Page 15 - Oct 2022

As the story goes (I only overheard part of it, and, as Allan didn't respond to my call
before deadline, I can't be held accountable for missing details in my rendition) this
iconic roadster, coming from a line of cars that set hearts beating fast both when i
new and when old, was found on the side of a California roadway completely stripped
down and gutted.

The license plate was gone. There was no way to identify either its owner or the person
who had left it sitting there like a carcass picked over by scavengers, waiting for police
impound to haul it away, likely en route to a crusher and an ignominious end.
There are barn finds, there are projects, and then there was this. Lucky for the hulk,
there was also a Prince Charming waiting in the wings. The line in Pretty Woman goes, "
What's your dream? This is Hollywood, everyone's got a dream!" Somewhere out there
a person who didn't care what the car looked like, likely glad that it had already been
trashed to the extreme since that removed any peer pressure to restore it, didn't see
destroyed, he saw a blank canvas. for a dream car. He could visualize what a Ford
small block would bring to the table and he could do the work. This was someone who
didn't see a dirty, cracked plate that should be binned but a starting point for a
movable feast. I can picture him as he figuratively, maybe literally, kissed its bonnet and
hauled it back to his workshop where one day he would yell, " It's Alive!"

Apparently, that someone wasn't the only guy of like mind because when it came time to
sell, he found Allan Satterfield, the self-described "not a race car driver", the guy who
usually loves only beautiful cars. Not this time. #21 is not the girl crowned beauty
queen but the also ran, the good sport, the Miss Congeniality winner, the entry in the
movies with a secret-- kitted out and ready to rumble. #21 is oblivious to those who
don't get it and are going to miss all the fun-- a bit of a bad ass, actually. There's
another old movie about that, a story like this one made for Hollywood. Last seen Allan
was enjoying the heck out of his discovery as he turned towards Brentwood and
dashed away after Cars and Coffee, tailed by a TR6. Check him out; the guy in the SUV
certainly did and, just for a moment, remembered what fun driving a car should be.
Cherie Beatty 15