8/28/07

I got up Sunday morning with every intention of installing the Datsun 1200 roundels on the front and rear of Matilda. Since I told y'all yesterday that I did it I guess there is no point in trying to be all mysterious about it. I began the quest by printing out the title transfer form I needed Gregg to sign, along with the title, and then grabbed a package of dental floss on my way out the door to go to the shop. I sent John a text message inviting him to join me and headed out. He texted back that he wasn’t going to make it. I shrugged and backed Matilda into the shop and sat down to remove the rear Nissan badge. Dental floss did not work. All it did was cut into my fingers and annoy the hell out of me. I wound up prying the thing off with my knife. I was very careful and only scratched the paint a little under the badge where it wouldn’t show anyway. Next I set about removing the glue that Nissan used to hold the badge on. That took the most time. I scratched at it with my nails until all that was left was a bit of sticky residue. I cleaned that off with the Goof Off adhesive remover stuff I have. When I was happy with the surface of the car I took a look at the roundel. I still needed to remove the studs and trim it a bit more so those things I did. When I was satisfied that the roundel fit the contour of the car well enough I started sticking the double backed tape to the roundel. I didn’t have a flat surface on this particular roundel so I had to go around the edge and then trim it back. It turned out ok, I guess. It could have been better and it could have been much worse. I decided that I'd fill in the back recess with more foam tape and layered the stuff in until I had a flat level swath of tape across the center of the badge. I lined it up in the center of the hatch and stuck it down. I leaned against it until the car started to move and the panel just began to bow inward. I stepped back for a look. It might be just a half a degree off from perfectly vertical but it looks to be centered pretty well and fairly straight. I sat back to admire it and have a Dr. Pepper. When I was through grokking it, I turned the car around and had a look at the grille. I cleaned the surface with a damp towel and sized up the front roundel. Again, I had to remove the studs and trim it just a tad more but this one had a flatter surface for the tape. I stuck the tape on and committed to a mounting location. I couldn’t lean on this one as hard because the carbon fiber grille bowed much quicker than the hatch. I'm pretty sure it is securely attached though. I grokked that for a bit and then decided that the word “Versa” on the hatch had to go and be replaced with a Datsun script. Well, I looked around for a 510 “Datsun” emblem but couldn’t find one. Then I decided that the rear needed to be done. I searched the shop and the cars out back for a suitable script logo. I found a matching pair but they were on John's shelf and I figured he was going to use them on his 1200. None of my cars had them any more. The one good one from George is on the back of the Seven. I looked at the “Datsun 1200” badge on the trunk of George and decided to see if the junkyard car still had that badge. I went out back and saw that the trunk lid from the junkyard car wasn’t attached. I looked in the car and didn’t find it. It was in Herman. It had the badge. I removed it and went back inside. I turned the car around and got to work removing the “Versa” letters. I popped them off with a plastic squeegee thing. I'd have probably been better off with my knife since the letters themselves made more scratches than the knife did under the center logo. Granted, the scratch under the roundel was much bigger than all of the tiny scratches combined but it is the principle of the thing. I cleaned off the gunk and had a look at the badge. The size was good but I needed to remove the “1200” and the mounting titties. I did this and cleaned up the badge a little. I attached a strip of double stick tape and trimmed it up between the letters. I gently stuck it on just enough to look at the location and decided it was good. I leaned on it to get good adhesion and sat back for a grok. I like it. I called Gregg to see if he would be home for a bit and could I come get some signatures. He said he would and I could. I did. He and Dave had a look at Matilda’s new badging and declared me a geek. I called John as I left to see if he was home so I could show him my efforts. He didn’t answer so I went home. He finally called me back and asked if I knew where the dash from his 1200 wound up. I said I thought it was the one in Marty but couldn’t be sure. I told him I was thinking about going back to the shop and that if I did I'd give him a call. I went back to the shop. I had decided that I wanted to fill in the “negative space” in the letters “A” “S” and “N” on the badge with blue paint pen and figured out a way to do it without removing the badge. I'd open the hatch. I set up a ladder behind the hatch and shook up the paint pen. When I dabbed it into the “A” a huge blop of paint came out and filled the whole hole. I knew I could clean it up so I wasn’t too worried. I did the other “negative spaces” more carefully. I finished up by painting the little tie-bars between the letters and cleaned off the excess. The blue is close to the color of the car and doesn’t really stand out too bad. It really made the “Datsun” pop from a distance though. With that done I began the search for a good dash. I found a pad in the paint booth and called John. We decided that I'd load it in the back of Matilda and give it to him when I saw him next. It is still in the back of Matilda. I got a message from a guy in Louisiana asking if I'd end the auction for $4,000.00 and he’d come get the truck this weekend. “Psh-yeah!” I said to myself and replied that I was willing to lower the Buy It Now price if he was willing to commit. I forgot that the BIN goes away when the reserve is met. Oops. He replied that he would like to come drive the thing but he’d be willing to commit after that. I said that since the auction ends tomorrow, we only have this evening to do it and haven’t heard back. I guess I'd better go see if he has replied. Y'all have a day.