MYSTARCOLLECTORCAR 2011 STAR OF THE YEAR: THERE WAS REALLY ONLY ONE CHOICE

MYSTARCOLLECTORCAR 2011 STAR OF THE YEAR: THERE WAS REALLY ONLY ONE CHOICE

I have to confess that the 2011 Star of the Year wasn't my pick even though the best possible choice was made.

I was focused on the daunting task of sifting through hundreds of possibilities found in the photo files when Jim pointed out the obvious choice.

Bear in mind that Jim isn't the brightest light bulb in the marquee but he came up with the best possible Star of the Year- Aidan Fitzgerald.

Regular readers know who Aidan was, but for new readers a brief biography is in order. Aidan was a young guy who battled MD for most of his life. He had many passions in life but one of his biggest was the car culture. In fact, when he was finally in a permanent wheelchair scenario, he made the best of it and tore up the track inside and out like he was behind the wheel of a Plymouth Super Bird.

Aidan couldn't drive a car but he sure could design them on his computer so I brought my personal bias into this pick and chose Aidan's finned warrior as the mscc Star of the Year for 2011. Virgil Exner, the designer of the legendary Chrysler fin cars of the mid to late 50s is a personal hero of mine, but the day I saw Aidan's custom fin car I knew I had another hero-a bigger hero than Exner because Aidan gave lessons in life that complemented his automotive design.

Aidan wasn't a quitter, he embraced life even through incredibly difficult circumstances and he was a car guy to his last day. ..a car guy who put fins on cars. I used to get emails from him as his health status allowed and most were car related-here's his last one...."jer and jim check speed tv wednessday nights aidan"

That's a car guy...

He passed away on October 31 2011 in a room full of car stuff.

That makes him an easy, easy pick for 2011 MSCC Star of the Year

Jerry Sutherland

For a link to past Stars of the Week please click here-http://www.mystarcollectorcar.com/2-features/star-car-tunes/1375-december-26-star-of-the-week-1975-ford-ltd-brougham-2-door.html