I have a friend who repairs/restores cars for fun. He has several of them stashed in various places all over town at any given time (barns, garages, carports, parking lots). I helped him work on a car one time, and I thought it was a lot of fun.
He bought an engine on eBay, which came on a pallet, and looked like a big mess. It was missing parts and had oil all over it. We took about 20 hours putting various parts and connectors on the motor, making runs to the auto parts store, taking measurements, and eventually, hoisting the motor into place.
When that was done, it took another few hours to connect all the wires, hook everything up, and screw everything back together. Only then, when we fired up the engine for the first time and drove it to the car wash, did I realize how nice the car was.
It had been sitting under a tree the whole time, so there was sap, bird droppings, dirt, and so many leaves on the car that I never really took a good look at the car, or the even the interior. It looked so bad on the outside that I didn’t even think to look inside it.
Boy, oh boy… I couldn’t believe how nice it was when it was back in running order and cleaned from top to bottom. I failed to notice that it had leather seats, power accessories, and all the bells and whistles in the book. It was an Infiniti. A Q45, if I recall correctly. And boy, did it have a smooth ride.
I had no idea how amazing the car was under the dirt and grime. When we were working on it, it was just a piece of junk—a project car covered in mud that had been sitting around for months, waiting to be worked on. But when my friend sold it, I sure kicked myself for not having enough vision to see the finished product. Heck, if I had known, I could have bought the car myself when he sold it.
Just goes to show you: don’t judge a car by its cover. Or at least take it to a car wash first.