CLASS AND POWER:. Muscle © cars of the 60's have always had a fatlowing, but the car culture in Terrace is thriving. This 1966 Mustang was up at the Terrace- Kitimat airport umng heads as it tipped down the strip, Classic cars thrive in Terrace Muscle cars still have the class and style to turn heads as they cruise the strip By MIKE COX LEATHER JACKETS, slicked back hair, tight blue jeans and of course, muscle cars. Those may be some of the images associated with mus- cle cars in the past, but this ain’t the past any more. Fashion may change, but the Jove and appreciation for classic cars has never gone out of style. **It's class. You don’t see cars like this any more,’’ said car lover Brad Robinson. Robinson has a 1970 Challenger RT that just won the best car award in the Kitimat Car Show. He has had the car, off-and-on, for the past 19 years, “The car bas been bouncing back ° and forth between me and a buddy,” he said. , The two. have a deal, he said, where the only person they can sell the car to is cach other, Robiasou said he is looking to re- build another classic for his wife 19 “It’s class. You don’t see cars like this ary more.” start racing with, What. about the challenger? ‘Robinson said his daughter, Toni, “may just get a nice graduation pres- ent - provided he hasn't sold it back to his friend. Being a mechanic is an asset when EYE CATCHER: Larry Munson’s 1968 Camero convertable is bound to get a few envious looks on the highway. The car represents one of the original muscle cars of the 60's and desperately needed repainting when Munson bought it in Kitimat a few years ago. you've got an older car, Robinson said, but it’s also a leaning experi elice, “T can build and repair so much, but then P’m lost,” he jokes. Bul getting mechanically lost in Terrace isu’t a problem when there is such a thriving car culture, THE BATMOBILE: That's Don Sharpe ‘in his” 4979 high preformance Corvette. Kids on his street have nick named it the batmobile because the front end Is so long. es “A lot of guys in town will help you out,’® he said. Robinson has come a long way from the first car he owned, a Dat- sunt 1000, but said classic cars shouldn’t just sit in a garage and look nice. “You've gotla drive them. You can’t just let a car sil there.’ For Don Sharp, president of the Skeena Valley Car Club, the only sitting his car does is at the start line of a drag strip, Sharp has a 1968 Acadian and a 1979 Corvetic, and has been racing cars since 1964, **Four hours after I got married I was racing with my wile,”’ be said, Sharp has done all the work with his crew an both his cars, bul said drag racing is his passion because the cars don’l get smashed up very often. **] Jove the speed and acceleration without damaging the car.” Sharp said drag racing is getting more popular because drivers sup- port each other and the competition is Friendly. "We have some grudge races, but il’s mostly friendly.” Alt the Kitimat Hill Climb another racer needed a fuel pump and Sharp happened to have one — back in Terrace, Sharp got his son to drop off the fuel pump in Kitimat and, sure enough, the racer sporting the new fucl pump beat Sharp in the race. Is he bitter? Sharp said it was just helping another racer out. And helping other racers aut is cx-— emplified by Ken Brown's shap the night before a car show or race, Brown, owner. of Greig SL Automotive, has a 1967 Camaro — the predator —- that he’s been racing for 14 years. , Being a mechanic saves on labour, he joked, but body work is defi initely out of his field. But, he said, with drag racing (here isn’l much body work to be done, oo **You never smash them up so you don’t teed body paris.”? Brown competes in all ihe races arouid the area and said his love of cars is teamed up wilh a love of speed. “T love the speed and competi- lion.” For Bob Thurow speed and com- petition come second to making a car look its best. He has a 1942 Willy’s Coupe that he bought down in California, and “went through if from one end to the other”’ to restore it. The Willy was a great drag racing car, he said, but he bas no intention of taking it out on the strip. “Willy's are great for drag racing, but | want a car to cruise around in”? And when he does cruise around there are more then a few heads turning to get a second look. ‘Four hours after I got married I was racing with my wife.”? ‘ds a looker because not many people know: this kind of car,” he said, This is. the third classic Thurow has, but he is sticking to the older classics. “Ils a hobby and a love of cars,"” he said. But classics aren't just cars. Roger Bal, owner of Kalum Kabs, has a-1981 Chevy drag truck, that just. won third place in the Prince George drags. ‘T have this love of speed,” he said. Bal docs a lot of the work on his trick’ himself, but said the friendly almosphere between drivers In Ter- rice is a huge help. “It's truly frlendly. competition,” he said of Terrace dragsters. Bal’s love of speed is also coupled with a love of design, His.truck is a drag truck, but can also double as a show truck. “My tnck is pretty memorable,” he sald. “If you saw it on the street you would take another look.