Dear Frank

Another post concerning Special Interest, from our beloved Frank. This is the HotKarz response to your fine letter.

While your diligence in finding definitions for each of the words in Special Interest is laudable, those definitions have little, if anything to do with the combination term. In the English language, when two words are coupled to form a term, the term, itself, will often have its own, distinct definition apart from those words that make the term. For example, "Street Rod". If you look up the definition of "street" (a public road in a town or city; esp. a paved thoroughfare with sidewalks and buildings along one or both sides), and the definition of "rod" (a long thin implement made of metal or wood; any rod-shaped bacterium; a linear measure of 16.5 feet; a square rod of land; a visual receptor cell that is sensitive to dim light; a gangster's pistol ), it will not have any relevance to the term Street Rod. After all, Frank, your own vehicle, a street rod, is not a paved roadway, nor is it a stick or a mobsters weapon, nor a measurement of land. Hence, it is not a sticky Smith & Wesson road 16.5 feet long.

The term "Special Interest" has already been defined, as far as car shows are concerned, just as "Street Rods" have been defined. You can call a 1955 Custom Chevy a "Street Rod" because you drive it on the street, and it is a hot rod. But it is NOT a Street Rod by the definition of the term, because Street Rods end in 1948.

So, just because a vehicle may claim someone's attention (Interest), and may be of a particular nature (Special), it does not make the vehicle Special Interest. What makes it Special interest is whether or not it meets the definition of Special+Interest, just as a vehicle is not a Street Rod unless it meets the definition of Street+Rod.

A Street Rod is properly defined as "A motor vehicle, or a reproduction thereof, with a model year of 1948 or older which has been materially altered or modified by the removal, addition or substitution of essential parts and with a gross weight or registered gross weight of not more than 9,000 pounds." Therefore, a vehicle is NOT a Street Rod if it weighs more than 9,000 pounds, or is newer than 1948, or has not been materially altered.

By the same token, Special Interest has its own proper definition as "a vehicle uniquely distinguishable from the usual, and/or designed for a particular purpose, such as a race car, military vehicle or bus, or built to a specific and unusual theme, either of which would generate interest because of its uniqueness or specialty function." Therefore, a vehicle is NOT Special Interest if it is not uniquely distinguishable from the usual, or is not designed for a specific purpose, or is not designed around a specific and unusual theme. As with Street Rods not being a matter of "taste", or "opinion", neither is Special Interest a matter of taste or opinion. There is a set, predetermined criterion for EVERY car class.

Yes, everyone has a right to think a vehicle has a special interest for them. But that does not make the vehicle Special Interest, any more than a person thinking a '55 Chevy is a street rod would actually make it so.

Everyone is entitled to an opinion. But classes are not opinions - they are predetermined by definition, not opinion. Classes cannot be left to interpretation because to do so would create chaos - anyone could register anywhere. A '96 Caddy could register in Street Rods, and a '67 Mustang could register in Hot Rods,simply because someone thinks of those in that fashion.

One more time: Special Interest is a bonafide class, with a bonafide definition, just like any other class. If a vehicle does not fit the definition, regardless of a person's opinion, then it does not belong in the class. Period.

Frank, you would be the first to holler if a vehicle from the '50's or '60's were to register in Street Rods. In fact, I have an earlier letter from you a couple years ago expressing your strong concern about vehicles inappropriately registered in Street Rods. At that time, you were the one who provided me with the technical definition of Street Rod.

Well, we all need to give every class the same respect - even Special Interest.