[Jeff P. / MN]

The following words were written by Ryan Cochrane, owner of this and all the Ford Barn websites. Although written for the Jalopy Journal crowd, substitute “Model A” for Hot Rods and you will see it can apply.

“ I came into this week thinking the rest of the world was going to be forced to live like me for a few days and just stay home. As things have progressed and the reality of Covid-19 has set in, it’s starting to look a lot more like people are gonna be grounded for a month or so… if we are lucky. More likely, this thing will leave us isolated for a few months or more.
Last night at the dinner table, Tardel and I were thinking… Man, wouldn’t this be the perfect time for a good old fashion reliability run? Gas is cheap, there’s no traffic, and technically you wouldn’t be breaking any CDC guidelines if you didn’t feature any social stops. I mean, I don’t think it would be socially irresponsible – would it? This isn’t rhetorical – I am honestly curious.
This literally could be a once in a lifetime opportunity to do a traditional hot rod reliability run through downtown Austin, Manhattan, Chicago, LA, Houston, etc… The visuals would be nothing short of spectacular. I dunno man… We could be on to something.
***
Regardless, it looks like we are all down and out for a pretty good spell and I thought it might be cool to have a group brainstorm session of sorts. What do you plan on doing with your hot rod/custom life for the next few months? How are you gonna enjoy this thing of ours while avoiding that other thing? What could we do together without being together?
With isolation comes opportunity… Opportunity that we are likely never to see again in our lifetime (if we are lucky). Why not make an effort to make some lemonade?”