My Masterpiece

Any artist, musician, writer, or performer usually has something in their collection of accomplishments that they regard as their masterpiece. Being a life-long car guy, and lucky enough to have owned many performance cars I've loved over the years, makes it hard to pick out a favorite, or crown one as the "masterpiece" of my automotive hobby. It also depends on what criteria we choose to consider when trying to pin point which should come out on top.
Some of the cars I have owned were more expensive than the rest, some were the fastest and most fun to drive, and these are naturally the Mustang Cobras, and Shelby GT 500 I've had. Others were just very nice all around cars, good looking, fun to drive, enjoyable to take on a trip, and easy to maintain. But, when you also consider the work I put in myself, to make the cars the cool machine they ended up, then it becomes more clear which car should take the honor as my automotive masterpiece. My 1970 Cobra Jet Ranchero.
This was probably the rarest car I've owned. Very few 1970 Ranchero GT's were produced with the 429 Cobra Jet engine, with 4-speed transmission. When I bought the car in the mid 1980's, it only had just over 20,000 miles on it, but needed some engine work, and a lot of body and paint restoration to make it nice again.
I went through the engine completely, doing what we used to call a "blueprint" engine build, and making performance enhancements along the way. It ended up as a 468 cubic inch performance monster, with factory original looks and detailing.  I did the minor body repairs and paint preparation after the engine was installed and break-in tuning was complete. When it came back from the paint shop, I reinstalled the final trim pieces, using new-old-stock trim pieces where necessary.
The Ranchero was a beauty on the streets, an exciting car to drive, and dominated all the street races I found myself involved in. It can easily be considered my automotive masterpiece.
For more of the story, you can check out my book at: "Grab Some Gears"

My 1970 Ford Ranchero GT, with factory 429 CobraJet engine and 4-speed transmission. 

Life's Highway

Life is often described as a road, a path, or a highway. The older I get, and the more twists and turns my life takes, the more I believe this comparison is a good way to describe it. Some recent, and some on-going, family situations have made this analogy even more apparent to me.
We all may have a path of life in mind we plan on taking, but things come up that are unexpected that can change the route very quickly. We find ourselves, or other family and friends, taking a fork in the road, and traveling through some unfamiliar territory. Sometimes we don't know what to expect around the next corner, or over the next hill. And sometimes, we find a mountain instead of a hill, on the road in front of us. Sometimes we can see a storm in our path, that we know we will have to travel through, as our journey continues.
Maybe that's the way it's supposed to be. Maybe the road of life is supposed to be an unknown adventure, with many unexpected turns, and mountains to climb, and bridges to cross, and storms to endure. We just have to navigate the path the best we can as we go along, making the most of the trip, and prepare the best we can for those storms we know will happen along the way.
I have wrote about variations of this subject in other posts in my blog before. Being a "car guy" , I usually refer to the car I'm driving along the way, and how that makes the trip more enjoyable for me. But this time I'm talking about the other aspects of out journey of life.  Now I find them a more important part of my thoughts than ever before. Wishing all of you the best outcome, as you travel down your own personal route, along "Life's Highway".

My grandson Caden enjoying the 77 Bronco he loves.