The expression “you never have a second chance to make a first impression” is not true. It is, in my opinion, a narrow-minded way of thinking. It’s too easy to dismiss something or someone based on a snap judgment, and though I try not to be engage in that kind of thinking, I was guilty of it this past weekend. Doug and I were walking through the pits at the Mopars at the Strip show on Friday when I spotted this Barracuda. Not only was it the “wrong year” with the round tail lights (which I actually like better than the ’70 ones), but it was a complete beater. One of the worst I’d ever seen that wasn’t in a junkyard or abandoned on the side of the road. My reaction: only a stupid hillbilly would bring such a pile of crap to a show like this.
Fortunately, Doug wasn’t so quick to dismiss, and we went to talk to the guys with the car. It turns out these “hillbillies” were really cool people who were having a riot with a car they found floating around in a drainage ditch. You gotta love the self-deprecating humor they displayed poking fun of the car’s appearance coupled with an honest attempt to get the car to at least pass the track officials’ tech inspection while spending almost no money in the process. They were cutting what looked like a plastic storm window with a cut-off wheel to roughly the shape of the quarter glass, attaching it with sheetmetal screws. The side marker lights looked like they were held in place with toothpaste! My point: don’t judge. I almost missed out on what turned out to be a really interesting and funny experience.