It's Raining in the Garage

As the garage door opened on Sunday morning, I noticed something was wrong. It was raining in the garage.

After twisting the water cut-off value, I went into the garage to investigate. The entire place was a mess. A large part of the ceiling had collapsed over my '72 GMC and the workbench next to it. Everything on the bench was soaked. Across the room, water was rolling down the face of the cabinets that I had recently built onto another workbench below them. Many tools were lying in the torrent of water. Water was close to an 1" deep on the floor at the lowest spot in the garage.

The last few days have been really cold. I had heard this was the coldest winter we have had in 6 years. I spent several hours in the shop on Saturday just generally cleaning up. (And I finally got around to putting door handles on the cabinets as well as touching up the paint) The clean up effort was in vain, the place was a mess.

I spent most of Sunday afternoon dragging stuff out of the garage, and sweeping and vacuuming up water. After removing most of the water, I setup a box fan to assist in drying out the garage. (I took several photos before the cleanup effort began for the insurance company. )

It appears that a copper pipe in the unfinished upstairs area had frozen. The pipe has about a one inch split that runs lengthwise. After splitting, water sprayed upward. Some water went down the stairwell but it appears most ran across the floor and down into an A/C vent. The duct-work filled with water and the ceiling collapsed under the weight. When the ceiling collapsed, the duct was ripped in half above the ceiling. At this point water was running across the top side of the ceiling and downs the walls.

Upstairs, most of my hardwood supply got wet. I store the wood standing upright to save space. The bottom end of every board has soaked up water. About six to nine inches of each board is swollen. The boards will not dry back evenly. Hard wood is fairly expensive and my stash is all wet. This discovery made me sad.

Back down stairs, I noticed that my planer and chop saw had been subjected to the flow of water as well. I also had a soggy box of truck parts. On the truck, the new bolts had already started rusting. This was frustrating. For about three years now I have been working on the truck - taking it apart, sandblasting the parts to remove all rust, painting them, and putting it back together. It was discouraging to see some rust forming on the truck I had worked so hard to remove it from. I realize the truck would have eventually gotten wet, but my plan was to finish it first.

While cleaning out the garage, I was glad I had sold the 1925 Chevrolet. The ceiling caved in right above where the truck was normally parked. I am not sure that truck would have ever recovered from that much water.

The End

Sorry iMike, I hate to be the one to break the news to you but the old truck has found a new home. Here is a final picture of Jordan at the wheel of the 1925 Chevrolet Superior Series K truck. (This is the vehicle he learned to use a clutch on.)

And here is a picture of the new caretaker loading it up to take it to its new home in Fort Payne Alabama.

Monday's List of Accomplishments

After spending several hours this morning doing homework, I had a couple of free hours to spend outdoors. I managed to get two more things accomplished, in addition to my homework.

The first was unscheduled. My neighbor has an old 1980's model Honda Passport. He wanted me to help him get it running. He is actually the expert with regard to gasoline powered engines, but I have better eyes. After checking the spark, and draining the carb bowl, we finally got the motor to kick over and run even with old gas in the tank. Unfortunately the rear tire has a huge hole in the tube so we didn't get to cruise it around the driveway.

Today I also mounted two tires to the freshly rebuilt 10-bolt GM differential. I now have a partially rolling vehicle. Ha! The next step will involve connecting the trailing arms to the frame and the differential to the trailing arms.

A differential with wheels certainly takes up more space than a differential on a work bench. This is creating a problem for me, not enough space. Therefore I will make another small effort at selling the turnip truck.

For Sale: 1925 Chevrolet Superior Series Model K Truck

Madison Street Festival Parade

This morning the 1925 Chevrolet Truck was rolled out of the garage to attend a local parade. The local temperature was just under 50 when I left the house. I stopped at the nearby gas station to top off the tank, surely the most expensive gas this truck has even seen. (It made me wonder what the least expensive gas price was.) The trip to the parade staging area went pretty fast, probably about 7 miles. The speed limit was mostly 45. The truck was position 16 of 38. We loaded up the truck with our troupe of Girls Scouts along with a brother or two. All total, we had 8 people in the truck. The truck was pretty full thought we might have been able to fit two more small people.

