From the Editor:

^EDITOR'S Underground Highway

Posted Saturday, January 15, 2005

ALOHA GANG!

Seven years, six months, 3 hours and 24 minutes ago, I was sitting under a palm tree in front of the Hawaii Kai Shack with a good friend.

It was hot and muggy that night. The air was so thick with humidity I swear you could’ve cut it with a butter knife. Light drizzle speckled the asphalt parking lot only to be drenched one hour later in a heavy downpour. I turned to my friend and said, "Arkady, I want to go where the wind blows cold. I want to know what it's like to dress warm like they do on the mainland." Danny, he said, "you have no idea what the mainland is really like." You should go on a long vacation but whatever you do, don't move.

Little did he know that I had already made plans to move to Medford Oregon and sitting in my driveway, waiting to be picked up was a Matson container filled with 35 years of my families household belongings.

Now when I look back, I realize even with my struggling shop and what seemed like a string of bad luck, life was actually pretty darn good. I left lots of friends behind. I left things I thought I could replace and boy was I wrong.

I guess it’s not all that bad living on the mainland though. It has its perks. Last week I built my very first Snowman and instead of a carrot, I used an old Chevy distributor cap for his nose. (Sorry, no picture.) It’s just that I was so used to the Aloha that Hawaii is so well known for. And those hot muggy nights too. I guess the things I miss most, are my friends.

What I wouldn’t give right now to spend a few more of those hot muggy nights like the one I spent under a palm tree with my good friend seven years ago.

There are a couple of morals to this story. Virtues, that have already been learned by others many times before and that is, "Watch what you wish for," and be happy with what you’ve got." I Wish I knew that before I sold my little yellow `32 coupe too. Okay nuff reminiscing.

Now getting down to business. I have a correction to make that was brought to my attention a couple of months ago.

Bob Rinker wrote saying that Retro Rod does in fact describe a certain type of street rod. Well, I’ll let you folks decide. But first you’ll have to read the original article in Auto Shop: What's in a name anyway?

RETRO-FIX

I was just reading your article on the definitions of different types of street rod's and you mention that there is no such thing as a Retro Rod. I own and operate a custom Upholstery shop here in California and the term here is used when some one wants to build a hot rod that is not contemporary but looks like something that was built in the 50's or 60's. Usually with a flat head or other nostalgia drivetrain and an interior with pleats or diamond tuck, no brushed aluminum or CNC parts allowed. They can have body mods and shaved door handles etc. unlike a resto rod. In other words an old time Hot Rod as opposed to the new high tech type stuff that is more popular now.

I have enjoyed checking out your web site and hope you keep up the good work. Bob R. Karma Kreations

Aloha Bob!
Correction noted! According to The American Heritage Dictionary: RETRO = Reminiscent of things past; Fashion, decor or design.

Thanks for the compliment and correction. I guess I just can’t except getting old. In my day there were three kinds of street rods. Street rods, Hot rods and Street Machines. When did "retro" become equated to describe a street rod? Wow, time sure flew by.

Before I wrote that article in February, I called three well-known street rod shops and asked if they ever heard "Retro" to describe a street rod and they all said, "huh? Never heard that before." Yet I kept seeing it pop up more and more on ads in Ebay motors than anywhere else.

I gotta say, I still can’t except getting old and that means I’ll always have a hard time excepting Retro to describe any street rod, even thought its true meaning is in fact, "reminiscent of things past."

In my opinion, Retro is just not specific enough. For instance, what year does it apply to? 40’s, 50"s, 60s’ or 70’s? As I recall, most if not all hot rod cars from those years didn’t have any brushed aluminum or CNC parts on them.

I know sometime in the 80’s "Newstalgia" was coined to describe newly built street rods that looked like they were from the mid to late 50’s. When did that word relinquish its significance to Retro Rod, or did it?

You could honestly go crazy just thinking about this stuff. Heck, take Rat rod for instance, The only time I ever heard "Rat" was when it applied to a long-tailed rodent, Roth’s Rat Fink or to describe a certain type of motorcycle, "Rat Bike." Since when was it also used to describe a street rod? Rat Rods in my day were called Hot rods or Jalopy’s!

Anyway Bob, mahalo again for the kind words and correction.

PS. Aloha to our new friends on Maui. And a BIG Mahalo to Leilani & Walter from Hawaii Kai for their inspiration and support! Also for the updates on Hawaii Kai.

See you in the street Hawaii!
Danny Sachs a.k.a.,
The Kalama Valley Kid.

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