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My infatuation with El Caminos and the concept of a car-truck hybrid design started at a very young age of probably 7-8 years old. I can remember my next door neighbor in the early ’60s, who worked for the phone company, had a “work truck” 1957 Ranchero that I always loved. And then in my Hot Wheels collection as a kid, my favorite car was the burnt orange “Custom Fleetside” that appeared to be an El Camino, but was actually designed after a ’67-’68 Chevy truck front clip with an El Camino style roof line and bed.

My 1970 El Camino started life in Thomaston, GA. The first owner had the local swimming pool business, and he kept the car up to the mid-to-late ’80s when the family traded it off. About six different people have owned this Chevy over time. One was a tool salesman who got the car for his business and had it painted red with white stripes on the hood. I even sold him the hood off my first El Camino and now I have it again! He also rebuilt the motor and transmission. He used her for a while, got out of the tool business and sold it to a fellow that I bought it from on the last day of 1999.

My wife Debbie and I first got hooked on classic cars about ten years ago. We had a Chevelle at that time, but I had always wanted to own a ‘55 Chevy. After a considerable discussion with my wife Debbie, we sold the Chevelle and went looking for a ‘55.

By the time we attended the 2006 Winter National event in Orlando, Florida we had only been looking for a ’55 to buy for a few weekends. While viewing all the great Tri-Fives at the show, we noticed a ‘55 Be1 Air 2-door Sedan along a fence with a For Sale sign in the window. I asked my mechanic friend, Larry Hays, who was with us, to check out the car. After crawling under, on, in and all around the car, we decided to purchase it and start a frame-off restoration. We learned that the previous owner was from our home state, Virginia. Debbie later found out the car came from her hometown, Staunton, Virginia.

The C7 Corvette Z06 has the straight-line performance to outgun a lot of other performance cars on sale today, but the car is mostly about being a serious performer in the corners. The automotive media hasn’t stopped chattering about its jaw-dropping capability on the track, a characteristic you can chalk up to its effective aerodynamics and Michelin Super Sport tires, among other features.

Imagine you’re driving down Highway 74 in Columbus, NC one fine day and you see this cool Camaro with a huge hood scoop coming toward you. You think to yourself, “What a nicely tricked-out, blown ’69.” But as the car passes by you mutter, “That was a ’67, not a ’69.” While your mind is trying to sort out how you misidentified the Camaro from the front and then the side, you check your rearview mirror and see the back end of a ’70 Camaro driving away! About this time, you’re starting to think about alien control of your mind. So in order to preserve your sanity, you whip a quick U-turn and catch up to the Camaro at the next traffic light. The owner, Billy Edwards, assures you that your mind is sound and that his really cool Camaro is actually a hybrid of ’67, ’68, ’69 and ’70 body panels and trim parts!