I was amazed again this year at the number of people I there that I know. I met a couple of guys with the local chapter of the antique car club.

All in all, it was a nice little trip.

Weekend Update Posted Mid-to-Late in the Week

The posting has been slow around here lately. This is mostly due to my class schedule for the summer. Not that I am spending a lot of time in class, as I am only in class about 12 hours a week, sometimes slightly less if they let us out early, but still at least 10 hours. The real reason is the amount of time required to complete all of my assignments. The last few weeks has seen me spending anywhere from 40 to 60 hours per week on school. Can you say projects out the wazoo? Go ahead and try to say it. I knew you could. What happened to theSummer of Rick? It is absolutely insane, insane I tell you. Fortunately, all good things must come to an end. There are only about 2.5 weeks left of this semester.

Last Saturday I did manage to find the time to take the Turnip Truck out to the Greater Tennessesseessesseeesse Valley Antique Car Show. (Sorry about that extra eessee.) The trip to the car show was like three separate adventures. Count them.

The forecast for the day was 80% chance of rain all day long starting at 6:00 am. There were no clouds in the sky at 7:00 am so I decided I was going.

#1 Driving to the show. Driving an 83 year old vehicle is always an adventure. Doubly so when you attempt to drive 30 miles at a top speed of 35 miles an hour. No trauma on the trip out but we were amazed to see nearly twice as many cars there at 8:00 am this year than there were last year. Technically, I arrived at 8:10 AM this year. Last year I was right on the bell. When I registered, they gave me registration form #426. I assume that means I was the 426 car to arrive but I doubt it. And yes it was hot. And no, I didn't win any of the door prizes.

#2 Spending the Day at the Show. It was hot, but we came prepared. (We = me + 1 of the Brians) We had a cooler full of ice, a gallon of water, and a nice tent-tarpy-thingy along with several soccer-mom chairs, sans the soccer moms. I walked the parts swap and did not find anything I could live without. I also viewed like 70,000 old cars and trucks. OK, maybe 300. I ran into several people I knew, no surprise, and spent some time talking with Mr. Trailer Queen (Tim T.) who brought his 1924 Studebaker in on a trailer. I gave him the business because I had pretty much driven past his house on my way to the show.

Around 3:30 or 4:00 or something like that It was time to head home. Still no clouds in the sky but a call from home informed me it was raining there and had been for a couple of hours. Complete with dogs and cats.

#3 The trip consists of about 30 miles, probably an equal number heading north and east and unfortunately no roads go north east. As I am heading north, I notice large dark clouds to the east and some lightning. And some more lightning. I decided to change my route home in hopes of going around some of the rain. And lightning. I managed to find a nice bank drive thru to park under just as the rain came rolling in. The truck (and '66 Mustang) sat parked for about an hour while we waited out the rain. Eventually the rain pasted and clouds cleared and the pavement dried up. Still we sat there. Why? Have you ever tried to solve a differential equation in your head?

The rain is heading NE at 6 mph. We have a top speed of approximately 35 mph. The house is approximately 15 miles away almost due east. How much of a head start to we have to give the trailing edge of the rain before we leave so that we get home without driving back into the storm? So then we set there for another 10 minutes after agreeing we should wait at least 15. No patience to be found among us, for sure.

We did not catch the rain on the way home though at times we were just behind it. We experienced a little fine sprinkling but nothing worth blogging about. Getting home mostly dry was a major accomplishment. I guess it is good that I didn't win a door prize at the show for surely that would have used all my luck up leaving me to be drenched all the way home.

And in other news, this weekend is my favorite car show of the year. Yes, it is once again time for the air cooled Volkswagen show at Point Mallard. I will probably wait until Sunday to venture forth. See you there.

BR549

OK, after figuring out my plan, I measured both my frames and then looked at some photos of Guy's frame. At this point I realized that I was wasting my time. The difference between my two frames was due to the fact that one was a SWB and the other was a LWB, not that one had been cut off. So now the plan is to just leave it alone.

Monday I went to the dentist to have my teeth filed. No charge.

Today I pretended like I was starting the rebuild of the differential for the '72 GMC. I was limited to pretending because I did not have a bearing separator to remove the old bearings from the pinion. Quick trip to the china store to discover they are out of lower dollar goodness. What to do, what to do?

