 I'm actually gonna have a pretty car., First time in 30 years |
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| aircooledboy |
 Feb 27 2013, 10:37 AM
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#1
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Sweet Pea's 1st ride in daddy's "vroom -vroom"  Group: Members Posts: 1,672 Joined: 4-February 04 From: Rockford, IL Member No.: 1,629 Region Association: Upper MidWest  |
I have owned a 914 for the most part of the last 30 years. 5 drivers and 3 parts cars later, for the first time EVER, I will soon have a 914 that runs great AND looks great. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/w00t.gif)
The PO did a great job of collecting and installing all the right and best parts. I've had to "adjust" the execution from time to time, but I still believe there are few conversions out there that can hang with this one mechanically. I have really enjoyed the last 3 years with her, but between work and family, other than driving it, unless there is a problem that demands attention, I've had very little time to love on the old girl. The paint has always been a generous 3/10, and I certainly can't justify the cost of making it right with the oldest starting college in the fall, and her sister 2 years behind her. So, I try to keep it clean, and don't let anybody get closer than 30 feet to the car. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif) Recently, I had a client who was so grateful for some things I was able to accomplish for him, that he told me he wanted to paint my car. This guy is a world renowned restorer of British vintage cars. Just having him agree to work on my car would be amazing, and that's what I thought he was offering. I politely thanked him, but explained the whole $, kids in college blah blah blah. . ., and he said, "no, you don't understand. I'm doing it to show my appreciation. Free." (IMG:style_emoticons/default/shades.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/w00t.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/pray.gif) I still can't wrap my brain around this, but this spring I will for the first time in my life have a 914 that looks as good as she runs. I'll try to keep up the progress here.  |
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| Tom_T |
Feb 27 2013, 10:40 AM
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#2
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TMI.... Group: Members Posts: 8,318 Joined: 19-March 09 From: Orange, CA Member No.: 10,181 Region Association: Southern California 
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Great story! ...now you can pay it forward. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)
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| aircooledboy |
Feb 27 2013, 10:50 AM
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#3
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Sweet Pea's 1st ride in daddy's "vroom -vroom" Group: Members Posts: 1,672 Joined: 4-February 04 From: Rockford, IL Member No.: 1,629 Region Association: Upper MidWest |
This is Steve Miller. He has a shop called Classic restorations Plus on his property, and specializes in vintage Rolls Royce and Bentley restorations, but also does other cars if the circumstances are right. it's a 1 man show, and like many craftsman, Steve is great at the "art" part, less so at the business part, and has no real desire to change that. People ship him these cars from all over the world, pay him giant piles of money to do everything from soup to nuts on them, and he does it all single-handedly. he's done the bigger shop with several employees bit, but now he just wants to do the work, and skip the adult day care drama. He got fuched over in his last business model by a shiatbag partner, and it has taken him years to recover financially. Now, he is back to being able to be an insanely detail obsessed guy doing true art.
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| aircooledboy |
Feb 27 2013, 10:55 AM
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#4
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Sweet Pea's 1st ride in daddy's "vroom -vroom" Group: Members Posts: 1,672 Joined: 4-February 04 From: Rockford, IL Member No.: 1,629 Region Association: Upper MidWest |
These are the kind of cars you usually see in Steve's shop.
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| aircooledboy |
Feb 27 2013, 11:03 AM
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#5
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Sweet Pea's 1st ride in daddy's "vroom -vroom" Group: Members Posts: 1,672 Joined: 4-February 04 From: Rockford, IL Member No.: 1,629 Region Association: Upper MidWest |
PO tried to buy some room for rubber with the old baseball bat trick. Didn't buy much room, but made a serious depression where the fender tried to stretch away from the door post. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/blink.gif)
Steve pulled out the dent, and he's going to sculpt some sleeper flares a la John Kelley style, front and back to give me some actual clearance. I literally have less than 1/8" on the rears, and the fronts rub on a full to the stop turn. We gonna fix that. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/aktion035.gif)  |
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| JawjaPorsche |
Feb 27 2013, 11:18 AM
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#6
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Advanced Member Group: Members Posts: 3,463 Joined: 23-July 11 From: Clayton, Georgia Member No.: 13,351 Region Association: South East States |
Wow! Keep us posted of the progress with lots of pictures. We like to drool and drivel! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/drooley.gif)
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| aircooledboy |
Feb 27 2013, 11:23 AM
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#7
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Sweet Pea's 1st ride in daddy's "vroom -vroom" Group: Members Posts: 1,672 Joined: 4-February 04 From: Rockford, IL Member No.: 1,629 Region Association: Upper MidWest |
Steve has spent some time working my hood, but we may have to fall back on that.
