Week 51: Custom '66 GTO Wagon

This wagon is what I want to be -- a station wagon, life's clunky yet functionally awkward symbol of domesticity and family life, and yet, at the same time, the coolest of the cool of muscle cars, a GTO.

Technically there never was a factory model GTO Wagon although you can find a lot of modified Tempest wagons and such, but even Hot Wheels has recognized the custom GTO Wagon, and I have no issue with being related to a custom model.

I've actually set my sites on eventually acquiring an old model station wagon, a vehicle I see as the automotive equivalent of the hipster nerd glasses. I like station wagons, and could use it to haul items for my vintage business, Nickadizzy.

I've written about station wagons before in Daddy's Tiny Cars, and I was happy to find not only a sporty station wagon by Hot Wheels, but also one with one of my favorite tiny cars attribute, the little tiny plastic dog in the bag, on which I believe I have also previously written.

For the upcoming one year anniversary of Daddy's Tiny Cars (I'm at week 51, meaning next week's entry marks the final entry for year one!), I'm going to break out some of this past year's entries for an actual orange-track race with my kids, and this bright yellow station wagon will be my top racing selection, going up against any cars my kids select out of their collections -- I'll even let the two-year-old select a car and race.

I'll announce the results on Week 53, but come on, the Daddy Wagon has to win, for the glory of fathers everywhere, right? I feel mildly confident about taking on the Racer A and Baby G as their collections = their piles of cars seemingly everywhere in the house, but Racer Z might be tough as he has kept his cars in tip-top racing condition inside a shoe box. We shall see.

So mark your calendars, results of the first annual Daddy's Tiny Cars Race are set to be revealed September 13, 2011, and if you have tiny cars and kids, or can borrow kids (you can always go pick up a car at the local Target or grocery store), I invite you to join me in a dad* vs. kids tiny car race.

Let me know if you win, and feel free to email me pics.

*Of course I extend my encouragement to race to anybody who plays a significant role to a child - moms, caretakers, uncles, grandparents, family friends, and more. Get out there and race!


Photography by Phil Pekarcik, whom I'm expecting to join in racing!