Calendar Girl Contest
OK, I cruise around the web and see many many many pictures of pretty ladies and their classic cars. And I say to myself, “Self, why are these pics not submitted for my Calendar Girl Contest?” Then silence. Come on people, we only have 7 submissions for the 2009 Calendar. I know many of you have emailed me and stated that the pics will come when the weather gets warmer and I am looking forward to receiving those, but if you have an old picture from way back when, when you first bought the car, send those in! Remember $1000 to the first place vote getter and the cover of the 2009 Classic Car Community Calendar!
Click here to join send those pics in!
Thanks to those that have submitted your pics already! Keep them coming.
Tiny Fists of Fury
I can still hear my dad saying, “you hav’a to have da right tools to do da job right.” He said this many many times in the backyard while we were tearing apart cars. We had so many tools that we had tools to fix tools! I mean, we had every size socket there was, every size wrench there was, every size jack there was, everything. My dad would go to the local flea market every Saturday morning looking for tools. I remember him coming home with a crooked half inch wrench once. Here’s how it went:
ME: What the hell is this?
Dad: It’s for the thing…
ME: What thing?
Dad: Da thing! You know…under the car.
ME: Speak dad, speak!
Dad: Dammit, (then some swearing in Italian), for the starter!
ME: Ohhh…thanks dad.
As I dodged the starter wrench thrown at me by my old man, I realized that they have built a tool for everything. But there is one tool that you can never buy. You can never run down to the parts store and pick it up off the shelf. It’s not in any catalogues, online or at your neighbor’s house. It’s the one tool that is so valuable, it’s priceless. The one tool that as a young boy grows up he loses it along the way. The one tool that, as a man, probably doesn’t want but has to have. It’s the one tool that can save you so much time, it’s scary. “What? What is it Joseph?” Two words, tiny hands.
When I got my Cutlass back from the body shop, they never put the emblems back on the car. As many of you know, the fender emblems need to be mounted by three lock nuts from the back. Over the past year, I never put the emblems on because I had to remove the wheel well to get to the back. I didn’t want to go through all that work just for 3 little nuts… (that sounds funny). So, I actually was looking for another way. Some suggested double sided tape. No good. Others suggested push pins. Hmm, too loose. And then there was the hot glue suggestion. I live in Arizona, and that stuff would melt in 2 seconds. So, I knew I had to take apart the fender to mount the emblems.
Last Sunday, I washed and waxed the Cutlass and I was sitting in front of the fender positioning the emblems in their place and I noticed that one can reach the back of the fender through the door jamb. The problem was my hands didn’t squeeze through. Just then the garage door opens and my wife comes out to toss something in the garbage. “Hey babe, come here and see if you can reach these holes.” My wife walks over, her hand slides right in and she says “yeah, why?” A big smile was plastered across my face.
As my wife sat there tightening the little nuts for the emblem, I told her that she is doing the most fun part of restoring a car, the final touch of putting the emblems on. It took a little while for my wife to understand the “Lefty loosey, tighty righty” concept but she saved me probably 2 hours of taking apart the fender just to mount those emblems. After she was done, she had some red marks across her wrist that she showed me and proclaimed “I helped restore the Cutlass, I have proof!” I smiled, gave her a kiss and said “welcome to my world!”
So, that’s it. I am sure that many of us have called upon our wives or our kids to “get down here under the car and stick your hand through there and tighten that bolt.” You can not put a price on those tiny fists of fury!
I’ve posted the final pictures of my cutlass in the Photo Journal.
Click here and notice the emblems!
