Do you remember me mentioning a while back that my buddy Mike Gillilan is a contributor to a car-news blog called The Daily Derbi? Well, a couple months ago, Anne and I were out for an afternoon cruise in my beloved old Ford Galaxie and, on the spur of the moment, we stopped to see Mike and his girlfriend. He took a few photos of my car while we were there, and then, a few days later, asked if I would mind him turning those shots into one of his Weekly Wallpapers for the Derbi site. Of course not, I told him; I’m proud of that old girl, and always happy to show her off. Then he asked if I would like to contribute some copy to go along with the image. Sure, I said, no problem. I did a little research on the history of the Galaxie line, mixed it with some personal observations on my particular car, and banged out a couple paragraphs for him. The end result turned out very well, if I say so myself. (I’m sure Mike would agree.)

His image and my words drew quite a few accolades, as well as a little boost in traffic for the site, so, to at last get to the point of this entry, I’ve been asked to join The Daily Derbi myself. Mike and the site’s founder, Chad Waite, both think my perspective as a lover of classic Detroit steel will add an interesting new flavor to the proceedings over there. I’ll be honest, I’m a little dubious of how well I’ll fit in — I’ve been doing my own thing here for nearly a decade, with no editorial oversight whatsoever, free to write whatever, whenever, and however I wish — but I’m game to give it a try. And I think writing about different subject matter in a different location may help break through some of the malaise I’ve been feeling about blogging lately. We’ll see how it goes.

My first solo post for the Derbi went up a couple days ago; it’s about an exhibition of vintage racing machines currently on display at the Utah Museum of Fine Arts. Give it a read here, and then have a look around the rest of the site. Feel free to let me know what you think…