It has never really lined up very well curve-wise with the front fenders. In this picture you can see the oversized cutouts in the the front bumper area. PO lived in the south, and between the AC he installed and the humid weather, cooling was a apparently problem, so he tried to solve the problem with bigger cutouts both in the bumper and the inner wheel wells. Unfortunately, he went too far. You can just barely see in this picture that the center "strut" PO tried to leave to stabilize the bumper area was too narrow, and it just cracked straight across near the top. The result is that the lower part of the hood latch moves around, and doesn't hold the damn hood down, so it lines up and looks like poo.  The hood has also separated from the frame, and the standard hillbilly repair of JB Weld done in the past did not hold (IMG:style_emoticons/default/new_shocked.gif) , which has now resulted in the frame cracking at the inner corners. I need to look at my parts cars to see if I have a better hood, or else I will be in the market for a good one. |
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| Chris H. |
Feb 27 2013, 11:57 AM
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#8
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 4,030 Joined: 2-January 03 From: Chicago 'burbs Member No.: 73 Region Association: Upper MidWest
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Hey nice to see you back. Does your car have a 350 in it? I remember issues with the engine initially but no need to dredge that up! Not much finer than a black 914 with wide fuchs...it will be sweet. Hey Chris Foley makes some pretty nice flares like you describe...
Flares |
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| balljoint |
Feb 27 2013, 12:04 PM
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#9
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914 Wizard Group: Members Posts: 10,000 Joined: 6-April 04 Member No.: 1,897 Region Association: None |
First time with a pretty car? Didn't you used to have a Bentley? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)
Chris you must be a heck of a guy to have the friends you do. Keep us posted with lots of pics. |
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| aircooledboy |
Feb 27 2013, 01:45 PM
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#10
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Sweet Pea's 1st ride in daddy's "vroom -vroom" Group: Members Posts: 1,672 Joined: 4-February 04 From: Rockford, IL Member No.: 1,629 Region Association: Upper MidWest |
QUOTE(Tom_T @ Feb 27 2013, 10:40 AM)  Agreed Tom. Truth is, that's kinda how we got here. Being a partner in this firm allows me the latitude to help people who can't really afford my services from time to time (Maybe even a few folks around here. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/ninja.gif)) Even before I was a partner, I did it, but now I don't have to hide it. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif) Like I said, Steve's last business effort left him with a king sized butt reaming and a mountain of debt. He came to me with a pretty big problem, and very little obvious ability to pay me, but I liked the guy right away, so I decided to get involved, and if I got paid some day, great. I didn't really understand at the time who he was. I just knew I had been told he was a talented "car guy", and I have always had an affinity for guys who do amazing stuff with their hands. So, after much time and hard work, I was able to resolve his situation better than either of us thought was probably realistic originally. He's back on his feet, so to my surprise I did get paid in the end, and now one of the most gifted car guys I have ever met wants to show his appreciation by putting my car into a shape I couldn't afford in a million years. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/monkeydance.gif) I truly still can't believe it. |
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| aircooledboy |
Feb 27 2013, 01:53 PM
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#11
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Sweet Pea's 1st ride in daddy's "vroom -vroom" Group: Members Posts: 1,672 Joined: 4-February 04 From: Rockford, IL Member No.: 1,629 Region Association: Upper MidWest |
QUOTE(balljoint @ Feb 27 2013, 12:04 PM) First time with a pretty car? Didn't you used to have a Bentley? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif) Chris you must be a heck of a guy to have the friends you do. Keep us posted with lots of pics. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/av-943.gif) If only. . . . If you added up the value of every car I've ever owned, they wouldn't add up to the price tag on that GT. The Bentley belonged to a friend. I was just babysitting for a while. I've been very fortunate. I try to treat my clients like people, not checkbooks. Ironically, most of the time that just results in me getting taken advantage of. I keep doing it because I sleep well at night, and the times that it turns out well make the rest of it worthwhile. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif) |
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| aircooledboy |
Feb 27 2013, 02:06 PM
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#12
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Sweet Pea's 1st ride in daddy's "vroom -vroom" Group: Members Posts: 1,672 Joined: 4-February 04 From: Rockford, IL Member No.: 1,629 Region Association: Upper MidWest |
