Well...what goes around, comes around. Latest article in the AJC about the Pixie Duster...
COBB COUNTY: Monkey wrench thrown into teen's car show plans
By Marcus K. Garner
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 02/11/07
Heather Davis expected to be reassembling her 1974 Panther Pink Plymouth Duster through the winter months after having finished all the painting.
But an unkept promise made by the Metro Atlanta Automobile Dealers Association to let her use its paint facilities may make it impossible for her to complete her project in time for the car shows that start in the spring.
"I'm pretty upset about where we are," Davis said. "I feel like I'll be leaving it here for my parents" when she goes away to college.
The association offered to let her use its facilities and even offered assistance and guidance with the hopes of entering the car in the AJC Auto Show in March. But she waited three months to hear any word that the association would follow through on its offer.
As a result, she missed her window of opportunity to follow her initial plan and paint the car herself at her family's makeshift painting garage. The MAADA paint facility would employ heat lamps that would speed up a drying process that otherwise would have required sunny, dry weather and 24 hours of at least 70-degree temperatures to air-dry each layer of the paint.
Heather's father, Chris Davis, said just before Thanksgiving, MAADA President Shayne Wilson said he would let the family know how the group was going to help Heather Davis. But he says no one from MAADA contacted the family, even after Chris Davis made repeated phone calls, until two weeks ago.
Wilson did not return repeated calls to his office.
Before the setback, Heather Davis was on pace to finish painting, reassembling and testing her Duster in time to make the rounds at several regional car shows in the spring. The Wheeler High School senior will graduate in May and start classes at Valdosta State College in the fall.
"I was getting discouraged waiting for [MAADA]," she said. "So finally, January comes around and it's way too cold to paint."
Chris Davis admitted that he's upset with himself for depending on MAADA, but he said he's more angry that the association disappointed his daughter.
"They could've come back after Thanksgiving and said 'we overestimated' or 'we overcommitted,' but they didn't," he said. "We could've been long done [painting] over the Thanksgiving break, but we basically stopped everything at the offer of this company."
Now, Heather Davis must wait until April at the latest to pick up where she left off. And she'll have to juggle working on the car with completing senior projects, studying for final exams and just getting the most out of her last days in high school.
"I was trying to get the car done relatively soon so that I could spend the last little bit of time I have here with friends," she said.
