4/3/08

Ok, this is the last I'm going to say about Barbara/Eddie for a while. I lost the auction for that bitchin’ 2” spacer. I'm going to let my mind be free of the V8 project until such time as George is finished. Yeah, like that is going to happen. Not the “George is finished” part, the “let my mind be free of the V8 project” part. I'll finish George, eventually. I'm really not all that… aw, y'all know the rest of that sentence. It looks like John isn't going to be able to go to the shop this weekend and I'm planning to be in the hill country with the Sevens folks next weekend so there’s almost a whole month wasted not working on George. Perhaps I should forego the hill country thing. I've got so many other things hemorrhaging money from my account that not spending two nights in a hotel would make sense. I was going to mention the gas I'd burn getting there and running around, but I'll probably waste that much gas nonetheless. I do that. I like doing that in fact. But that is another issue. Right now I'm having “I should cull my herd” thoughts again. Now don’t go panicking and think I'm going on a selling spree, this is just thinking, well not so much out loud but you know what I mean. So, having said that, here’s what I'm thinking right at this moment. I think I could be happy, for a while at least, with the following collection: Darth Versa as my daily driver, Fifi and the trailer (sounds like a Judy’s song) as my tow rig, Shi-Chi as my fair weather “exotic” sports car, George as my beater “Rat Rod” toy, and the Chickenhawk as my ultra badass hot rod toy. Oh, I just had an idea. I wonder if a throttle body injected VG-30 intake manifold could be opened up enough to attach that dual DCOE adapter thingy. [ Yup. And it would be cake. - SM ] Ok, sorry. I just had to follow that bunny for a second. I'm back. Where was I? Ok, so if I thin out the collection to just those five vehicles, would I really need the huge assed shop in Boyd? No, not really. I could get by with pouring a drive around to the back patio of the Burkett house and “shop” out of the garage. Of course if I'm not building at Boyd, I'd probably go ahead and resurrect the shop next to the house plan. So, Juan might ask, “¿Why don ju jus do dat señior?” To which I would reply, “Huh? What did you say?” But seriously, here’s why I'm still thinking about Boyd. Camaraderie. With a huge shop in Boyd, my friends will have a place to play as well. I don’t know. A place in town makes sense but a place in Boyd would probably be cheaper. That is building a place in Boyd which I would own would probably be cheaper than finding a place to rent here in town. Hell, that’s what we have now, except it really isn't in town. I wonder if I could get by with a drive around the back of the house and a shop in the “west side of downtown” area shared with John. [ Yes. Yes, you could. Store at home, work in downtown. - SM ] Again, if I thin out my collection to five cars kept at the house, a place to meet and play with stuff… would be inconvenient for everyone. No, we need a big place where all our works in progress can live and we can meet to play with them. If we have to transport to and from somewhere just to work on a project, nothing is going to get done. Then again, keeping all but the car being worked on at the house and only having room for the current projects, one for me and one for John, at a smaller facility in the “WSoD” area could, conceivably, keep us from dragging home as many dead things. Of course without the opportunity to drag dead things home, do I really need Fifi and the trailer? Oh yeah, I will need Fifi and the trailer to haul Shi-Chi around the country to things like the hill country cruise next weekend. So, Fifi and the trailer are still in the collection. Ok, I just remembered that Pat and Gregg have projects they would probably like to work on at the community shop. Adding in just one of them begins to make the rental location in the “WSoD” area ungainly. Four of us trying to share a small shop won’t work I think. Boyd is looking better and better again. I suppose I could build an “adequate” sized shop, as opposed to huge-assed, with the intention of adding to it if need be. Ok, I've talked myself back into Boyd being a good idea. With adequate space for four work-in-progress cars inside, an “apartment” for us to “camp out” on shop-weekends, and a big-ish fenced in storage lot, I think it’ll work. Well, I'm going to have to talk it over with several folks before making any final plans so y'all can pretty much disregard anything you read here. And on that note, I'm out of here. Have a day.