It been a few years since the first Boys Toys page. The boy is now a man, well, legally anyway, so now he has a real car and is allowed to pound the tarmac on his own. Not being content with a ‘normal’ lads car, he had to have something different. What do you get that wont cost an absolute fortune, is ‘cool’ enough and is insurable as a first car (that’s a real big deal here, believe me!) Nat loves old cars and retro cool is the thing, so as luck would have it we found a 1983 Vauxhall Chevette, all original, no mods, totally as it left the factory with only 36,000 miles on it. No tax or MOT, been sitting a couple of years, but a good solid car that with a few weekends work would come up a treat. Deal made and we carted it home and got her fixed up.

Some may laugh and say ‘My parents had one of those’ but once into the scene its amazing how many people will come over for a look and reminisce about the old thing. It’s got a certain charm for sure, and Nat loves it and is the often the centre of attention because of it. Must admit to sneaking out to take it for a blast into town on occasion. It might not have a stonkin’ great V8 and candy paint, but it still raises smiles all round.

The ‘little’ cars we built all got sold off. We kept the blue T for a few years and constantly made small improvements to it. The picture shows it in one of its regular poses, amongst the show winners! This is one of the last pictures I took of it. The grey model A is still a regular around the shows. After we sold it, it reappeared in this very fetching black’n’flamed paint job and looked great. We were so happy to see still being used and loved.

Quite obvious by now everyone is into cars. Old cars, hotrods, kits, customs, classics, indeed anything that is not run of the mill car. Which brings me to the gorgeous old lady in the pictures. I was lucky enough to come across this lovely old Jag and struck up a deal with its trumpet playing owner. Kept the car for two and a half years, using it of course! Now, anyone who's ever owned an aging Jaguar will tell you running one is a labour of love. They can be so temperamental, but you love them anyway. Reluctantly in the end she had to go to a new owner who had the resources to restore her further and keep her where she belongs... on the road.

Some of you already know that while I can get by playing the trumpet my real instrument is guitar. Loud and noisy Rock ‘n’ Blues type guitar. I’ll let you into a secret, guitar players are generally far bigger hoarders than trumpet players. Guitarist don’t have two guitars, they have 10 guitars! Don’t believe me, talk to a few, it’s a bit of an obsession. While I have the usual array of stock off the shelf but very nice ones, a first edition Fender Custom Shop Eric Clapton Blackie (when they were Custom Shop! That’s a good few years ago now), a more recent Gibson Nashville Custom factory 335 (I love playing that one), a 1964 Gibson Firebird, a 1984 Fender Strat (this was the last year Strats were made in the USA and production went to Japan). All those are factory axes, nothing to out of the ordinary and easy enough to google up pictures if you’re that keen.

It’s the fun of making specials out of bits that I’ve enjoyed particularly. Ok, I can cheat a bit as we have good workshop facilities here to make, alter, reshape and refinish most parts if we need to. This means we can create a professional job and still have fun with it. The pictures are of some of these creations. Some of the ones in the pictures I’ve kept, some I’ve sold on to fund the next one, you know how it goes. It would be stupid of me to get all possessive and say they are all keepers, I’m in the musical instrument trade, so if something catches your eye and you fancy it for yourself then they all have a price. And a lot cheaper than having Fender Custom Shop make you one!! You’ve only got to ask. I still have about a third of these.

What’s the point in having all these guitars if you don’t play them? Well, they do get played, well most of them do! Through a Marshall, what else? Ok, had a Mesa Boogie but you need a forklift to pick it up! I have my guitar playing ‘heros’ of course. So here’s a bit of a picture clue as to who might be pretty close to the top of that shortlist. And the other is a picture clue as to how the amp needs setting up! Only joking on that last one, but I do love the sentiment. I play mostly old school Rock and Blues. Third picture gives pretty obvious indicator as the sort of stuff we play! That’s me on the right. Think Bad Company, the Who, Clapton, Dave Edmunds, Stevie Ray, Rolling Stones, even Golden Earring, and you’ll get the idea. Not a Maynard lick to be heard!

While I can appreciate jazz and will listen to it (and enjoy it) there are just to many chords going on for my brain to process fast enough. I might play songs with only 3 chords, but I know lots of inversions of those same three chords…. and sometimes even in non 12 bar configurations. Clever stuff eh! Love playing funk, too. Lots of groove, and less chord changes!