A New Wave

Way back in 1984, my father bought the most beautiful car I had ever seen: a baby blue 1972 Jaguar Series 1 XK6. It was in great condition and had that wonderful old leather smell that classic cars get. At one point when we were driving it around town, we passed another Jaguar and I saw my Dad wave at the other car and the guy in the other car wave back. As first I didn’t know why. I asked if he knew that person and he said no, he was just waving because the other guy also had Jag. That was the first time I had ever seen the “vehicle recognition wave.”

Wave-worthy vehicles
As you can imagine, not every vehicle has a wave. My wife currently drives a 2021 Mazda 3, and while this is a beautiful car in its own right, it does not elicit “The Wave” due to the fact that it’s so common. Some cars only get a wave on a part-time basis. My MINI Cooper convertible is like that. When I bought my first one, Fort Wayne didn’t have a MINI dealership, so these vehicles were pretty rare around town and it was common to get and give “The Wave” when I happened to pass one. Now that we’ve got a MINI dealership, they are pretty common and while I still tend to give “The Wave,” a lot of times the other owner isn’t even paying attention, or simply thinks I’m nuts because they don’t know they are supposed to acknowledge the fact that I’m driving the same type of car they are.

Motorcycle riders have what I consider the coolest wave – two fingers in a peace sign pointed down to the ground, similar to what you might do while using a hand signal the signify you are braking. This seems to be universal for all motorcycles no matter the make. I’ve seen it done between Harleys and sport bikes, BMWs and Gold Wings, appreciating the fact that they are members of a fairly small community of people who enjoy the freedom of a motorcycle.

Becoming a classic
In some situations if you hang onto a vehicle long enough, it can turn from something that never got a second look to one that now gets “The Wave.” That is what is happening now with my 1984 Chevy Full size ¾-Ton Custom Deluxe. You might remember this vehicle from such classic newsletters as “The Rebuilding of a GM 350,” “ZDDWhat?,” “The Renuzit Experiment,” and “This Ain’t Your Daddy’s ATF.”

When I bought this truck back in 1999, it was just another old truck. It had some rust but wasn’t completely rusted out, and I had visions of glory for it. I didn’t want to necessarily clean the body up much, but I did want to rebuild the engine to make it a “sleeper.” For those who don’t know, that’s a vehicle that doesn’t look like much but can easily take you off the line at a stop light.

Those visions quickly disappeared after my engine rebuild, which was significantly more difficult than I anticipated. Plus, the arrival of my son in 2004 and daughter in 2008 changed my perspective a little about what was important in life. So while the idea of going fast faded quickly, the need for a truck to do some work never did. As long as I have owned it, I would use this truck almost weekly every spring, summer, and fall. It was only two-wheel drive and did horrible in the snow, so I tried to drive it as little as possible in the winter, which is one of the reasons is hasn’t completely disintegrated into a big pile of rust at this point.

Over the years, I would only do the maintenance necessary to keep it running, and it would pay me back by hauling anything I threw at it. It has hauled some truly historic loads over the years, not the least of which was 5,000 lbs of dirt to the garbage dump (see picture). (Fun fact: garbage dumps will generally always take dirt for free; they need it to cover the garbage).

It’s not often I get to know exactly how much weight I’m hauling, but in this case I was able to find out because I had to stop at the scales on the way in and out. When I figured that difference it literally made my jaw drop. It didn’t matter that my truck was unmercifully overloaded (remember – this was just a ¾ ton, rated for 1,500 lbs) — I drove it all the way up a narrow dirt road to the very top of the dump without getting stuck once. Impressive!

Then much to my surprise, around 2020, I started getting “The Wave.” And this wave wasn’t just from other owners of what is now referred to as the “Square Body.” It seems to come from people who just appreciate my old truck (assuming they aren’t just nuts).

All good things must end
However just driving a “wave-worthy” vehicle isn’t reason enough to keep it. While owning this truck, I kept thinking if I could just spend a weekend working on it, fixing the little things, I could get caught up with it, but that never happened. The little things just kept on piling up and my patience had finally given out, so last summer I bought its replacement — a new 2024 GMC. So with that I say farewell and thank you to my now-classic Custom Deluxe. You always got me where I needed to go, assuming I didn’t let you run out of gas. May you always get the recognition you deserve.