10/7/2011

I spent a few minutes typing in here yesterday but it was all drivel… ok, it was even worse drivel than usual, happy? I deleted it all and decided, “No rant for you!” Anyhoo, on the way home from work I saw a red C3 Corvette with black wheels rolling down the freeway. Last week some time I saw something else red with black wheels as well. It got my gumption up again about Nadine. I liked the way that car looked on the black Bart wheels off of Lil' Wiggly. I think I'm going to finish what we’ve started on that project and go ahead with the Chickenhawk's old engine in there. I want to spray the car a uniform shade of red, possibly a flat or matte red, and run some 15” black steel wheels on it. I've talked it over with John and we’re on the same page with that plan… I think. Then again, I might leave the patina after all. I need to have a good look at how much more damage it will sustain, and/or how much we would be preventing with a coat of paint. You know what? The more I think about it, thirty miles away from the car mind you, the more I like the patina idea. No one… well, very few would fuss about the “bastardization” if it still had patina. Maybe. I don’t know. Yeah, the purists are all going to complain about it every time they see it. Fuck em. I've given a few of them the opportunity to “save” it from me in the past. No one came up with an offer. I'll do it my way. So, now I need to think about what I'm going to keep in my long term car collection. One of John's first statements last night in our discussion was how Lil' Wiggly was the one Datsun in my fleet which doesn’t make sense. I ‘splained that after I became too hipster for the Z-car but before Marty Mary introduced me to the 1200, the hatchback B-210 was my favorite Datsun. I went on to say, “Having said that, Lil' Wiggly has not been on my long term keeper list for some time.” I'm not planning to “build it to sell” per se, but after it is up and running, and I've enjoyed it for a few weeks, I do plan to put it up for sale. So that gets one Tin Top Datsun off my plate. I think we have convinced me that the Chickenhawk and George both otter be kept. Those two should scratch my Tin Top Datto itch. The Honduh of course is another Tin Top, but it is a special case. Besides, it won't take up much room. And like I've said before, I’m sure I could get it and The Seven in the garage together with little effort. Oh, of course The Seven is a long term keeper… well, unless someone offers me stupid money for it. I think my price to let The Seven go is right around $20,000.00 right now. Psh, what would just about pay off Fiona. No, I'm not selling The Seven. Ok, so if I have The Seven, why do I need Nadine? How many LBCs does one need? Well, here’s our thinking. The Seven is really cool. It is pretty quick. It is an absolute hoot to drive. But, it is not the most comfortable car in the world and ingress/egress can be downright embarrassing. So, for more relaxed cruising situations, we feel that a more comfortable car is in order, hence the need to keep Nadine. Yeah, it is totally justifying a stupid car. I know it. You know it. The DOG knows it! (Quick, name that movie! BZZZZZZZ! Time’s up. It was “Brain Candy.”) Ok, where was I? Oh right, justifying Nadine. So, we now have a collection which consists of the following: The Seven, Nadine, the Chickenhawk, George, and the Honduh. A five car fleet of toys should be manageable. Oh, I suppose Juan might argue that Fifi and the trailer otter be counted on that list. Yeah, I guess he’s right. Ah, but I don’t really need to find storage for The Seven, the Honduh, and Fifi. They can all live at the house even as it is configured today. And if a simple driveway were to be poured around back… no, I'm not going down that road again because it always leads back to building a shop at the house on Burkett. Feh, I'm not sure where I am going with this now. Let me go back and collect my thoughts. Ok, I think I know where I was going. John knows of a shop space near his house, and my office for that matter, which we need to go look at. If it will store Timmy! (John's 1200), Nadine, the Chickenhawk, George, and the Honduh, while still affording room to work on a couple projects, we’ll probably gopher it. Oh, and it needs to be cheaper than the Beenbroke shop, but I think John will be willing to kick in more rent if it were more in a more convenient location. So it doesn’t even have to be all that much cheaper. I'm also not out on looking for a smaller house to move into. The Burkett place is way too big for me, mom, and a cat. It will be downright Brobdingnagian once it is just me and a cat. I've been waiting weeks to use that word! It is such a great word: “downright.” I love it. Anyhoo, as for smaller houses, the one next door to John is, I believe, still for sale. He and I had discussed knocking out the wall between the master bedroom and the garage to make that whole half of the house the shop. I don’t think I'd do that though. Not at first for sure. Perhaps, once the projects are all runners and all I need is a maintenance shop, but not at first. Well, I guess I've gassed on long enough for today, not to mention I've got to pee like crazy, so I think I'm going to call it a rant. Buh bye.