* The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, September 8, 1999 -A5 CORRESPONDENCE FOR THE TERRACE STANDARD The Mail Bag Thank you, Terri Dear Sir: Qne local woman deserves the heart-felt appreciation of a great number af people who by circumstances out- side their control have become marginally dis- enfranchised from participation in community events which most take for granted — especially single parents and other families, , While in her role as administrator, she reflected the side of human service works that was mandated to relicve suffering povery and ncglect. Yes, Terri Tjernstrom, district supervisor of the now ministry of social development and economic security, left Terrace on Aug. 27 to join ber husband and chil- dren. A large number of people shall sorely miss her cohesive contributions to the health of the community. Gerry King, Terrace B.C. Which channel? Dear Sir: 1 wish to make a point of clarification regarding your Story, “‘Re-enactment may help solve murder’’ (Aug. 18), which referred to Channel 7 as “‘the local com- munity channel’’, It's unclear from the story whether the RCMP’s video re-enactment will air on Channel 7 or Channel 10, commonly known as ‘the community channel’” by ils many Volunteers and viewers, While Channel 7 does offer local programming, such as First News and Skeena Journal, it is a commercial television station owned and operated, like Channel 10, by Okanagan Skeena Group. Channel £0, on the other hand, airs only local pro- gramming, including five coverage of community events — like city council mectings — and ongoing shows made by, and for, members of the community. It’s advertising free and provides voluntecrs from all walks of life the oparlunity to use TV facilities and equipment supplicd by Skeena Cablevision, a division of OKS, Hope that clears things up. Now, where and when will that re-enactment be aired? Jennifer Lang, Terrace B.C. Water talk all wet Dear Sir: I have read numerous articles, advising us to drink at least ten cups of water every day —~ even in the winler (!) Let me tell you about my experience about this hog wash. During my military service in the Czechoslovakian army We were required to march once a month 30 kilo- metres (19 miles) in Jess than three hours (not counting other shorter and longer marches, that were not timed.) Summers were just as warm as We experience in Can- ada (if we were lucky). We were always advised not to drink any water dur- ing the march at all. Once, in July, one soldier, less experienced than the rest of us, took,a few drinks at a village well,. and, a. little while later he could hardly stand on his feet: Since we, the whole platoon, had to make it in under’ three hours, (or we would have to repeat this march several days later), we, 20 men, had to take tums, and carry that man on the stretcher — he could not even walk! And I know several similar stories, all witnessed ome, People that live in tropical countries, if they could be- lieve our scientists, would have to carry drums of water with them. As for me, ] drink this half gallon of water probably during the whole year, mainly in the summer, and | am still alive, at 60. Viadimir Cion, Terrace B.C. Essential services first Dear Sir: In the final paragraph of your Sept. 1 article, ‘‘Much work needed for a fall referendum,’’ you reporied that Terrace city councillor Linda Hawes said it appears that myself and Thornhill director Les Watmough are doing their best to quash the multiplex project. The truth of the matter is that this is a Terrace council project and I have no authority to cither quash or even participate in the decision to proceed. My concern is that if this project docs proceed, the added costs imposed on each household in Electoral Area C of the Kitimat-Stikine regional district, which I represcni, would be on top of the heavy costs of essen- tial services which they must provide for themselves. The essential services in Electoral Arca C and E are: 1. Braun’s Island. A domestic water system to re- place their present ground water wells which were pos- sibly contaminated by a leak in the overflow pipe in the Terrace sewer system during the ‘recent Mood of the Skeena River. Estimated cost — $2,000 to $3,000 per household per annum. 2. Churchill Drive. A new domestic water distribu- lion system to replace the old system, which was con- demned, Cost — $3,000 per household, 3. East of Terrace, along Hwy16. A new natural gas pipeline -—- cost approximately $1,500 per household. These costs, together with increased taxes to pay for the proposed atcha complex, may place a severe bur- den on some families and especially so when they nolice thal the proposed complex includes the second sheet of icc which was quashed by the voters of Ter- race in a recent referendum. These are the reasons why I informed Terrace cily council that [ seriously doubled that the residents of Area C of the regional district would support a referendum of the proposed arcna complex. Gordon Robinson, Directur, Electoral Area C, Kitimat-Stikine Regional District About letters THE TERRACE Standard welcomes letters to the editor. Our deadline is noon Fridays; noon Thursdays on a long weekend, You can write us at 3270 Clinton St, Terrace, B.C. V8G 5R2. Our fax number ts 250- 638-8432 or you can email us al standard@kermode.net Letters must be signed and must have a phone nusn- ber.