Pagoda SL Group
W113 Pagoda SL Group => General Discussion => Topic started by: stickandrudderman on December 12, 2022, 07:40:44
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https://www.facebook.com/629631225/posts/pfbid02BSdhZoRtUm34F2XJabATz3BB7Pq1iy61jUYjsWef5vB7832gKBe6tBgPX2fnMhstl/?d=n (https://www.facebook.com/629631225/posts/pfbid02BSdhZoRtUm34F2XJabATz3BB7Pq1iy61jUYjsWef5vB7832gKBe6tBgPX2fnMhstl/?d=n)
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Fair comment indeed.
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Amen!
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Yes
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I agree too ....! ::)
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Very well stated!
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Perfectly put. This is why we all admire Jay Leno.
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..the photo is a bit ironic given what just happened to him (workshop fire). At least he is ok.
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What did he say for those of us who don’t care to set up a Facebook account?
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CARS - LIFE - RESTORATION
So here are some very sage words from Jay Leno about old cars and their restoration which I thought were perfectly right for this group.
"Once I had a gentleman on The Tonight Show who had climbed Mount Everest, which is an amazing feat that is nearly impossible for most people under the best of circumstances. But this guy was also blind. Imagine being 29,000 feet up, grabbing at snow, not knowing if it’s night or day, with the wind howling and every breath a challenge, and you can’t see anything. Anyway, he was a nice gentleman and an incredible athlete who afterward had been doing motivational speaking. I asked him how it was going and he sort of grimaced. He said the frustrating part was the meet-and-greet after, when at least one person in every audience would come up and say, “Yeah, I was going to climb Mount Everest, but, you know, the kids have soccer and work is crazy and I just haven’t gotten around to it.”
Like it was so easy except, you know, soccer practice. Here this fellow had trained his whole life to do something that maybe one out of 10 million people can do, had endured incredible hardship, and had even overcome the fact that he was blind, and people were so dismissive of it.
Maybe it’s because life has gotten pretty soft and we don’t make anything for ourselves anymore, but we’re losing respect for other people’s accomplishments and hard work, for what the human hand can do instead of just the human brain. I hear this all the time from guys who have their cars restored and who have never turned a wrench in their lives: All mechanics are crooks, they’ll overcharge you at every turn. They’ll moan about the high cost of a paint job, for example, not realizing that the paint is $600 a quart and somebody has to spend hours sanding it and finishing it because a good finish doesn’t come out of a rattle-can of Rust-Oleum.
Our appreciation or understanding of other people’s hard work is fading, and that rankles me. The last time I pulled a transmission out of something here at the garage, it took hours and my hands were bleeding and covered in grease, and I thought, “Some guy only makes a couple hundred bucks for doing that?” That’s why I don’t usually question a quote for something we need to get done outside the garage. Good work doesn’t seem expensive when you think about how much actual effort goes into it, and that someone needs to be able to make a living doing it or else nobody will do it. Besides, I have yet to meet anyone who is getting rich by sandblasting rusty parts or re-chroming bumpers. They’re not overcharging—in fact, they’re probably undercharging.
Well, nowadays we watch these shows where they restore a car in a weekend, literally, and it seems so easy. The sparks are flying and guys are trying to ram a big-screen TV into the dash, and after a couple of commercial breaks and some pounding music, the car is done. It gives people an unrealistic picture of what it takes to restore a car—the thousands of hours, many of which are never billed. Just the amount of research a restorer has to do, figuring out how things go together and what is supposed to be original, is huge.
These days, Amazon will drop a package on your doorstep the same day you order it, so we’re also losing touch with how long things take in the real world. A very famous country western star called me not long ago and said, “It’s my husband’s birthday, he’s always wanted a 1953 Ford F-100, a red one, and I want to get one for his birthday. Can you get me one?” I said I couldn’t promise it would be red, but I would look around. Then I asked when his birthday is. She said, “Thursday.” I said, “This is Tuesday! I’m not going to find a car in two days. It takes awhile!” She didn’t get it.
Next time you’re walking a car show, before you judge some guy because his paint isn’t perfect, think about how much of the work you do yourself. Unlike everything else we buy these days, there’s nothing quick, easy, or cheap about old cars. And while few of us will ever climb Mount Everest, restoring a classic car is enough of a mountain for most people. Give them some credit."
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What did he say for those of us who don’t care to set up a Facebook account?
I don’t have a Facebook account either but could still view it
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Thanks Gary. This is great.
Speaking of hard work, did you type this?
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Leno is spot on. Great read. Leno is one of the very last Hollywood conservatives. We live in an "instant gratification" world. I feel badly for my grandchildrens' generation. They may never know the feeling of satisfaction that comes with hard work and perseverance.
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Well, it does take a lot of work to make that viral TikTok video! :o
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John - 2 seconds - highlight, cut and paste!
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..the photo is a bit ironic given what just happened to him (workshop fire). At least he is ok.
Dave that is most definitely irony at its worst or best!!!!
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I wonder if his view has been reinforced by spending time in hospital with bad burns (after an accident while working on a car)
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I like how a rich person like Jay, really appreciates the manual labor and expertise regular Joes do and have respectively.
So many rich folks just wire the money and expects perfection as SOON as they want it. And don't fully appreciate the hard work manual labor entails.
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I like how a rich person like Jay, really appreciates the manual labor and expertise regular Joes do and have respectively.
So many rich folks just wire the money and expects perfection as SOON as they want it. And don't fully appreciate the hard work manual labor entails.
Of course he does - he gets his hands dirty, makes mistakes, and has accumulated the scars and bruises that all of us in the hobby suffer from time to time. Those things don't diminish the pride of ownership, satisfaction of working on, and joy of driving our collector cars regardless of how large or small the garage.
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I will keep this very vague on purpose but I distinctly remember someone here questioning the value of the work of a specialized restorer years ago. The gist of their comments were that although the restorer was the best at what he did the price was simply too high. Someone suggested he simply not use this person and he replied that he was the best at what he did and wanted to use him but maybe we should all get together and tell him to lower his price. I jumped in with what I seem to remember as a long winded speech about what perfect work takes to achieve and their response was that the restorer’s shop rate was X and it couldn’t possibly take that many hours to equal the estimate he was quoted. I just shook my head when I realized this person was literally saying the expert didn’t know how long a job he had done a hundred times would take.
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Love Jay! And his ability to stay so grounded is amazing! It reminds me of pulling into the Santa Monica Pier which was the final stop of MBCA Rt 66 tour which took 12 days. I drove the '58 220S Cab the entire route, and was the 2nd oldest car in the tour. I was late for the group picture. Someone started yelling because I missed the picture. I could only laugh as, not only did the car just drive cross-country, but we were delayed because of the California freeways. Everyone was driving 80mph+ or more, bumper-to-bumper, with the luxury of power brakes and steering. I was thrilled, on many levels, to make it to The Pier in one piece and alive. A life lesson: "Remember what you've done, and not just focus on what you still have to do".