Bench Racing, and Other Great Lies #4

Just in time for Valentine's Day, I figured I'd share an automotive love story. Enjoy!

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My friend, Don, is a car guy and family friend from way back. He's a great, jovial kinda guy who can keep you laughing for days, and has a wonderful appreciation for irony.

Unfortunately for Don, he's never really owned his dream car. Much like a lot of us, there's always been great plans made, steps taken towards putting all the pieces together only to have something called "Life" cancel everything before the dream was finished.

But during the late 1970s, he came close. You see, Don was building a Bradley GT in his garage.

Bradleys were produced from 1971 through 1981 when the company went bankrupt. They were small, Italian-esque coupes that had gull-wing doors, were built on VW Beetle chassis, and even had some Corvair parts thrown in. Odds are, you've probably seen one. If you ever visit the Liberace museum, you can see his Bradley, complete with bass-boat gold metalflake paint, perfectly in vogue for both the 1970's and Liberace.

Nonetheless, Don spent quite a many years piecing his together, every day getting closer to having a cool car of his own to drive. His wife didn't quite share his vision, however.

One night over dinner, "Life" intervened. A loud discussion ensued, and several hours later, she announced to Don, "Either that damn car goes, or I go!"

Don stood there, stunned. His wife stormed off, and he quietly went to the garage to take a look at the yellow coupe that was nearly road-worthy after all these years. He had come so close, but he knew what he had to do. The car was put up for sale the next day.

And in the end, life was all candy and lollipops in Don's house from then on out, right?

"Nope," he says. "The bitch left anyway!"

Photo courtesy of priceofhistoys.com

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