3/31/15

We didn’t get any work done at the shop last Saturday because we went to a swap meet.  There were a few vehicles I wanted real badly but all were out of my price range… of $250.00 of course.  Yeah, I didn’t have high hopes.  I did wind up buying a shift ball for Fiona because the red-anodized ball I had on there has faded first to pink then to gold and finally to… bleh.  I’ll save it and put it on Scooby Two if/when that one goes up for sale.  Speaking of which… I now have the shit-hots for a seventies station wagon.  Yes, I used to have a 1974 Matador station wagon.  Yes, I probably should have kept it.  Yes, I am that dumb.  Anyhoo, John and I both found the same 1977 Ford LTD wagon on Craigslist right after I mentioned that I want one.  I found a few others but this one is the most… um, I was going to say something stupid like “reasonable,” or “logical,” but neither of those words really applies.  The guy is asking $3,000.00 for it so I asked John if he thought we could get that for Scooby Two.  Of course it would require a bit of Hello Kitty removal to be sellable, but… well, I don’t know actually.  What we’d have to do is put it up for sale and see what comes of it, I guess.  If I had a big-block Ford wagon, (did I mention it has a 460 in it?) I’d probably wind up making a trailer for the Seven.  Speaking of which… I went for a hoon in the Seven Sunday.  I spent about an hour traipsing about on the back roads around town and have come to two conclusions.  First I think the seat needs a bit more “Hockley.”  One might remember John and I decided that “Hockley” shall be the term for the angle of a seat’s base.  When I built the Seven, I originally installed the seats flat to the floor.  I quickly realized I needed to bend my legs a bit for any semblance of comfort to be achieved.  I added a bit of “Hockley” to the driver’s seat and it was much better.  That was ten years ago.  I now need to bend my legs even more to have any hope of driving longer than an hour at a stretch.  Actually, my right leg is fine because there is a heel-stop to keep it in a comfortable position.  If I had a “Dead Pedal” for my left leg I’d probably be ok.  Unfortunately there isn’t any room for a “Dead Pedal” in the foot box.  My choices are hover over the clutch pedal, and tire out those muscles, or slip my foot under the clutch pedal and suffer from “Straight Leg Syndrome.”  Sometimes I hook my left foot behind the right to keep my leg bent but that doesn’t work for the long haul.  No, more “Hockley” or a “Dead Pedal” are needed.  The second realization was that the car is just too damned loud.  I need to repack the muffler.  I’ve been driving it with earplugs for quite some time now but I think it is time to stop being “That Guy” with the noisy-assed little car.  I can’t really bitch about the douche bags on their Hardleys when my toy is just as annoying.  So I think, weather permitting, I’m going to drive the Seven to the shop on Friday or Saturday to do those two jobs.  I also need to swing by the courthouse and renew the plates on the Seven as they expire tonight at midnight.  Hopefully, with the inspection not due until August, I can get it done one more time before the combined-sticker law goes into effect.  See, as of… oh, right now, Texas is going to stop doing inspection and registration as separate stickers.  I just printed an insurance card for the car so I think I might cut out early to go to the courthouse. We’ll see how that goes.  Well, it is now lunchtime so I guess I’m done talking to y’all.  Hopefully AOHell will work just enough to send this to Spiderman otherwise I’ve wasted the entire… half an hour writing this.