Share photos of your ‘Hot Wheels’

Friday, June 29, 2012

By ERIC HAMILTON

Neighbors Editor

“Wow, look at that faded red, 1998 Ford Escort SE with the cool OSU fuzzy dice on the rearview mirror! What an awesome ride – I wish I had one of those.”

Chances are, that is not something you have said yourself or heard from others who are interested in cars. The excitement is generally reserved for antique or classic cars displayed at many summer car shows around the Valley. People who are car enthusiasts are regulars at these types of shows where car owners relish the opportunity to showcase their “babies” and compete for prizes in many categories.

I’m not a car guy. I couldn’t tell you anything about classic cars and would be lucky to distinguish between a Chevy and a Dodge. As long as my car gets me from Point A to Point B with minimal strange noises that can be drowned out by the radio, I’m good.

But I know many of you are car guys (or gals). You take a lot of pride in your prized vehicles. In many cases, you don’t even drive them except to shows or summer cruise-ins. Maybe some of them were a labor of love as you spent years fixing them up. Or, you were lucky enough to acquire them in great shape and have preserved them.

With this in mind, Neighbors wants to provide car enthusiasts with another opportunity to showcase their pride and joy. No doubt you’ve taken many photos of your antique, muscle or classic car. In some cases, you’re probably standing right beside it. We want these pictures.

So we are starting a new feature called “Hot Wheels.” You can email (preferably) or mail us photos of your car, and hopefully you, too. This will be a cool way for you to share your car – and the story behind it – with our readers. You can include some make and model information, how you came to own it and when, and the work involved in getting it to its current condition. If you want, you can even include before and after photos.

Please send photos in color when possible. Send them as large as possible, because low-resolution photos are hard to use while still maintaining quality. Attach the photos as JPEG files and include caption information in a text file. Please include your name, hometown and the make and model of your pride and joy.

These photos can be from the stash you already have or you could take a few new ones the next time you have your vehicle out for a show or joy ride.

We’ll run a few photos each week as they stream in this summer. If the response from you is great, we can keep this thing going for a while. I’m looking forward to seeing your photos and reading your stories.

Email photos to neighbors@vindy.com or mail to P.O Box 780, Youngstown, OH 44501. You can mark your submissions with “Hot Wheels.”