18, Life and 1 Million

 Eighteen years ago today I started this blog to share some of my automotive knowledge and put all the stories floating around in my head in writing. What used to be called pen to paper is now keyboard to computer. I wanted so badly to get a writing gig with an automotive magazine like Hot Rod, or Popular Hot Rodding, or Car Craft, or basically anything in print. Had I landed a writing job this blog probably wouldn't exist and you would not have the pleasure of reading all of my drivel. It also dawned on me that I probably would no longer be employed at said automotive publication because most magazine publishers have gone the way of the Dodo bird or got bought up in some corporate deal and shuttered. Ask David Freiburger about that last one. It's funny how unanswered prayers are actually blessings in disguise. Life is good. Heck, I even got to retire early! I will probably never be "published" but i'm okay with that. This blog will continue for the foreseeable future with yours truly at the helm churning out the stories, not AI. Also, another milestone reached here at the Amberlight Garage is that we have just surpassed one million unique views! That is one million individual people that have visited Frank's Classic Car Blog. I know, that's a mere drop in a bucket to some social media influencers on TikTok or even a lot of the music videos on YouTube, but they are my one million views and I am very grateful for every one of them.

Kid Rock 2.0

 Back in 2021 I wrote about Kid Rock and a cool video of his that I ran across titled First Kiss. That same year Cody Johnson released a song that became a favorite of mine called 'Til You Can't. I have been a fan of Kid Rock, AKA Robert Ritchie, for awhile now and when he did his own rendition of 'Til You Can't, it just blew me away! Words have never been so powerful...

FranktoidTM No. 27 - If Tool Boxes Could Talk

 I recently re-organized my tool boxes, mainly to make room for new tools that I had bought but also because it was years overdue. It was a bit of a daunting task as I have five roll-a-ways. I'm not one to just chuck tools away either, every piece has its place. I might be a little OCD when it comes to my tools but at least I can find everything when I need it. Some of the boxes I have had for over 45 years so the main problem I have in re-organizing is the relocation of tools that have been in the same drawer the entire time. Now I have to remember their new location! Many a night was spent wrenching on my project cars and pulling tools out of these boxes so their locations were ingrained in my memory. I also cleaned out my portable tool box. That's the one that I always brought with me to the wrecking yards. Self-service yards started about the same time that I got my drivers license. Before that junkyards were like auto parts stores; you went up to the counter and requested the part that you needed. They might have had it on a shelf in the back labeled with a yellow paint marker or they would send an employee out into the yard to remove it for you. If that yard didn't have what you wanted they would get on the "squawk box" and check other wrecking yards in the area to see if they had it. 

The self-service yards in my area of Southern California at that time were Ecology Auto Wrecking and Pick-a-Part. I would visit them almost weekly, tool box in hand. My tool box was on the smaller side so there was not really any spare room in it for "extra parts", but I would still have to open it up when leaving the yard so they could make sure it didn't contain any pilfered parts. The joke was on them, everyone knew that was what your pockets were for! As I was emptying out my portable box I ran across some scraps of paper and remembered that I used to write down parts that I was looking for during my junkyard crawls. I glanced over the lists and couldn't remember if I ever ended up finding the parts or not. I even forgot that I had owned one of the vehicles on the list! If my tool boxes could talk they might remind me of a thing or two... which I'm sure I have forgotten!