I can still remember that chilly day in October 1992 when I looked out of my office window overlooking Michigan Avenue and Lake Michigan in Chicago and saw the flatbed truck pull up. My assistant came barging into my office.."It's here... it's gorgeous!!"I looked out and saw the two men offloading my latest addition to my growing collection of cars... a bright red, 1993 Dodge Viper...V10 engine... BRUTE power... and one of the first in Chicago.I hurried downstairs .. cursing the slow elevators in our old building.. I couldn't wait to see it close up. Actually, I had never seen one in real life, only in a brochure. I had to pay quite a bit over the sticker price to get it also... they were that much in demand.
Well, here it was. Real, shiny, smelling of leather, vinyl, all those wonderful new car smells. They handed over the documents for me to sign, and stepped back to allow me to look into the cockpit. There was a crowd gathering around us. Many of my employees were eagerly looking on, and also quite a few strangers just curious about this beautifully styled fiberglass and chrome sports car that many had been reading about, but few had seen.
I elbowed my way to the drivers side and opened the door. Ahhh, what a beautiful day! I can still smell the leather seats! I sat down and put the key in the ignition, checked that the gearshift lever was in neutral, pushed down the clutch and turned the key. RRRRRrrrrrrRRRRR VROOOOMMMMM... the 10 cylinder truck engine lit off and the car shook with the vibration of 10 cylinders firing in sync... wow... what a rush...!
I took my foot off the clutch and looked over the dash board and controls. I remember that the windows only went halfway down, and there were plastic inserts for rainy days. There was no air conditioning yet available for the Viper... too new on the marker for one to have been developed yet. You could feel the heat coming into the cockpit from the engine which was now warmed up and humming smoothly.
I checked the gas gauge and saw that it was near empty. Well, the first drive was going to be to the gas station. I asked everyone to step back. I adjusted the mirrors, depressed the clutch all the way down, and placed her in First gear then eased out the clutch. The car shuddered for a second, then...whoosh..shot away from the curb like a bat out of hell! Damn fast! I guess it could do 0-60mph in under 5 seconds.
I noticed that the rear end fishtailed as I pulled away, and the car's rear kept hopping around as I passed over the many ruts and cracks on Michigan Avenue as I headed for the gas station. It had a rather primitive rear end, that was unforgiving, and built just for speed, not comfort. And, it was a bone jarring ride!
I pulled into the gas station and immediately drew a crowd around me as I filled her up. I was glad to get out of the cockpit... this car was a lot of work to drive! And, even though it was chilly outside, it was hot inside the cockpit. Well, time for a drive!
That afternoon I put about 100 miles on the Viper. Expressways, up through the North Shore of Chicago through Winnetka, Highland Park, Lake Forest, and up to Lake Bluff where a good friend of mine, Brian Murphy had his Automotive shop and Service facility. Brian was anxious to see this beast also and was waiting outside as I pulled up. Frankly, I was tired! I flipped him the keys and said... give it a try...
Brian wasted no time, and took over the drivers seat. He expertly eased her into first, then second as we accelerated up through the Illinois - Wisconsin boarder and into the countryside. He agreed with me that this was one brute of a car. And, it was a lot of work to drive... but exhilarating at the same time.
Brian was no stranger to fast cars and exotic rides. He was a wiz at massaging the most out of the cars entrusted to him. He had built quite a clientele of traders and brokers from the Chicago Board of Trade, the Chicago Stock Exchange and the Chicago Board Options Exchange. Young men with a lot of money and a passion for fast and expensive cars. On a daily basis Willow Automotive would see a stream of Ferrari's, Porsche's, Mercedes, AMG's, Aston Martin's, Audi's and even a Shelby Cobra or two (or three). Brian would pull an engine apart, "blueprint" the engine, change the computer chips, timing, suspensions and sometimes even add a supercharger or turbocharger. It all depended on how much you wanted to spend... the sky was the limit!
This was the first Viper he had ever seen, much less driven. We pulled a quick U-Turn, and headed back to his shop. He quickly popped the hood and stepped back to admire the power plant under it. It was a modified Chrysler 10 cylinder truck engine placed into a lightweight fiberglass body. Fast, furious and very powerful. "Not a lot of room under there for a supercharger" I recall him saying. He was already trying to figure out what he could do to add a few more horses to the probably 400+ already being generated at a cost of about an 8 mile per gallon thirst for hi octane gas.
"Don't even think of it" I told him and we both laughed. He pulled out a couple of sodas and admired the body styling, then went to his office. He came back with a KozaK Auto DryWash cloth and quickly wiped down the body removing the dust and grime from our drive into the country. The car was gleaming in the late afternoon sun.
Brian was a KozaK convert for many years. I had passed him one when we had first met in 1985 after my friend Terry sold me his 1985 Mercedes 500SEL AMG over a Christmas dinner. Terry had told me that Brian was the only mechanic he would allow to touch his stable of cars.. everything from a Jeep Cherokee to a couple of Ferrari Testarosa's, an old Maserati, an Audi and I think a Range Rover if I remember correctly. Brian had loved the color of that Mercedes. It was a very rich, very deep Navy Blue. It was a custom color, and I was using the KozaK to waterlessly wash that car every evening when I came home from trading.
One afternoon, I pulled into Brian's driveway, as one of my widows wasn't working. While I was waiting for Brian to come over, I opened the trunk and took out the Kozak and absentmindedly began wiping that huge car down. When I looked up, Brian was standing to the side, admiring how nice the car looked. The KozaK had nicely removed not only all the day's dirt and grime but also the dust that came up from Brian's gravel driveway.
"Wont that scratch the car" he asked? "Nope.. never scratched any of my cars" I replied. He was impressed that the KozaK had waterlessly and quickly restored the shine and polish to the Navy AMG... and he was very impressed that it took off the gravel dust without a drop of water, and without scratching.
Brian quickly looked under the hood and located the fuse box. He popped it open and quickly smiled as he held a burned out fuse from the errant window motor. After a moment he replaced the fuse and tested the window, which now worked again. I asked him "how much do I owe you" and he got that huge Irish smile across his face and pointed to the KozaK in my hand. "Even trade he said" and our deal was sealed!
I drove back into Chicago eager to get the car into my garage and grab some dinner. Later, I would pick up a copy of Hemming's magazine and look for the KozaK ad so I could order another to replace the one I gave to Brian.
Brian's still in business... in fact his business has grown nicely. Check it out at http://www.willowauto.com/ and eyeball some of the fabulous cars he has.
Check out KozaK at http://www.kozakasia.com/ if you're curious about the Auto DryWash cloth that I've used since 1969. It doesn't scratch!!! Honest!! But it does really clean and polish your car beautifully without a drop of water!
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