I have something that has been bothering me for a while. I was talking to Alf from Sunset after Tex Mex 2010 about this and I got so upset that I decided I wanted to write about it.
We have all seen trucks that were “finished” and sold by the owner. Most of the people that sell these trucks cringe when they do it, for good reason. Nobody will ever take care of the truck as well as the person who built it. I have seen many trucks that were purchased and the new owner took very good care of them and redid them in their own style. This kind of thing should be commended. Sometimes we can be our own worst enemy. We all want to get our money out of our trucks when we sell them yet we look down on people when they buy one already built. This just dumbfounds me.
I must also say that sometimes a sold truck can get abused. I have seen some of the most bad-ass trucks ever built get bought by some 16-year-old rich kid who destroys it. Of course it is the new owner’s right to do whatever he wants to a truck once he owns it, but most people in the scene agree that it is tough to stomach sometimes. I hate seeing what was once a trend-setting cover truck wind up in a buy-here-pay-here lot for 3 grand just thrashed and destroyed. It about makes me cry.
Now to get to my real point: I have a good friend that many of you may know. People call him “Uncle Fester”. This guy went and purchased 2 VERY famous trucks, “Last Look” and “Time Machine,” and has spent a lot of money, time and effort to preserve and restore them to their original condition. What pisses me off is the flack he is getting. Are you fucking kidding me? He has two of the most influential trucks ever built and decided to snatch them up and preserve them so they stay around and some dick- heads out there decide to bash them and act like idiots about it: Why?
I feel what we do is nothing short of artwork. Some of these “best of show” trucks were built by very talented people and should be preserved. These trucks are part of Mini-truck history guys! If I had the money I would LOVE to buy a whole bunch of these trend-setting, history-making trucks and make a truck museum where we could all look at them and say, “This truck started the [XXX] trend”. If you can’t respect the work of others then what is the point? Fester never claimed to have built them. He has never taken credit for the trends they set. He just has the same love for the sport that I and many others have. Let’s stop shooting ourselves in the foot guys!
Till next time,
Kris - aka SSM-Webmaster