Love at first sight...
Posted: September 3rd, 2009, 2:59 pm
It was only months after I started QSL when I was pushed by Mike Ogle to make sure I track down Jeff Schmidt from QRS/Pacesetter. Mike even sent me a phone number that could have possibly been Jeff’s. So I went for it, I called a got a voicemail. I started to leave a message when a woman picked up and said her husband was the Jeff I was asking about!! She told me he would be excited to talk to me and that she would give him my information. Later that night Jeff called me and we spoke for quite a bit of time and he even faxed some stuff over to me, but the black and white jibberish was just a unreadable mess. He invited me over for the weekend to meet. Of course I asked him if he still had any quarterscale stuff and he told me he had very little left but he would have his stuff out so we could look at it and talk about it. I was really hoping for monster truck parts because I wanted one so bad and did not have one at that time. But he told me on the phone he only had a couple bits and pieces…
Saturday comes and I could hardly sleep the night before. I took my wife with me and we made the 1hr drive to his house. When we pulled up, his garage door was open and he was standing outside looking exactly like he did in all the magazines. When I was walking up to him, I saw two amazing treasures sitting on a table. I was so distracted by them that I could barely introduce myself. We spoke briefly and then I walked into his garage and started asking him about these 2 cars he had sitting there. One I recognized immediately. It was his 60’s style sprint car. A matter of fact it was the first one he made in 1979 and it was used in all the literature. Next to it was a car I had never seen or heard of before. He called it a Cobra Daytona Coupe. My wife and I could hardly keep our eyes off this machine. I had never even seen a full size one in my life before but when I saw this model for the first time I was in LOVE. It sported sweet ricks wheels a Skellenger rear, Skellenger spindles and working headers! Throughout the next few hours we spoke in detail about his dealings from beginning to end with pacesetter and QRS. Jeff is one amazing man. He did everything possible on these cars. He tig welded everything himself, made the bodies and did all the machining too!! He was a one man show and the Daytona coupe was the last project he ever worked on. We went through countless pictures and magazines. By the end of the day, I felt like I could not leave his home without the Daytona. I asked him if he would even entertain the idea of selling it and he said he would, so he gave me a ballpark price and I offered more!! He said he would think about it and to call him back in a few days.
On the way home we stopped at Applebee’s to eat. ( I will never forget this place or day. Everytime we go to jeffs place, I look at it and smile) All I could do was talk about the Daytona and how amazing it was. I think at this point the buzz wore off on my wife and she was getting sick of hearing about it. But she put up with it and I kept talking about it throughout the night.
The next few days were extremely difficult for me. All I could do is think about this car. I was all over the internet learning about its full size counter part. I kept thinking to myself how much I really hoped jeff would accept my offer. Finally the day came and I called him. He told me if I wanted it, I could buy it from him!!! OMG!! I was sooooo excited. I told him I would be there tonight to pick it up even though I was at work and its about 3hrs from there. He told me I could wait and come get it later in the week, but I was not having that!!! I hopped into the car, picked up my family, stopped at the bank and got a ton of cash and headed over to pick up my jewel.
We loaded the car into our truck so carefully like it was a wounded animal, wrapping it up in towels and making the kids share a seatbelt so there was room for the Daytona. I drove extra careful that night on the way home. When we brought it in the house, its temporary home was on our kitchen island counter. I could not stop looking at it and I eventually made a special case for it in my home theater room in which is sleeps every night now. A day does not pass that I don’t take a minute to look at this car and enjoy it for all it is… One amazing treasure.
Saturday comes and I could hardly sleep the night before. I took my wife with me and we made the 1hr drive to his house. When we pulled up, his garage door was open and he was standing outside looking exactly like he did in all the magazines. When I was walking up to him, I saw two amazing treasures sitting on a table. I was so distracted by them that I could barely introduce myself. We spoke briefly and then I walked into his garage and started asking him about these 2 cars he had sitting there. One I recognized immediately. It was his 60’s style sprint car. A matter of fact it was the first one he made in 1979 and it was used in all the literature. Next to it was a car I had never seen or heard of before. He called it a Cobra Daytona Coupe. My wife and I could hardly keep our eyes off this machine. I had never even seen a full size one in my life before but when I saw this model for the first time I was in LOVE. It sported sweet ricks wheels a Skellenger rear, Skellenger spindles and working headers! Throughout the next few hours we spoke in detail about his dealings from beginning to end with pacesetter and QRS. Jeff is one amazing man. He did everything possible on these cars. He tig welded everything himself, made the bodies and did all the machining too!! He was a one man show and the Daytona coupe was the last project he ever worked on. We went through countless pictures and magazines. By the end of the day, I felt like I could not leave his home without the Daytona. I asked him if he would even entertain the idea of selling it and he said he would, so he gave me a ballpark price and I offered more!! He said he would think about it and to call him back in a few days.
On the way home we stopped at Applebee’s to eat. ( I will never forget this place or day. Everytime we go to jeffs place, I look at it and smile) All I could do was talk about the Daytona and how amazing it was. I think at this point the buzz wore off on my wife and she was getting sick of hearing about it. But she put up with it and I kept talking about it throughout the night.
The next few days were extremely difficult for me. All I could do is think about this car. I was all over the internet learning about its full size counter part. I kept thinking to myself how much I really hoped jeff would accept my offer. Finally the day came and I called him. He told me if I wanted it, I could buy it from him!!! OMG!! I was sooooo excited. I told him I would be there tonight to pick it up even though I was at work and its about 3hrs from there. He told me I could wait and come get it later in the week, but I was not having that!!! I hopped into the car, picked up my family, stopped at the bank and got a ton of cash and headed over to pick up my jewel.
We loaded the car into our truck so carefully like it was a wounded animal, wrapping it up in towels and making the kids share a seatbelt so there was room for the Daytona. I drove extra careful that night on the way home. When we brought it in the house, its temporary home was on our kitchen island counter. I could not stop looking at it and I eventually made a special case for it in my home theater room in which is sleeps every night now. A day does not pass that I don’t take a minute to look at this car and enjoy it for all it is… One amazing treasure.