In July 1998, I persuaded my friend and amazing artist Paul Barrow to "visit" Atlanta. I first met Paul in England at a swap meet held at a small airfield somewhere around London where I bought one of his drawings (still hanging above the desk in my office). I saw his drawings frequently in Custom Car and I think I scrounged his phone number from the guys there. I commissioned a few drawings from Paul, most notably the Fat Bastards Racing t-shirts for Grim, Lol and I (my racing buddies from the France trip) and some concept drawings of the 37.

Paul appeared with me in the photos taken of the car for the Custom car 4 page spread in xxxxx where we both look very young and surprisingly thin. (Note to self: Gotta get on that stairmaster) At this point the car has a rollcage and I'm fitting the body - and already tearing it apart again.

Paul stayed with us for 6 weeks or so I believe, working almost every day on the 37 bodywork - sand, shape, bondo, repeat. It must have appealed to his artistic side at the beginning at least, but I suspect that it must have worn thin towards the end. Paul rocks though both artistically and as a genuine good guy and remained enthusiastic even when I told him many years later that it was all for nothing.

My kids were very young in '98. Molly in particular was 2 years old, small, sweet and loved drawing, uh, scribbling. Paul was busy sketching cool rods in his room in the basement in the evenings and later told me that he'd quite often find Molly downstairs early in the morning "coloring in" his beautiful sketches with a fist full of crayons and a big grin. He was still telling this story last Christmas (2006) when we visited England and I was lucky enough to meet up with him and his lovely wife Beth!

I'm hoping to get them out to Atlanta again, but I had to promise no more bondo.