Scott and Melody Saxe's 1964 El Camino -- How to go from Second Place to First – The Hard Way !!! At the 2005 CECCO 4th Annual Car Show, this pretty little El Camino got it's first ever trophy! After having fun showing our car at various cruise-ins and shows, we finally got something. It was for second place, but it might as well have been Best in Show as far as we were concerned. We absolutely had no idea we would even place for a trophy, and during the awards ceremony we were pleasantly surprised and totally caught off guard. Part of owning one of these beautiful old cars is simply the joy of driving them around on a daily basis. Not everyone has a daily driver, but I do. I didn’t get the car to parade around and have everyone look as I would go by. When I first got the El Camino, it drew a lot of attention as I drove around doing errands and what not. I got easily embarrassed, and I still do to some degree, six years later. As most of you know, my smart mouth got me the car, and I really liked it. As the years have gone by, I have loved driving it and having fun showing it off. It has never been in perfect condition, but that has never bothered me. In April of 2005 we had the interior redone in a two tone, red and white. Very cool, with lots of custom pop in an original style. Fast forward to July 7th, 2006. It's about 2:30 pm in the afternoon, on a bright summer day. I had just left my house a few minutes earlier and was stopped in traffic, when life changed drastically for me and my car. I was rear ended and pushed into the car in front of me. The El Camino sustained damage to the front bumper, also the grill, headlight bezel, eyebrow trim, valance and other various trim pieces, and both of my high beam headlights were shattered. The tailgate was smashed in along with the rear bumper and filler panel. There are three buckles in the rear driver side quarter panel. The bed was also pushed forward and slightly buckled at the seam. We also discovered that the engine had shifted so hard forward, that the bolt on the motor mount impacted the fuel pump and shattered it. I was thrown back in the seat so hard, that the seat back is bent back. For two weeks I didn't drive her while we tried to sort out whose insurance was going to pay. The lady that hit me was also stopped in traffic and claims that she was hit from behind, and that the other car drove away. There is no damage to the back of her pickup. Anyway we had to hire a lawyer to help us through this. We got the El Camino back the day before our 2006 show, and when we got to the fairgrounds, everyone said to put it in as work in progress, so we did. The day of our show was extremely HOT!!!!! Every one seemed to be having a good time in spite of the heat. As the day wore on we never thought about getting a trophy. We went out and did our voting, and went back to our apparel booth, and the wonderful BIG fan that stood right next to us. Before we knew it, it was time for the awards to be given out. As we sat enjoying watching the winners pick up their trophies, and visit with people who were seated next to us, we didn't realize that they were announcing the winner for work in progress. I was just enjoying being there with everyone, when someone tapped my shoulder and said, "You won! They called your name." As I went up to get my trophy, I still wasn't quite sure it was for my car. As I took the trophy from Doug, he says "Sympathy votes count for a lot, don’t they?" You know, I don't really care, a trophy is a trophy. I tell people you enter your car while it's not in too bad a shape, and you win second place, but go and get the crap smacked out of it, and the next year you get a first place trophy that's twice as tall! Go figure. And that's how you go about it the hard way!!!!