick, I notice you have conveniently omitted the car's minor flaw from your little love story above.

Let me set the scene.......

We were driving down the Cunningham Hwy after a day at Willowbank, Holliday clearly chuffed with his new car purchase and me just happy to be cruising in a cool piece of Americana.

Peuty: So this little 318 feels like it's got some poke, especially in top (third) gear 

Holliday: Yeah it goes alright, watch this! (slips trans into second and gives it a bootful) Look, pulls cleanly and strongly up to 90Mph and it really lovHNNGMMpFFHHHffffff!!!!!!

This was the sound of half the Californian bushland being forced out of the footwell air vent by our near as dammit 100mph showboating.

Clearly Aussie Customs weren't terribly thorough in protecting our Flora and Fauna and missed the forty year buildup of leaf litter in the various air vent piping when doing the Customs clearance - leaving Mr Holliday with a mouthful of leaves, bark and rotting gumnuts (and no doubt other kinds of American biohazard too).

So we pull over in the nearest clearing to contemplate this unexpected intake of roughage - Holliday to dust himself off and our mate Scooter and I to have a good laugh at his expense.

I'm sure he's got the dash apart cleaning the schmeg from the vents as I type, but I say leave it in - who needs Metamucil when you can get your daily intake of fibre by going for a spin in your awesome Plymouth Scamp!

Peuty