In Bertolt Brecht's The Caucasian Chalk Circle we're presented with a quasi-socialist parable about the assignment of property and responsibility. It starts when the servant Grusha finds a child left behind by the Governor's wife of their Georgian-like state when she flees for her life. Grusha cares for the child in a way the Governor's wife never did. After some time the three are brought together again before the court and there's an argument over what is stronger: the bonds of blood or the bonds of love. In a typically Solomonesque-twist, a chalk circle is drawn on the groundand both moms have to pull the kid like a wishbone to see who ends up with him. The mom refuses and is granted the kid by the crazy judge. Today we were presented with another case of quesitonable lineage: the world's fastest Ferrari, featuring a GM heart. Is the car a Ferrari? A GM? Who cares? It's clearly loved by the crazy guy Beldrueger knows well.
My first job was an errand boy/hack at Norwood Autocraft when it was still off Northwest Highway. The place was legendary in Dallas among those in the know. I walked in asked for a job, and thought I'd struck gold when he said, "sure, come in Monday".
Norwood is a crazed genius and tyrannical manager. He worked on some serious shit in his day, and any Jalopnik would be impressed by the treasure trove of projects in Norwood's past. He certainly doesn't give a shit about authenticity or pissing off the purists. When I worked there, his bread and butter was slapping two massive turbos on anything with a prancing horse on the hood. The results were mixed at best. The Testarossas were the most well-developed, but even then, I doubt any of them made more than two full throttle passes before something broke. With 1200hp+ under the hood, that usually meant something serious. His solution was almost always to get a new version of the same part, but make it from titanium. He loved titanium.
He was a horrible businessman. It eventually caught up with him. He sold his original shop, started a new one, dabbled in Import drag racing, started another new shop. I lost track of what he was up to. I was surprised to see this news article. I'm glad to know he is still out there, breaking records and pissing people off. The world needs more Bob Norwoods.