Had a visit from Gator yesterday and.............

[LUKE'57]

........he couldn't wait until Christmas to bring this one over. I love it! And it was built just like the real cars back in the day, before you could just buy the pieces and stick'em together.

He was browsing the model "junk yard" up at Earl's Speed & Custom in Gaffney, just like we used to do the real ones, when a new tool '57 Be Air caught his eye. Just like the old school racers, he loaded up the body and hauled it back home, stripped and gutted it and started on a cage.

One of the much maligned ERTL Winston Cup kits, some paint, a little imagination aong with some serious "back yard engineering" and this masterpiece was ready for the lettering brush.

Just like the real one, it even carries an "orphan" front bumpver from a '57 Ford. I like to think it made it run faster. LOL

To paraphrase the credit card commercial-

Salvage yard body-$4.......ERTL stock car kit-$4..........Fantastic $8 one of a kind late model sportsman car-PRICELESS!

Everybody should have a kid brother as wonderful as I do.