QUOTE(Chris H. @ Feb 27 2013, 11:57 AM) Hey nice to see you back. Does your car have a 350 in it? I remember issues with the engine initially but no need to dredge that up! Not much finer than a black 914 with wide fuchs...it will be sweet. Hey Chris Foley makes some pretty nice flares like you describe... Flares Thanks Chris. Ya, this is the 350. She blowed hup on the trip home when I bought it, but we're all good for a long time now. Those flares on Foley's site are EXACTLY the look I'm going for. Steve does insane stuff by hand on these 150K cars every day. He's just going to do that here from scratch. Here is he photo part of his cheesey facebook page. His wife throws up pics so customers can watch their cars progress from the comfort of their far flung homes. You can get a feel for the really top shelf one of a kind sort of work he does. |
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| FourBlades |
Feb 27 2013, 03:17 PM
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#13
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From Wreck to Rockin Group: Members Posts: 2,054 Joined: 3-December 07 From: Brevard, FL Member No.: 8,414 Region Association: South East States
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Very cool thread. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/popcorn[1].gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/popcorn[1].gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/popcorn[1].gif) Being nice to people pays off far more often than being a dick does. John |
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| Cairo94507 |
Feb 27 2013, 05:37 PM
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#14
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Michael Group: Members Posts: 9,771 Joined: 1-November 08 From: Auburn, CA Member No.: 9,712 Region Association: Northern California
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What a great guy. I look forward to watching it turn into a 10/10.
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| rick 918-S |
Feb 27 2013, 06:36 PM
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#15
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Hey nice rack! -Celette Group: Members Posts: 20,462 Joined: 30-December 02 From: Now in Superior WI Member No.: 43 Region Association: Northstar Region 
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Nice to see you post Chris! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/bye1.gif)
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| Jgilliam914 |
Feb 27 2013, 06:43 PM
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#16
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914 Guru Group: Members Posts: 5,327 Joined: 30-July 12 From: Iowa / Florida Member No.: 14,732 Region Association: Upper MidWest |
What color? I hope Steve doesn't talk you into British Racing Green (IMG:style_emoticons/default/confused24.gif)
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| speed metal army |
Feb 27 2013, 08:01 PM
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#17
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Waiting for the rain to stop... Group: Members Posts: 1,068 Joined: 4-September 10 From: PNW Member No.: 12,137 Region Association: Canada |
QUOTE(Jgilliam914 @ Feb 27 2013, 04:43 PM) What color? I hope Steve doesn't talk you into British Racing Green (IMG:style_emoticons/default/confused24.gif) BRG would rock! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/mad.gif) |
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| sixnotfour |
Feb 27 2013, 08:34 PM
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#18
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914 Wizard Group: Members Posts: 10,432 Joined: 12-September 04 From: Life Elevated..planet UT. Member No.: 2,744 Region Association: Rocky Mountains
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Germans call it Irish green
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| JRust |
Feb 27 2013, 08:47 PM
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#19
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914 Guru Group: Members Posts: 6,307 Joined: 10-January 03 From: Corvallis Oregon Member No.: 129 Region Association: Pacific Northwest
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QUOTE(aircooledboy @ Feb 27 2013, 09:23 AM) The hood has also separated from the frame, and the standard hillbilly repair of JB Weld done in the past did not hold (IMG:style_emoticons/default/new_shocked.gif) , which has now resulted in the frame cracking at the inner corners. I need to look at my parts cars to see if I have a better hood, or else I will be in the market for a good one. I've got a few good front hoods if you need one. It's yours if you pick it up (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif) |
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| gms |
Feb 28 2013, 03:14 PM
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#20
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Advanced Member Group: Members Posts: 2,695 Joined: 12-March 04 From: Chicagoland Member No.: 1,785 Region Association: Upper MidWest
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Looks good!
BTW if you need a new hood I have several and am only about 1 hr away from you |
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