I have been trying to get caught up on my school work but I don't yet see the end in sight. I think four of the ten weeks for the summer semester are complete. Note to self: work on time management skills, if you can find the time.

The '25 auction is rapidly progressing towards various stages of completion. It is currently 45% sold.

Ebay Motors is once again having a $1 listing special. Look for the 1925 Chevrolet truck to appear later today.

Today the local blog critic awarded my blog the most boring blog in the neighborhood award. I guess he missed the geometric proofs from a couple of years back. And the lyrics for 'Oh, Yes Wyoming'. (If your interested, I recently proved the triangle inequality theorem for vectors.)

Then I remembered my blog wasn't really meant to be entertaining, it was intended to document my current obsession, whatever that might be, for example a Miata, a 1925 Chevrolet,rebuilding a 1972 GMC pickup, hoping to acquire an unspecified year Corvette or Volkswagen Beetle, building Furniture, hot tubing, auto body repair, camping, hiking, biking, welding, metal-meet, camping, Dodge Chargers, low carb dieting, school, procrastination, hypermiling, building a foundry, melting aluminium, state quarters, container gardening, MDF, STL, model railroading (n gauge), tenth scale RC cars, RC airplanes, Vertigo, slot car racing, Formula One, the US Grand Prix, attending car shows, Mini Coopers, ping pong, foos ball, chocolate chip cookies, fembots with a penchant for evil, cast iron skillets or even fried okra. Whatever. I feel so validated now.

Mmmm, fried okra.

iMike and Terry did not even get an honorable mention because their blogs are too interesting. Sorry guys.

Hello, Hello, Hola!

This afternoon I went outside with the intention of doing something useful such as taking apart a differential or cleaning up the garage. The sky was clear and the sun was bright, but it was just too dang cool to be comfortable. After cranking the 1925 Chevrolet and letting it idle for a few minutes I decided to make the Miata out for a scouting expedition to located a steel supply business. I figured with a heater assist to my fleece jacket, the Miata would be plenty snug with the top down. I left the regular neighborhood and made a beeline for a gas pump. While waiting on the tank to fill up I went ahead and put the top up. Out of now where, clouds had appeared and it was sprinkling. Ce' la vie.

While out on my Sunday afternoon drive, I happened across a 1965 Beetle, for sale. The interior of this car was in really good shape. Rare for such an old car. This little car desperately wanted to follow me home, but alas, I have no place to park it. Maybe next time.

While out, I also did a recon mission to locate Danny's secret hide-away. Mission accomplished however Danny's super hero senses must have alerted him to my pending arrival for he had already escaped and moved on to his alternate secret lair.

For those wondering about truck progress, I got absolutely nothing done this weekend. I also did not do any homework. What did I do?

The new laptop is behaving quite nicely. I hope it lasts as long as the last one did. (7 years?)

[3 lbs to go]

Weekend Update

I got the taxes out of the way this weekend. One less thang.

Yesterday I finished up removing all the suspension leaf spring brackets on the GMC. I have made pretty good progess in the last couple of weeks considering it is winter. I suppose the next step is to drill holes for the related coil spring brackets and then touch up the frame paint. Either that or clean up, blast, and paint the rear differential. So many choices.

Today I made a trip up to Nashville to attend a parts swap. The swap was much bigger than I expected. I went looking for a GMC tailgate, or a GMC core support. Both of these items must be off a GMC pickup. Most parts are interchangeable with a 1967 - 1972 Chevrolet, these are not.

I found and purchased a GMC radiator core support. It is in very good shape. By its appearance, the donor truck spent most of its life in a garage or under a car port. The original paint is in excellent shape, considering the piece is 35 or 40 years old. The common problem with this part is the lower portion at one end is usually deteriorated due to acid from the battery being mounted directly above it. This one had the common problem, though someone had patched it. They did a fairly good job. At first I could not even tell the patch was there. Nice job.

