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FEATURE INTERVIEWS:

Rick Schmidt – Ask Rick:

Happy December and Happy Holidays! Thanksgiving is behind us and with the greatest of holidays just around the corner, it is time to talk to Rick for one last time in 2022.

Rick’s Take on Christmas Buying:

NPD sells many great items that anyone would want for Christmas and every year people buy great products for their loved ones. Quite often these purchases go can be a little off base though and are either the incorrect part or just not something that the recipient needs or wants. If someone does buy the wrong gift however, NPD is very open to helping out with a return if you call their helpful sales staff. That said….NPD sells gift cards that would be the best response to this situation as it gives the car owner control of buying exactly what they need and still is a great present under the tree.

Rick’s Take on Hilton Head Concours Car Show:

Recently Rick attended the Hilton Head Concours car show event at and took two of his extra special 1962 vehicles. He did want to point out that these events are for everyone and while they do have a huge selection of amazing high end cars, they also do have things like homebuilt section of vehicles built by their owners in the 30s through the 60s. Hilton Head also has a muscle car and a regular production class on display as well. One car that Rick took this year is a black on red 1962 Ford Galaxie 500 convertible that had 7 miles on the odometer when it showed up and 14 on the clock when he left. This car was originally bought by Bob Mercer Ford as an investment and was carefully stored. For whatever reason that dealership picked one vehicle each year to collect and store away. In 1991 the whole collection was put up for sale and Rick’s dad was able to pick up everything except for a couple Mustangs that were already gone when he got to the sale.

He also took a 1970 Ford F100 Explorer Custom that is a truck with only 48 miles on it that is completely decked out with all of the options. He just recently put 12 miles on the truck on TV with Dennis Gage on the My Classic Car show. The other car he took was a 1962 Oldsmobile Starfire that caught the attention of a lot of older guy as they remember that car as being the car to own back in the mid 60’s. He could see the look in their eye when they saw the car and remembered cars like it cruising around back in the day.

Rick’s Take on “Americana Red Saint Nick vehicles” auction cars

This month, for the car purchase picks I decided to go a different route with Rick. Specifically, if Jolly Old Saint Nick needed to buy a vehicle to drive in a town Christmas parade that was full of the Christmas spirit, which one could he then sell in January and do the best return on? Rick was ready to take on the challenge….and also insisted we pick the one that Santa would look the coolest in.

Number one was a fuel injected ’57 Chevrolet convertible that looked like an older restoration, had been driven a bit, and would probably be great driver. It was touted as a real fuel injection car but Rick had his doubts and he would have to have it double verified if he were to think about buying it. He gave a personal example of how any sure thing can be disproved and he just avoids all of the arguments and debates about cars that are likely fakes.

The second auction car was a ’57 Ford Skyliner (and Rick has a 1958 and a 1959 in his collection.) He said they are really nice cars…if the top works correctly. The are finicky and an owner will have to tinker with it a lot to get it right. He liked this particular example and thought it would be good in a parade for Santa!

The last was not even a car, but a truck! It was a 1957 Dodge D100 Sweptline that was in really nice shape, his favorite among the three vehicles, and despite being the highest priced (over $100K) was the one hey thought would meet all the criteria best. He loved the odd-yet-unique looks of it and there is no doubt that it would grab the crowds attention! The trick would be to find the right buyer in January, but Rick was confident that Santa could pull it off!

You can find out more about NPD at the website National Parts Depot, or on social media via Facebook.com/NationalPartsDepot or on Instagram.com/npd_nationalpartsdepot.

Thanks Rick

This interview sponsored by our pals at National Parts Depot – your premier source for muscle car restoration parts!