David Perry’s Blog

I’m off this weekend to Morris, IL, for the Hunnert Car Pile-up, to do a book signing. Look for me with the Wizz on Saturday. I’ll bring my cameras just in case something catches my eye.

*********************************

I’ve posted a “Be a David Perry Pin-up” page on my web site, for those gals interested in commissioning a Hot Rod Pin-up for yourself or as a gift.

************************************************************************************

AutoMoto Wines in Napa, California feature my Hot Rod book cover ‘40 Coupe at Takeoff as the label for 4 choice wines- a Cab, Merlot, Riesling and Chardonnay.

They make a 3 liter. Dig!

I’m working on getting a $1500.00 1983 alfa romeo spider veloce back on the road. This’ll satisfy my need for an open air - go cart like driving experience. Something to run to the taco truck in, or blast down lake Herman Road at sunrise, full throttle. The future will be economical with the 4 banger, too.

I’ve painted the dash black. Forget the tan. Next the floors.

Meanwhile, while my mechanic works on my 1986 GTV-6 (current problem, an electrical fire!), he generously loaned me his ‘74 GTV. I suppose to give me hope that an alfa can be reliable.

The deal with owning an alfa is this: they’re heartbreaking, finicky and sometimes haunted with insolvable electrical mysteries, but when they run, it’s a thing of beauty. And a very stylie accessory.

And, for you hot rod snobs, alfas have an aluminum block, hemi heads, DOHC and a racing legacy.

Current web site modculture

Current music boogaloo radio

I decided if i’m gonna do a blog, I need to have fresh photos to go with it- so, I bought a FujiFilm FINEPIXZ20fd, for under $200. It’s a slim line type, so I should carry it everywhere. it also shoots 2 minutes of video, so I can capture a newsworthy disaster and sell it to Fox.

August and I at Lil Indy raceway, hawlin' ass...

I’ve decided it’s “good effect for business” to have a blog-  to keep people updated on the whatsup with dp. This coincides with my quitting smoking.

I spend my weekend in Davenport, Iowa as the guest of THE WIZZ, a Santa Klaus quasi-biker  look-a-like and former beatnik (who got his name from “big daddy” himself) , and his Flying Eyeball Reunion- a gathering of pin stripers, rat rodders and local goofs.

The Wizz claims his father, a WW1 veteran and ace pilot, and his squadron of farmboys, were the first to use the flying eyeball imagery on their warplanes and jackets. He says it was inspired from Egyptology, a recent discovery circa 1910. I’m sure he’d gladly tell you the whole story.

My friday night was spent signing books at the Putman gallery.

Saturday, the car show,  was spent signing books at the fairgrounds. I was to judge a pinup show and tattoo contest, (both of which never transpired.)

Some rodeo or county fair was at the expo the week before.
I felt like Rat Fink, surrounded by flies during my signing.
Saturday night we went to a bar THE RUSTY NAIL and caught a killer act the WIZZ had booked- “Cadillac Kolstad and the Flats”. Imagine a a young Jerry Lee Lewis, drunk on wine, with a slightly out-of-tune upright piano, playing familiar yet fresh, and slightly tweeked versions of tired rock standards. Great hair, too. These guys were wasted on the Rusty Nail crowd. One lady told me she didn’t know what kind of music this was…I told her barrelhouse, which didn’t compute. The I said “Boogie Woogie” which didn’t help much either. She said “it’s not car guy music”. OK…

Sunday was spent at Cordova Dragstrip, the “grand daddy of them all.” The escape route for runaway dragsters was a corn field. The Wizz introduced me to Tazz, a gravely voiced man who ran the strip, Tazz mixed a perfect rockabilly mix for drag day, probably the best i’ve heard played at an actual dragstrip. The Wizz and Tazz have a encyclopedic minds for obscure 60 rock music.

As for Iowa, lousy on beer (Bud, Bud lite, Miller, Miller Lite), good on decrepit neighborhoods, good on beef, lousy on vegetables.

Met some funny guys, esp. John Myers, a pinhead from Tulsa, kept us laughing.