There is a little donut shop out here that is a car show everyday.
Something interesting happens every time I make a visit.
Weak coffee, stale donuts, but what the hey, the car nuts roll in every morning anyway.
One guy shows up in one of about 60 plus restored sedan deliveries, others show up in classics and restorations of all makes and years, Hot Rods to Muscle cars, trucks & sports cars show up too.
They are old school and beside themselves that I have a 2009 427 Corvette but that's another thread and video. 427 is a benchmark buzzword with old car nuts.
I met by accident 3 friends at the Donut shack I haven't seen since the mid-1970's.
Back then they owned a concrete company in the San Fernando Valley.
Hard working guys.
Their was a severe concrete shortage one year back then, and they had work lined up, but no concrete.
Weeks, then months passed and they were hurting, no end in site, not earning a dime.
At this same time, my dad ran a company that did all the US government concrete pouring in Antarctica.
Military, US Geological Service, NASA, CIA, everyone had their stake in Antarctica. My dads crews had to constantly pour concrete in extreme cold servicing these various Govt agencies.
So I asked my friends if they wanted to work in Antarctica?
They looked at me like I had an hole in the middle of my forehead.
I gave them my dads phone number and they called him and set up interviews.
My dad hired them on the strength of their lobster claw texture hands.
Their pay was astronomical, and they got a 1/3 years bonus pay if they stayed the season, and it was income tax free in those days.
Plus, they got 30 days pay and airfare, and hotel and per Diem to anyplace in the free world they wanted to go to in route back home.
They always went to Paris.
I bumped into them at cars n coffee this morning because they were in town for a daughters wedding, and they all brought their classic 1930's Chevy Hot Rod trucks too.
From working a few seasons in Antarctica they had banked enough money to buy (indoor) businesses outright without financing, and move away from here to rural areas.
One bought a motel in Big Bear, Calif., another 2 motels in Bishop, another a successful bar in Aspen.
Hadn't seen them since Paris in the 70's. (Laker had airfares at $399 RT.)
Hooking them up with my dad was life changing, and "the best thing that ever happened to them" they told me.
Marriages still going strong too.
Every morning is a new adventure.
Ya ever bump into old friends with a "story"?
Something interesting happens every time I make a visit.
Weak coffee, stale donuts, but what the hey, the car nuts roll in every morning anyway.
One guy shows up in one of about 60 plus restored sedan deliveries, others show up in classics and restorations of all makes and years, Hot Rods to Muscle cars, trucks & sports cars show up too.
They are old school and beside themselves that I have a 2009 427 Corvette but that's another thread and video. 427 is a benchmark buzzword with old car nuts.
I met by accident 3 friends at the Donut shack I haven't seen since the mid-1970's.
Back then they owned a concrete company in the San Fernando Valley.
Hard working guys.
Their was a severe concrete shortage one year back then, and they had work lined up, but no concrete.
Weeks, then months passed and they were hurting, no end in site, not earning a dime.
At this same time, my dad ran a company that did all the US government concrete pouring in Antarctica.
Military, US Geological Service, NASA, CIA, everyone had their stake in Antarctica. My dads crews had to constantly pour concrete in extreme cold servicing these various Govt agencies.
So I asked my friends if they wanted to work in Antarctica?
They looked at me like I had an hole in the middle of my forehead.
I gave them my dads phone number and they called him and set up interviews.
My dad hired them on the strength of their lobster claw texture hands.
Their pay was astronomical, and they got a 1/3 years bonus pay if they stayed the season, and it was income tax free in those days.
Plus, they got 30 days pay and airfare, and hotel and per Diem to anyplace in the free world they wanted to go to in route back home.
They always went to Paris.
I bumped into them at cars n coffee this morning because they were in town for a daughters wedding, and they all brought their classic 1930's Chevy Hot Rod trucks too.
From working a few seasons in Antarctica they had banked enough money to buy (indoor) businesses outright without financing, and move away from here to rural areas.
One bought a motel in Big Bear, Calif., another 2 motels in Bishop, another a successful bar in Aspen.
Hadn't seen them since Paris in the 70's. (Laker had airfares at $399 RT.)
Hooking them up with my dad was life changing, and "the best thing that ever happened to them" they told me.
Marriages still going strong too.
Every morning is a new adventure.
Ya ever bump into old friends with a "story"?
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