Beauty Isn't Everything

You know pholks, beauty isn't everything.

In fact, that thing about beauty being in the eye of the beholder can refer to just about anything from art, to the opposite sex, (or...), Mother Nature, mud holes, beaches, hair styles, insects, snakes or whatever. You get the point.

And sometimes, the lack of good looks, which of course is subjective, turns out to be a beautiful thing.

Lacking the shine and luster of other entries, Tony Andrade's entry in the recent Visalia
Breakfast Lions Club downtown car show drew lots of attention. The lack of beauty played a key role in generating smiles, lots of chatter and maybe a little jealousy from other entries.

What it lacked in shine, spit and polish and current modifications, the 1963 Plymouth Valiant “convertible” brought smiles, chuckles and shaking heads.

Covered with mud, grit, grime and a dozen or so wilted dandelions, the Valiant, along with a 1950 Ford pickup truck entered by Butch Reed, provided a bit of comic relief.

Instead of spending hundreds of dollars getting every speck of dust removed and every trace of polish off the fenders, hood and grill, Andrade and Reed concentrated on getting Valiant to its assigned spot near the downtown Bank of America.

Adding to the charm of their display, Tony and Butch played the role of hillbilly buddies to the hilt. The lanky Andrade cinched up the clothesline rope belt around his coveralls, did a hair makeover, chewed on a piece of straw, wore his shades and sat back in a folding chair and chewed the fat with passersby. The side-by-side entries reportedly didn't sit well with a couple of other entrants whose high dollar cars slipped a few notches on the attention scale.

Butch had his rocking chair next to the truck and with his wide-brimmed straw hat and twisted goatee, fit the role perfectly.

The entry slip on the mud-covered Valiant windshield said the “for sale” price was slashed from $50,000 to a bargain $35,000, or best offer, because the owner needed to pay off his wife/sister and baby.

The odd entry generated a lot of chatter and even a couple “invites” to upcoming area car shows. The two good 'ol boys are giving the idea “some thinkin.” They won't have to worry about shining up their customized rides.

But under the mud and weeds, Andrade's '63 Valiant is a story of a real customized car of the mid-60s.
What once was a two-door hardtop with a slant-six engine became what Tony Jr. calls “Dad's clamming car,” a hot rod to run around Pismo Beach during frequent “clamming” safaris.

Most of the work was done around 1968 by “P.O.” Negrette, who worked on many cars at a shop on East Main Street in those days. Not only was the Plymouth's top removed, creating the “convertible look,” but “Lake pipes” fashioned in the Quality Muffler shop of veteran exhaust guru Bud Jackson were added along with a roll bar.
Along with the bigger engine came a beefier transmission and a floor shifter. Bucket seats, with special floral style coverings, gave the Valiant interior a unique look. This was a hot rod which Tony said his dad and good friends spent many hours driving around, in addition to the Pismo adventures.

But since 1974, the valiant Valiant has been in an Andrade ranch barn, collecting spider webs, dust, weeds and other “additives” before Tony Jr. thought about entering it in the Visalia show.

“It took us about two hours work but it fired up without much trouble,” Andrade said, adding that the brake lines were all rotted out and it was hauled to the show. After unloading it on Main Street, he and Butch drove it to show space using the hand break.

One thing is for sure, the guys had fun entering the show and it was a big hit without all that prep work which goes with showing off your treasure.

And that, pholks, added to the beauty of it all.

Miles can be reached at mshuper@valleyvoicenewspaper.com