April 7: Moments in Time

Everyone has a moment in time that, they will always remember what they were doing at the exact moment that, they heard some important news. If you are in my age bracket, it may have been when President Kennedy was shot, or to others when John Lennon was gunned down, or when you heard (for the first time) that Jennifer Anniston was pregnant or maybe when Zayn Malik announced he was leaving One Direction. Have I covered all age groups? But I'm a car guy, so my important moments include car stuff.

I remember the day, way back in 1966, when I saw my first Hemi powered car. Hold on a minute before you start to berate me. You may recall that I come from a small so called, lunch bucket, industrial city on the east coast of Canada. Hardly any fancy cars or super hot ones were sold in my little town. Anyway, I was coming out of my grandfather's house, when a silver blue Charger cruised by and I spotted the tell tale sign on its front fender.......

My excitement lasted for days, maybe even years, as I think it may have been the only Hemi sold in Saint John. One of my important car guy moments in time.

Or how about my first "409"? It was in 1962 and I had just come out of the Y and was about to enter the local bowling alley, when I saw parked outside, a new black Bel Air hardtop with fender skirts (such an eye for detail). All very nice, but the real big deal, was the insignia on the front fender. Any chance I had of going home with a girl that night went out the window, as all I could talk about was that hot engine.

Car guy moments, all defined by a rare, big motored muscle car. Wonder if my memories would be different if I'd had a life?

Another moment in time.......driving thru Haymarket Square one sunny day (ok, that's poetic licence), I saw this white 1966 Fairlane leaving the Ford dealership. No big deal, except that it had a big air scoop on the hood. This meant one thing and only one thing that, this vanilla white Ford was packing a 427 cubic inch big block muscle motor. Again, a rarity and the only one in town. For an eighteen year old car guy, that was the equivalent of having a life size Raquel Welch poster, maybe better.

And the last one that meant something special to me........driving by the same Ford dealership three years later........

......a yellow '69 Boss 302 was pulling into traffic. Again, the only one I ever saw in our little town. Another Saturday night date ruined, as all I could talk about was my latest sighting ("Who is this idiot that asked me out?").

Not surprising that, every one one of these cars was later seen at the local drag strip. In the case of the Hemi and the 409, both motors were eventually pulled and put into purpose built race cars. Heck, they might still be around.

So that brings me up to the present day. Last week I was driving by a car hauler that, was unloading in front of a small town (Stoney Creek) Dodge dealer and out of the corner of my eye, I spotted this logo on the front fender of a new black Challenger........

.......yep, you got it, a Hellcat. Now I wonder, if twenty years from now that, moment will stand out in the same way as those car guy sightings have from so many years ago? Time and memory loss will tell.

Oh, and by the way, I do remember what I was doing when I heard about Jennifer Anniston.

Until next time.......