The bargaining process went really well. Here is how it played out. I walked up, gave it a quick glance and asked the gentleman "how much for the core support?" His reply was "$50". I then picked it up and gave it a close inspection. While I inspected the core support, he dropped his price to $40. While I closely inspected the patch on the core support, he dropped his price to $30. He had done such an excellent job bargining the price down for me, I didn't even bother to counter offer. Personally, I think he just didn't want to have to carry it back to his truck. Instead, Brian (neighbor) and I carried it about a quarter mile back to our transportation. Well bought.

I also purchased a 1972 Alabama license plate. Perhaps someday this will be registered to the GMC. Brian also purchased an old Alabama license plate, his a 1966 for his Mustange.

My antique truck got posted on Stovebolt in the gallery. See it here.

This weeks welding class went well. I got a little experience arc welding. Arc welding is very frustrating at first, though I will say two+ hours of welding went by very quickly. This is definitely a learned skill and I haven't learned it yet.

[ 9.6 lbs to go]

91%

Late Sunday afternoon, the ebay auction ended. The truck was 91% sold, which equates to not at all. I will try again in the spring.

This afternoon I helped my neighbor retrieve another motorcycle he had bought. This allowed me the pleasant opportunity to look at the sellers collection of automobiles. He had a Pantera, Sumbeam Tiger, 1965 Mini Cooper, 1968 GTO, a nice old Packard, and a Studebaker Avanti. There were a couple others but I can't recall what they were. An eclectic mix for sure.

Welding class is tomorrow night.

The auction time is ticking down. Not as much interest as I was hoping for but then again it only takes one person. The right person, though.

Slightly over 10 lbs down, 13.6 to go.

[13.6]

Rapidly Progressing Towards Various Stages of Completion

Realizing that somethings can't be partially done, like a girl can't be a little bit pregnant, I am here to report that the truck on ebay is now 35% sold. But only 35%. It doesn't count until you reach 100%.

Diet progress: After 8 days, I have lost 7.2 pounds. So far so good, but I expect the progress to slow down soon. If it was always that easy, we would all already be skinny.

[16.8 lbs to go]

Going, Going, ...

Last week I placed an advertisement in the paper in an attempt to sell the 1925 Chevrolet Truck. The ad also appears online.

Today I put the truck on ebay. I have my fingers crossed.

G' worked this weekend so I didn't get a chance to go out for an afternoon cruise. It might have bit a bit chilly with the top down though. (I also didn't get to go scope out the Chevettes Corvettes that are on the market, you know, for research purposes.)

The Barrett-Jackson auction begins Tuesday on Speed. I have the Tivo setup to record the whole thing, 35 hours I think. This will be much easier this year thanks to the writer's strike, without which we might actually have something recorded right now.

Regarding the blasted diet, I lost a little over 5 pounds this week. My goal for next week is another 3. My diet is one of high protein, low carb varieties. My interpretation of that basically means mostly meat, salad, and high fiber vegetables. To make it bearable, I am giving myself one day a week off: Saturday. Saturday is a good choice because I usually have a lite lunch when I am busy playing in the garage and we often have Rosie's for dinner on Saturday night. Mmmmm.

[18.6 lbs to go]

For Sale

1925 CHEVROLET Truck, Superior Series K, Wood Spoke Wheels, Ooga Horn, Parade Ready. $12,500. Huntsville, AL. Please email me for pictures or additional information.

The current odometer readings are:

2006 Charger R/T: 11,497

Last years reading was 5,784. Total mileage for 2007: 5,713 miles.

1995 Miata: 105,037

Last years reading was 100,774. Total mileage for 2007: 4,263 miles.

1925 Chevrolet Truck: 17879

I don't recall logging the odometer reading on this one in the past year but I am pretty sure the odometer hasn't moved. At all. Because it doesn't work. My swag for actual mileage for the truck in 2007 would be somewhere between 100 and 200 miles.

1972 GMC: 30520 or 03526

Like the 1925, the odometer(s) for the GMC have not moved. Not because they are broken but because the truck is (still) disassembled. Why two odometer readings? I bought a spare at the junk yard two years ago. I actually bought the second for its plastic bezel. The odometer was a (free) bonus. Today I learned that my odometer is apparently not the original for the truck. It is from a '69. The spare is from a '67. (Date codes are inked on the back side)

2002 Tahoe: 83,479

Again, I did not record a value at the beginning of 2007. I also put a few miles on this one driving it to various vacation destinations.

