Interesting theme for a derby car....

It is no big secret, that I enjoy the demolition derby.  Many peers in the circle I run in, find all of this sac-religious.  I have a different take and do not wish to go through it all over again.  I will agree to dis-agree and leave it at that...

Moving on, I found these pictures on one of the various facebook groups, I frequent.  I do not know much about them, but must give props to the builder of this car...



Is it really ruining a good car???

I love old cars...  This is not a new thing.  The last couple of days, I have shared my love for the demolition derby.  Now, comes the debate..  In the past, I have been told..  "I can't believe you are going to wreck that perfectly good car.  You consider yourself a person that preserves the car hobby, yet you destroy these old cars."  Now, I guess on the surface, it would appear that I am a hypocrite.  However, here is an example of my defense..  Many years ago, I helped a good pal of mine build a derby car...

From the appearence of this photo, you see a very straight 64 Mercury, and indeed it was.  This car was a complete car, and even had the working power back window...  Before the hate mail comes in, let me finish.  This car was at a local wrecking yard with not one, but TWO cars on the roof.  It was slated for the crusher.  Instead, we got it and proceeded to modify it for the demolition derby.  This included completely stripping the car, building the cage, swapping all of the drivetrain, going through the brakes and so on.  If you factor the time a small group of us had in it, it would exceed 80 to 100 hours. 

Although the end result would be the same, I gave the car alot more love than the crusher would have given it.  And the parts removed from the car were sold to help another Mercury live...

From the last couple years....

Demolition Derby time...

This is the "AFTER" photo from last years Powder Puff car..  And the before product for this year looks about the same..  Believe it or not, this pile of wrinkled metal is going to do battle again.  I uncovered it, put the fuel cell and battery back in, and it came right to life..  In all reality, the car doesn't REALLY look like this.  I did a ton of redneck collision reapair.  It is a wonder that no one was seriously injured.  The hood and trunk lid were straighted by driving my forklift over them.  The rear body panel and rear quarters were straightened by chaining the car down and pulling it with my car trailer winch.  High tech stuff....

I am not quite sure why I love doing this so much, but I do.  What is even stupider is that I really do not actively participate any longer..  I do all or most of the work and let somebody else beat the hell out of it..  Maybe, next year, I will do a come back tour...  But, I say that every year...