Classic Nation

I recently had my first opportunity to see the new Charger and Camaro first-handedly at the 2008 auto show. Although I think we can all agree that nothing compares to the nostalgia and feel of a true classic, these particular tribute cars certainly earned my respect.

GM and Chrysler really nailed it with the lines on these cars. What do you guys think?

Here I sit, couped up in the basement in fleece sweatpants and a hooded sweatshirt, hidden away from the world. Why you ask? Because the current temperature here in the metropolitan area of the great state of Minnesota is 30 degrees. The past three days have been a mess of snow, slush, rain, sleet, salt, ice, the bubonic plague and roaming packs of rabid vampire hamsters. Okay so maybe a slight over exaggeration. BUT SERIOUSLY… its April 12th and I have yet to see a classic on the road. This just isn’t fair! Saturdays like today are supposed to be warm and crisp. They should be spent pounding the strip near Porky’s drive through with the pedal to the metal and a middle finger up to the law! This is rough and tumble country for the car enthusiast crowd. Please excuse me while I return to hibernation. Will somebody please wake me up for the Back to the 50’s show in June?

A family owned and operated 70 year-old classic car parts business; a car shop with an inventory hundreds of items deep; an operation where inventory was kept mentally- and all of this in . . . Argentina?!

Located in Buenos Aires, Casa Rubens auto parts- specializing in mid-twenties to early sixties original American auto parts, was owned and operated by the grandfather of Classic Nation reader Dario Diament. Dario’s Grandfather ran the locally renowned Casa Rubens through the 90’s until the time came when he could no longer maintain the shop. Although Dario and his family members intend to maintain ownership of the property and business, they still sit atop a very unique collection of antique automobile parts and are looking to clean house!

Since Casa Ruben’s inventory is wide-ranging, a good amount of work has gone into parts identification. Diament’s inventory includes parts ranging from fuel pumps to starter switches and the family is eager to move (or “commercialize” at is known in Argentina) some parts!

Dario has drafted a partial inventory list and can be reached at ddiament@yahoo.com or check out his blog.

Lurking in the memories of every classic car nut, there lies a vehicle that ‘did’ it. A car that changed our mind about cars. A ride that started the chain reaction that inevitably ended in obsession.

As a younger member of the classic car enthusiast crowd, I didn’t have the privilege of growing up beside the cars I now hold dear. In fact, my ‘first’ was already a classic when it became my first. That never mattered to me though. After all, it was love at first sight.

When I was nine, we took a family road trip to my mom’s hometown- Jamestown, North Dakota. It is in Jamestown where a souped-up 1968 Oldsmobile 442 sits in my uncle’s garage. I remember every detail of my first encounter with that car. I was intrigued by the massive rear end and the tiny tail lights. I stared intently at the hood tach and peered in the car, wondering what it would feel like to throw that Hurst shifter into gear and roar out of the garage. I must have made twenty or thirty trips out to his shop that week- all just to sit in and stare at that car.

One day I was lucky enough to ride shotgun in the 500hp animal. Needless to say, the first time I was physically unable to peel my head from a car seat was a life-changing event.

The attraction between man and machine is a strange one indeed. That Oldsmobile was only the beginning for me. Within a year I had become a regular at the local car shows and I found myself with a strange passion for junkyards. Car Craft and Hot Rod were my first magazine subscriptions and my tool box slowly began to fill in quiet preparation for what was to come. What began as an infatuation has become a way of life.

And so, as I cross over into classic car adolescence from infancy, I can only hope that my current expansion into the hobby (now with the purchase of my first rad ride- a ‘69 Firebird) can spark that same passion in another young, wandering soul.

Do you remember your first?