First, the story behind not posting any updates for almost two months. It probably will not be a short story so feel free to skip to the next paragaraph.
My wife took my nephew to the airport in mid-August and as she was driving she saw a place called Mathnasium. Being the math lover she is a couple of days later she googled Mathnasium and found out its a franchise business that focuses on helping kids with math. Well, this struck a cord with her since she had tutored our kids and their friends in math and they all made it into the advanced math curriculum in jr. high and high school. She then started checking and there are no franchises close and with her retiring in December you can only guess where this goes. Of course it was then my job to check out the opportunities, deal with the Mathnasium folks, look for territories, etc. So this does not become a book, I will cut to the chase. We bought two territories from Mathnasium about 3 weeks ago. I have been searching for suitable locations, looking at a lot of sites and have found what we want in both territories. I am not down to the paperwork and dealing with lawyers
but should be close to getting through that phase. As we have gone through this process, I have assured her that I am not quitting on the truck and will get at least two days a week of truck time once we get our spots nailed down. In the past six weeks I have gotten one day to work on the truck besides today. Believe me, I am NOT going to stop until the truck is shiny and loud!
I did get the Top Banana inner fender and finally got it smoothed out and primed. Hoping to reassemble, again, the front end tomorrow but it may end up being next week. Here is my feeble update picture:
One other thing that did happen during my distracted period was I did get to visit my parents in Arkansas. They live 30 minutes from Ta2Don so I was able to sneak away and visit with Don. Gotta say he is one of the nicest guys I have met. I even got a couple of very nice cigars from him. Here is Don in front of his shop:
While I was in Arkansas I did get to take pictures of my next two projects once the truck is done. The next project will be working on my Dad's 1928 Chevy National AB series. Dad bought this in 1969 for $400 and the guy threw in a great Boxer puppy. Dad has had this in storage since then and always planned on working on it but.... Dad is now 81 years young so when he heard about what I am doing with the truck he asked if I would redo his 28. How can you pass that up!
I can already see him driving around in it while Mom complains
. The car is very solid, no rust I can find anywhere. Of course the wood in the floorboard and firewall will need to be replaced and the interior has hosted a bunch of mice over the years.
Finally, here is my 3rd project. Gotta tell the story behind this since Don told me he hated me when I told him the story. When I was 15 I went down the street to a guy who had an old Toyota Mark II sitting in his driveway. It had been there for over 5 years. I asked if he wanted to sell it (wanted a car for when I was 16). He said no. Dad told me to go to the bank and take out what money I had and go back to him with cash and ask again. So I rode my bike to the bank, took out $130 and rode to the guys house. Knocked on the door and he came out and asked what I wanted this time. I showed him a one hundred dollar bill along with a $20 and $10 and asked again if he wanted to sell. He said he would be right back with the title. So we towed it home, aired up the tires, put in a new battery and cleaned the carb and gas tank and she fired right up. Drove it for 6 months and then got rear ended and the car was totaled. The insurance company offered me $200 for the car and we said no. We had looked and other Toyota Mark IIs in the area were going for $800. I also missed three weeks of work with whip lash (guy rear ended me doing 40 mph and there were no head rests). So I ended up getting $800 for the car and $700 for missing work. We then head to Arkansas for a family visit and to look for me a car. We found a 1957 Chevy post less Bel Aire with a factory continental kit installed. Bought if for $500 and paid my uncle $300 for a early 60s Vette 327 with 325 hp. Drove the car home and used the rest of my money to get it painted. Drove my 57 for one year in high school and put it away. It has been stored since 1976. I am the third owner and it was an Arkansas car so there is no rust anywhere. Guess you can tell I am kind of proud of this one.
Here she is:
Sorry for being so long winded! Guess I need to post more often.