it is an investment...

 it is an investment...

               

  I hear quite often how POS (People Over Sixty) want to travel during retirement years. However, I am just as likely to be told by any one of my small sample of interviewees he or she doesn't have travel plans or harbor any desire to leave the city.  

  It seems there are as many different thoughts about the post retirement years and how to spend leisure time as there are people.  Sadly, I even had one man say, I just want to get to the end of it, when asked if he had a Bucket List.  

  Jamie Farr of MASH  television fame told me in an interview he wanted to cook Lebanese specialties when he retired.  He said his mother taught him how to prepare his favorite dishes. 

  Richard Egan, an actor who appeared with Elvis Presley in the movie, Love Me Tender, said he was going to travel the world now in case he didn't make it to old age. 

  HUH?  What's up with that?

  Happily, Hunt Palmer Ball, 75, and his wife, Pat, travel wherever a Concours d'Elegance competition is held.

  (According to Wikipedia,  Concours d'Elegance is a unique auto show that emphasizes the highest levels of auto restoration) 

  We travel all over the country.  I am a chief judge for Concours d'Elegance for CCCA (Classic Car Club of America), Palmer Ball said. 

  Tell me what the two of you did before you retired.

  I was an IT technical person and I managed other technicians, Pat replied.

  I drove a truck and was a mechanic all my life, Hunt added. 

  Do you have children?

  Yes, we have a daughter and two granddaughters, Pat said. 

  The two of you have a valuable passion or hobby.

  Yes, we do, he agreed, although, it has really been an investment.  When I was 19, I bought a brand new 1967 Shelby GT 350.  Today, it only has 8,000 miles on it. So, I've been involved in Shelby Mustangs and Cobras for 56 years.

  And, you put that car in competitions all around the country.

  Oh, yes, Hunt smiled.  We've won all over the country too.  In fact, it is the winningest Shelby in the United States right now. 

  Before we turned the recorder on, you told me you have two valuable Shelby cars.  What about the second one?

  I found a red and gold Hertz car about four years ago, he said with pride.

  Whoa.  Wait a minute.  I am not sure I remember what a Hertz car means.  I know Hertz Car Rental, but, is that what you are referring?

  Absolutely, he concurred.  Back in the 60s, Shelby made these cars for Hertz Rent A Car.  They only made 1,000 of them and they put them in all the major airports around the country.  They called them Rent A Racer.

  (According to the Hertz Car Rental website, the program is still going on after 60 years.  A Shelby can be rented in any one of 12 different cities across America)

  And, Hertz rented them out? 

  Yes, he nodded.  They leased them for 17 cents a mile and 17 dollars a day.  Today, those cars are each worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.  

  Shelby only made a thousand of the original Hertz cars?

  That's right, Pat joined in.  People knew the black and gold, but, they also made red and gold, white and gold, blue and gold, and, green and gold.  

   If Ford only produced a limited number of cars, is there any way to know how many of those duo color cars they made?

  They only made a thousand cars total for Hertz, but, the ones in these colors they only made 60 of each, Pat answered. They made a total of 300 two color cars. 

  And you found a red and gold one.

  We did, she said.  Hunt restored it and now we show it in competitions too. Like he said, now it is worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.  So, its been a good investment. 

  What about your original 1967 model?  What is the value of your prized Shelby in today's market?

  We have been offered upwards of a million dollars, Hunt said proudly. 

  Would you sell it today?

  No, not really, he considered.  That's why we still have it.  It really was an investment and every year it keeps going up in value.  

  What about a Bucket List?  Do you have one? 

   I would like to attend the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance and see what it is all about, Hunt told me.  That's the one we have never been to as a competitor or just a fan.  

  Coming up: a conversation with a retired judge; another job$ somebody's gotta do; more POS, and; an oddities, observations, & ?'s. 

  And, finally. Regina and I just returned from a trip to Italy.  I am a believer that you never know when you are making a memory and we think we made quite a few in the seven days we were overseas.  More on that in the next oddities, observations, & ?'s. 

  Arrivederci!

  HUH?  What's up with that?