Frerbruraryr 23, 2012

Well, well, well. Looks like John is going to call my bluff. Ok, so that isn’t really the appropriate turn of phrase, but here’s the poop. He called earlier to see if I had read the instructions for the installation of the short shifter. He wondered if I thought we could do it at the shop Saturday. I said, “But I'll be in Fifi delivering that engine and won't have Fiona to do the installation.” He said something to the effect of, “Relax Charlie. I've got an angle.” (20,000,000 internets if you can name the movie that quote is from.) He pointed out that he was going to have to move the L-16 from his house to the shop some day and that we might as well do them both at the same time. Unfortunately, he’s not ready to move the L-16 yet. So, he’s planning to pick up the KA in his work truck, drop it at his house, and then some day in the future we’ll go get them both in Fifi. Sounds like a plan to me. So, here’s the “bluff calling” part, now I've got to poop or get out of the Ganges about crawling under Fiona to swap shifters. Well, never let it be said that I won't crawl under my car to spin a wrench. Whether I CAN or not is another issue altogether. Well, I'm in even if it kills me… which it might think to come of it. Oh well, what are you going to do? What I ort to do is forget about the short shifter for the time being and work on Lil' Wiggly… I won't, but that’s what I otter do. Anyhoo, I got a text from John earlier saying he found a 40x60 building off I-35 north of here for $800.00 a month. I said it sounds good but I couldn’t swing that by myself. We polled Pat and he’d be in for $150.00 a month since it is within walking distance of his house. We’ll need to take a look at it and come up with a rock solid plan for who is responsible for what and stuff. I don’t want to get stuck with an $800.00 a month note if the others decide they are done playing with cars. Or when the “But I don’t have any cars there anymore, why should I pay rent?” issue raises its ugly head, as I know it will. Here’s my thinking: each of us is considered a principle “owner” of the shop, we each pay 1/3 of a portion of the total note. Then, we foot the rest of the bill by “renting” spots at say, $50.00 per car per month. With that plan in mind, if we break down the principle’s rent to $150.00 a month, the three of us would be paying $450.00 leaving $350.00 to make up. $350.00 divided by $50.00 is seven spots to “rent out” to make the monthly note. If Pat has two cars ($100.00), John has two cars ($100.00), and I have three cars ($150.00) we’re covered. Then, if one of us wants to lower our monthly, we would just need to find someone else with a car that needs to be “stored” and rent him a spot. Of course I'd say that only the principles should get keys so anyone “renting” a spot would have to get one of us to let them in to visit their car. But I'm not married to that idea. I don’t know, it’s just an idea.