Home Again
Yesterday we visited Ruby Falls. This turned out to be pretty cool. You ride an elevator down a couple hundred feet in the ground and then fallow a twisting path thru the rock almost a quarter of a mile before you walk into a large cavern containing the Falls. According to the story, this cavern was discovered by accident while trying to gain access to another cave.

Afterwards we didn't stop for lunch at Krystal's. The Krystal's corporate head quarters is in Chattanooga. I figured that lunch here would be an experience of some sort. The kids protested (a lot) so we ended up at a local Mexican establishment down the street.

Just for the record, it really does it exist: The Tow Truck Museum.

Afterwards we caught an afternoon movie across the street from the hotel. National Treasure: Book of Secrets. The movie gets a rating of good enough.

After the movie, Terry pointed her pony towards Atlanta. From the 4th floor of the hotel, we could hear the ponies snorting when she cranked it up.

The rest of us returned to Big River Grill and Brewery for dinner.

We woke today to another frosty morning. After breakfast in the hotel, we loaded up the Tahoe and headed towards home.

Once in Alabama, we took a 5 mile detour to visit Russel Cave National Monument. This is the 3rd longest mapped cave in Alabama measuring over 7 miles long. We only got to go in about 30 feet.

This afternoon, after arriving back home, I took the '25 out for a short drive clocking in about 8 miles. The temperature was in the high 40's but was plenty warm with my fleece jacket, gloves, and a warm hat.

While driving to visit some relatives on Christmas day I decided that this might be the year that I parked a Corvette in my garage. A Corvette or another old truck.

This creates a bit of a problem. There is not currently an available parking spot in the garage. No problem though, I have a whole year to resolve this.

In the meantime, I will start investigating cars that I see for sale so that I can be educated on what has reasonable value and what is a reasonable price. The thrill is definitely in the hunt. And sometimes the hunt convinces you that you have a bad idea. Or a really good idea. Should be interesting to see how this all pans out.

Another possible option in lieu of the fast car, is an old truck. In the past year plus I have missed having a useful truck at my convenience. If I happened to find a useful truck with the right vintage and quality it could attempt to follow me home instead.

Maybe. If I can find a place to park it.

Here are the initial search requirements. Help me look. The car should be at least 25 years old, more than 30 is preferred. The truck should be at least 35 years old, more than 40 is preferred. Either must be suitable for taking to a car show.

Shhh! Don't tell G. This is a secret.

It has been smokin' hot lately. We have had a streak of triple digit days. And a deficit of rain on top of that.

Yesterday evening we had a rapid drop in temperature. In a relatively short interval we had a storm roll in and the temperature dropped from 3-digits down to about 70 degrees. Lots and thunder, lightning, and buckets and buckets of rain.

A little bit earlier in the evening when I arrived home, one of my neighbors crossed the street to let me know that the water conservation level had changed to level 3. Level 3 means even numbered houses like ours are only allowed to use outside water between 12 AM and 4 AM on Monday and Wednesday nights. No other outside water use of any kind allowed. Good thing my neighbor told me. The new level was announced on the news and in the paper. I don't watch the news nor read the paper.

G had to work today and the kids spent the night at Grandmas. What to do, what to do? I decided to take the turnip truck out. My local okra pusher lives just a few miles away. This was my destination. After purchasing a couple of pounds ok okra, I gave Mr. Lacey a ride around the block. He loved it.

On my way back home I stopped by Joe G's. This gentlemen lives a few miles away. He has a 1932 Ford parked in his garage. I have blogged about him at some point in the past. He also enjoyed giving the truck a once over.

And on my way home, again, I stopped by Tammy's to let her family see the truck. I offered to let Ken drive it and he drove the kids around the block.

And then I actually went home.

The truck now has more dirt on it than it has probably had in the last 15 years. During my journey I drove though a patch of gravel. The gravel dust stuck to everything. Nice white dust on glossy black paint. Great!

You may be wondering how the GMC is coming along. I have not even glanced in its direction in a couple of weeks. For a few weeks I was busy with school and right now it is just too hot. It is time to do more sand blasting and I just can't imagine trying to do that with the current temp and humidity.

