“Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming “Wow! What a Ride!”
― Hunter S. Thompson
Welcome to hell folks.
We have been daydreaming for a long time about this moment of rupture with the old establishment and to celebrate it, we want to share with you a short story that resumes what El Solitario MC’s philosophy is all about.
It all happened almost a decade ago but it is printed in our memories as if it had happened yesterday. We are talking about one of the very first times we had a face to face noble fight with an imperious machine. A machine capable to unveil us a new deal, a new sense of thrill. You could hear it breathe under your foot, carefully measuring every tweak of your body, analyzing your moves, wanting to kill you on the next, and every, corner coming ahead.
We are talking about a metal beast, built in South California, it was so loud, so low and so mean that in a brisk it had us on our knees asking for more. It was a 1934 Model B Truck, powered by a staggering 454 big block Chevy motor, equipped with Offenhauser intake manifolds and valve covers, all fed by a greedy Holley 750 carburetor. This killer machine was capable of reaching 120mph on the freeway faster than most actual sports cars while their dull drivers saw their jaws dropping on the carpet of their silly machines asking themselves WTF?!?!?
Having the pleasure to possess a machine of this kind and tame it for a couple of years, was an enlightening experience. It was like riding a killer Dragon that serves as your best friend, he could kill your guts with a blink of an eye, but with confidence and care, you could push it beyond your wildest dreams.
Why are we throwing at you all this BS you could ask yourself? Well, it was that unique car, that showed us the value of emotion, pure archaic power & enchantment. Something that modern transportation devices will never give you. Nowadays, machines are pure functionality, ergonomics, everything is where it should be and have been carefully sorted out to take care of you, but it is this same rationalistic approach, the minimization of RISK! that has killed the charisma, the excitement, in most motored frames.
We are happy because we learnt the lesson, understood that form must not always follow function. Functionality is good for winning races or transporting you on time, but will not grant you a powerful experience. Beat it or you will be immersed in todays reigning ubiquity.
Wish you all a pleasant ride!
All photos by Carlos Ramos & El Solitario MC
If you wanna see more photographs of this bitchin’ machine and read a detailed specs sheet go to our facebook page HERE
PS: Our kudos and love to the great Jules Watts for that last minute rope that saved us falling into the Abyss and Angelito for his patience and understanding all the way through even though we wanted to kill you!!!
xxx
