We dream many dreams in life.  Some of them are based on relationships or legacy; others revolve around ambitions; and still others are aimed at material acquisitions.  The dreamer feels the dream first; then he decides what is worth his continued dreaming.  Finally, he decides whether and how to go about making his dreams come true.

   Since he was a little boy, Handsome has been a car guy.  He developed an appreciation for all sorts of motorized vehicles and established his opinions on aesthetics and mechanics at a pretty early age.  Looking back over the years on his constantly rotating collection of cars, trucks, motorcycles, and watercraft, you can see his life change and witness his personality evolve.  You can see him experiment with style, rebel against authority, protect young children, go lunching with white collar colleagues, flirt with speed and danger, bond with his dad, and even fall in love.

   If you know him personally then you know I am not exaggerating one bit to say that his car collection represents much more than transportation; it is satisfaction on many levels and self expression in the truest sense for him.

   Though many of his selections have come and gone, keeping that “visiting” spot in the garage pretty warm and filled with mystery, a couple of cars will always hold a place in his heart.

    One of them is the Shelby Cobra.

    He started loving this car in 1981 when he was six years old.  His specific memory of a date perked up my ears.  I asked him, “What happened?  Was it a significant event?  Where were you?  What was the weather like that day?  Were you hungry?”

    He said, “I saw one.”  Simple as that, I suppose.  Love at first sight.

   He had a toy car model that represented his ultimate Cobra package:  Blue, white rally stripes, white pipes, single roll bar.  He keeps it in his office.

before a lot of family changes frankly.
She captured the blue paint, white rally stripes, and single roll bar.
It was a spontaneous work of love and gift for him, and we will treasure it forever.
Side note:  At that age, her dream car was a pick up truck, painted sparkly purple.

   He never expected to own it until after retirement.  But thanks to a slightly depressed car market, incredible long term financial discipline, and very, very, very patient searching, my dream guy was able to buy his dream car a bit early.

   When we shopped, we shopped for a long time and looked at a wide variety of cars all across the region, understanding that the unexpected and limited opportunity to buy might limit the colors available, motors, etc.  He considered a yellow paint job, an aqua blue one, and a black body with red pinstripes.  All of those cars were gorgeous and any of them might have been fine, but none of them was his dream.

    Fate intervened.

   He gritted his teeth, waited, and got exactly the car he wanted.  It matches his model car almost perfectly but also needs just the right amount of tinkering to make it his.  He has big plans for his Cobra, knowing it will be a lifetime investment and treasure.

   So to anyone still dreaming of your ultimate car, keep the flame alive.  In the back of your heart, in the margins of your thoughts, remember that dreams come true, even those dreams on wheels. Because once you’ve got that dream car in your garage—the one you waited for, saved for, maybe even manifested from a decades-old model sitting on your shelf—it becomes more than just a machine.

It becomes a part of you, a symbol of patience, personality, and persistence. And like anything meaningful, it deserves real care, not quick fixes or shortcuts. When it’s time to tune the suspension just right, quiet that rattle that wasn’t there last week, or prep for the open road, you want someone who respects the story behind the car as much as the mechanics inside it.

That’s what makes a place like Blue Wrench such a gem—where seasoned hands meet modern tools, and every car, from a beat-up daily driver to a custom-built Cobra, gets treated with the kind of attention that honors both performance and passion. Because some cars are built to last, and others are built to be legends—you just need the right team to keep them running like one.