MCMXXV

Over the past week or so in my free time, I have been fabricating some new shackles for the rear leaf springs of the old truck. The original shackles are quite long and I hoped that a shorter shackle would allow the truck to enter/exit the garage without first loading up the rear end with Chevrolet enthusiasts.

Today I finished up the 4th shackle and installed them. It definitely dropped the rear end of the truck. Unfortunately it was still not enough. On the positive side, it no longer takes three folks sitting in the bed to get under through the threshold. Now it requires only a single medium sized passenger who weights about 64 lbs. Knowing this, I feel certain I can get the truck out of the garage now by myself with the assistance of 2 fifty pound bags of clay.

The original shackles along with the bolts have been placed in the magic box of original parts. The parts will stay with the truck so that any future owner can restore the truck to the original ride height.

Jordan and I took the truck out for a spin today. After we returned home, we drove up and down the driveway a few times. He was practicing using the brake and shifting gears, first to reverse, and then reverse back to first. Next time he may even get to press the gas pedal.

It was a fine weekend

Saturday I took the turnip truck to the the Greater Tennessee Valley Antique Car Show. A stunning 715 vehicles were registered at this show.

My trip to and from the show was unique. I left the house shortly before 7:00 AM. A quick stop to top off the tank and I was on the road. The trip was 25 miles and it took about an hour. I route was mainly 2 lane roads but I did have to get on a 4 lane highway for a couple of miles. No problems though.

Two of my neighbors decided to accompany me to the show. Brian drove his '66 Mustang and Guy his '72 Chevrolet Pickup. We brought a tent, some chairs, and a couple of coolers. The shade was a nice relief from the warm sun.

The truck got a lot of attention. A whole lot of attention. Most were amazed not by its age (1925), but rather by the fact that it was a Chevrolet. It was not the oldest vehicle there. A gentleman from nearby Athens, AL had trailered in a 1925 American LaFrance fire truck.

Great Show.

Bug'n in July 2007

This weekend was also the VW show in Decatur. It was a two day show so I was able to go to it on Sunday. I took quite a few pictures and learned a lot about the little VWs. The cars are fascinating. A good mixture of vintage and newer, original and customized. The entire show is held under a large pavilion which is nice and cool even in July. This is my favorite show to visit. And there is definitely a Beetle in my future, though probably a very distance future. (I have to finish the 1972 GMC first.)

GMC Update

Sunday afternoon I removed a few more rivets from the new/old LWB frame. Only ten more to go and I will have everything off the frame that I need. I can then start the sand blasting process on the rear suspension componenents.

I will eventually need to remove the leaf spring brackets from the old/old SWB frame. This will be a minimum of another 16 rivets I will defer this task for a while.

This weekend was very busy. I think I need another weekend to recover.

And That Is A Good Thing!

It has been a long weekend and that is a good thing.

This afternoon I didn't get back to the rivets. And that's OK.

This evening I took several trips around the block in the turnip truck so that I could give everyone a ride. Some neighbors came over to look at the truck. I ended up giving them each a ride and then I took a truck load of kids for a round. I let the adults drive. They seem to enjoy it after getting over their initial concern that perhaps the truck is fragile! If it were fragile it would not have lasted since 1925.

Weekend Getaway

Ginger and I made a quick weekend getaway to Nashville Friday & Saturday. We stayed in a hotel near the Opryland Hotel. We enjoyed a nice dinner there and took and indoor boat ride. The Opryland Hotel is an amazing place to visit.

Saturday we visited the Lane Motor Museum. Ginger found a few cars she wanted to bring home. Unfortunately we were not in the Tahoe so we didn't have room for them in the back. My favorites were the Fiats (especially the Topolino [think Italian Volkswagen Beetle]), the Austin Minis, the Morris Minis, the MGs. Here is a complete list of their cars. Take a look at the Honda S600 and S800 , and the Datsun 1200. (There is a Datsun 1200 in a junk yard near here.) These are definitely some cool convertibles.

Saturday after returning home I removed 22 rivets from the pieces of rusty metal. No small task. I believe there are another 28 to go. Maybe Sunday.

