I guess I'm finishing the job of turning this car into what it really is... a true GQ. I don't mind, since I have the six to play w/, but it is really hard & dirty work. I cleaned & waxed Knikkis' light buckets, swapped out my H4s into the six & took the sealed beam halogen Wagners out of her & put them in the LE. No money spent... this is a good thing. Lubed all 4 lights w/ lithium. Washed both rear carpets, picked the better of the two & put that in Knikki. Still cleaning, scraping dirt & old undercoating from underneath the car. Have whole sections taped off where I've sprayed new undercoating on. Found another creamsicle that's beening raced in Roanoke... going to check her out, not for sale- has a 3.0! Cleaned the hell out of the rear trunk... took 16 hrs & looks like I just repainted it. That is untill you get close & realize it's still original. Figure if I gussy everything up this summer then all I have to do is dust her next summer & everything will have a nice yr. old patina. I really have no idea how many hours I have into the car. Madness.

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It's atrocious the things dealers get away with. I would have gone balistic back in 74 if I knew what I know now. My Father was a wise man. He shelled out close to $8K back in 74 for this babe. When he started hearing his exhaust & smelling it inside he got pissed & parked this thing. Went out & bought a used 75 Rabbit & drove that till he could afford a new Accord in 81. He wanted to clean her up & have a weekend toy because he had realized what happens to daily drivers & would not let that happen to such an expensive car. Again $8K was a ton of money back in 74. Still is- a good 3.6 is going to cost you that.

So here's some shots, a mixture of some filth & some progress. Nice to scrape off undercoating & find white paint instead of rust bubbles. The undercoating job was so sloppy the underside of the car looks like my dad spent a week driving on freshly paved roads- the crap is everywhere. He was breathing CO2, CO & whatever else & could not deal w/ it at the time. This freaked the old man out & is why he parked her.

That hideous rust & patch on the heating ducts is all being replaced by a set I landed on ebay last year that's been powder coated black. Note the clean spot on the trans- that took 1/2 hour to clean that one spot. Still peeling rubber off of the rear control arms but got some stuff looking better. CW = obsessive insanity. Maybe I should offer a teener detailing service? Na, no-one could afford me.




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I continue to work on my house, garage & Knikki. I really don't know what concours I can enter, Preservation or Restoration. I'm going to presume I can enter Preservation & go w/ that. If I can't qualify for that then I'll qualify for Restoration. Brakes are still w/ Eric & I'm getting filthy cleaning the underside of this car. I really can't complain, it's not rust, but I am turning a car that was a daily driver for four years into a real garage queen. With the repaint & the fact she was inside asleep for so many years she looked the part on top, not underneath. It's all solid, not rusty but totaly filthy. Fun! Not. Yes that undercoating on my starter & tranny.




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So what I've concluded is I can't take Pat on because he's in preservation & I don't think I qualify for that group anymore. I have stainless exchangers & powder coated heating ducts, Optima battery, 195/65/HR15 tires, Bosch blue coil & an extra red wire comming out of my distributor. Oh yeah, the biggie- repaint. So all this effort is going to be for the "full" restoration class. Since I'm not really restoring the car I would think I'm going to kick some a** in that class & I don't feel that's fair to all the hard work someone is putting right now into their teener. Death to the a** draggers & nosedivers ! I will show no mercy to them & feel less remorse !
So all the hoopla about dethroning the old man is nothing but newbie ignorance. The only way would have to be at a smaller show where we get grouped together because we're teeners or something. My first show is still going to be Charolette next year. Loose my virginity against the 1st string. Maybe afterwards.
Got the rear sway bar looking new, brakes are all off to Eric for full refinishing. Worked on cleaning & polishing my rims, getting my new tires ready to mount & balance. All sorts of stuff now in the works & think it's time to keep my mouth shut on my progress.




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"A long Time Ago... In a Gaxlaxy Far Far Away..." And so preperation for next years Parade begins...

I managed to let myself get distracted in yet another way... an unfinished problem from 4 years ago... the LE. Most people who know Teeners would die at the sight of Knikki- she really does look like a car w/ 47.5K miles underneath her skin. She looks good as new outside (repainted 4 yrs ago) . When I say "no rust" I mean she has ordinary surface rust here & there but man she has no rust. The battery tray & a rocker panel were the only body components that rusted on this car & they've both been replaced. You won't find a bubble anywhere on this car. The problem? Concours. The car should be shown at least once & never has.


So here's some shots of my latest progress, a combo of further organization, decoration & the beginning of another long term pain in my tush. I used to think my car was clean .

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So it was gorgeous today & 7:00pm rolled around & I got an itch... so I turned off the TV & went out for a ride in Mnatasha . Longest day of the year so it didn't get dark till after 9:00. It was so nice I took the top off & just let her rip. I hit 110 & the on my face was so large I must have been seen from outer space by spy satelites. She got loose up front between 100 & 104 but when I hit 105 she just dug in. Once I backed off I realized I was laughing like a madman at the top of my lungs. People must of heard me for miles . I had more engine room but as usual I ran out of road. It hit me then how Andy must feel w/ a 3.6, 900 cc's bigger than me. Wow. Came home & shot these pics before I put her away, sat down, did a steak on the bbq & drank some wine. Nice evening.




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I keep finding very difficult ways of stalling on that leather steering wheel. I spent about 5 hours on the LE's engine bay today. My back hurts .




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The 2008 PCA Parade is in Charolette, NC & I plan on attending. I want to enter the LE in whatever concours I can get into & see how I do. I've never done this & hope I can do it. This means paying more atttention to the LE & fixing the plethora of little things that need attention. I have to change out my old rusty heat exchangers w/ some black powder coated ones I won on eBay. There is also a pillar or 2 that needs attention inside along the front windshield. The whole engine compartment should be cleaned & it's time for plugs, wires, filters, oil, cap, rotor, etc... I need to repaint my spare, install a period radio (I have one), power wash the underside, fix my front left brake (locked up on me the other day). I'm sure there's more I just can't remember right now.

It also means I'll have to slow down on fixing up the six. Besides I really like driving that car... it's fast .





Edit- scanned this old photo tonight & realized it's been 30 years; 08_1977/04_2007... holy !

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Put putting along, I wound up installing more shelves, reorganizing as I went along & discovered my 4 year old battery tray in the LE was covered in surface rust & was peeling up everywhere. You can see the stain in my battery pad. This was from the previous wet batteries before my Optima. Scraped, sanded, primed & painted. Modified (Dremeled) my Optimas' base to fit better. Fixed a rusty door on the garage ( how appropriate for a 914 garage ) & set up the grinder. Re organized the 1/18th minis into 2 groups: middies & assdraggers/nosedivers . Oh yeah, stereo is up & running... subwoofer & all .




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Photos of my latest progress in my 914 garage. The previous owner informed me that tyres take longer to develop flat spots when parked on carpeting & was kind enough to leave it behind when he moved out. I don't mind sitting next to the girls & working on them or under them now this way. As usual I was full of regarding the room I had; I was swimming in room.. now I'm fighting for space on the floor, the walls & I have to add lights to the ceiling as well. Lifetime project here . I got a TV running in there now, still have to hook up the stereo system. TV sits on top of the beer fridge . Also need more shelves & some pegboard over the bench... I'm kind of a traditionalist that way . Have to run a 240v line to the garage for the compressor. I put an un-Godley amount "$" of rubber onto the trunk of the six & shot this pic to remind myself how in$ane I am. The LE has all new rubber everywhere from my repaint 4 yrs ago.




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