Saturday was 07/07/07 in case you missed. Were you feeling lucky?

The 4th

I started the 4th with an early more trip to Pitts Salvage yard in Athens. I had arranged to purchase the back half of the frame of a1972 Chevrolet Pickup LWB complete with all the suspension, brackets, and the 12 GM differential. I got a really good price on it too!

I borrowed Lott's trailer and Ginger's Tahoe. David M. rode shotgun. The entire trip took about 2.5 hours. Once home I unloaded the big piece of rusty metal and began planning how to disassemble it as quickly as possible. I am sure my neighbors love looking at it.

I did manage to get the differential, trailing arms, and coil springs separated from the frame and stowed safely in the shop.

I still need to remove 50+ rivets to get all the brackets I want removed from the frame and the frame disassembled. That will be no small task. In the past it has take about 10 minute per rivet. I will need to find a quicker method or this could take forever.

In the Presence of Greatness

We celebrated the 4th by attending a party at the White House. The kids enjoyed playing in the pool and the food was great. BBQ chicken, pork, and ribs. Mmmmm. And fresh corn from the garden.

Top Ten Mistakes I Have Made on My Blog

All of them.

I read one of those Top 5 Blog Improvement articles recently that said you should never say "Sorry I haven't posted in a while." It recommended that instead one should say "I am a quitter and this blog will disappear off the face of the Internet any minute now."

This blog will not be disappearing anytime soon (jinx) though you can expect more entries labeled Mundane.

Turnip Truck Update

Monday J, B, and I rolled the '25 out of the garage, cranked her up, and then Bri and I took it for the weekly spin around the neighborhood.

Tuesday J, B, and I rolled it out again. This time so I could take a few photographs. Then Bri and I took it for the weekly spin around the neighborhood again. The photographs were what I hope to be the final step in the paper work for acquiring antique car insurance. The antique tag is already on the truck. Once the insurance is in place, it will be ready for a trip to a car show, or perhaps even better a trip to Sonic for some ice cream. The first trip of course will be to put some gas in the tank. We don't need a repeat of last weeks adventure.

While the truck was in the driveway, I taught Bri how to start it.

1. Set timing advance to starting position.
2. Set had throttle to starting position.
3. Tap foot throttle twice.
4. Press the foot brake.
5. Press in the clutch.
6. Verify the truck is out of gear.
7. Verify the parking brake is engaged.
8. Turn the the switch from Park to Ignition.
9. Pull out the choke knob.
10. Press the starter pedal.
11. Wait for the motor to turn over and begin to run.
12. Release the starter pedal.
13. Relax the choke.
14. Adjust hand throttle to idle position.

She got it to crank on the first try. She had already learned how to turn it off.

Docking Procedures Initiated

The truck sits about 7' 1" at its highest point. My 7' garage door is only 6' 11.5". In order to get the truck into or out of the garage, I load it up will 100 lbs of dry clay, and two little people. Next I give it a push and once it is rolling I hop on the tailgate, the back end of the truck drops about an inch, and if we are rolling fast enough we reach escape velocity.

We don't always reach escape velocity.

Yesterday I acquired a tag for the 1925 Chevy. The tag is an Alabama Vintage Vehicle tag. The great thing about this tag is that it does not need to be renewed. And I only had to stand in line about 20 minutes. Not to bad.

Last night I decided to take it out for a trip around the neighborhood. After a few laps I stopped at a friends house to chat a bit.

When it was time to head home I started it up, drove it about 50 yards and then it sputtered and died. Out of gas!

Fortunately I was at the top of the hill and could coast home. Unfortunately I had to coast home backwards.

She's Alive

Yesterday I got the turnip truck running. As was suspected, the carburetor needed to be cleaned. There were three holes that were completely clogged. One being the jet, of course they must all be clear for the Carter RX-O carburetor to function correctly.

After getting the truck going, I gave everyone a ride around the neighbor hood. Everyone who saw the truck, stopped and waved.

Props: My neighbor helped with getting the truck running and loaned me the use of his parts washer for a couple of hours to clean some varnish out of the carb. Thanks. He has decided that he likes the truck and even offered to buy it from me at a significant loss. Ginger nixed that deal.