Ah, a lovely summer night, with a warm and gentle rain falling. Maybe there's
a chance everyone in the state won't die of thirst after all. It has been an
unusually dry spring, many resevoirs are critically low. You folks back in
the Great Flat Spot where large bodies of water just lay around doing nothing
all year long may not truly know the meaning of 'drought.'
It's raining, something which has not been done for weeks. Earlier I did
something which has not been done for years. With the IVR newsletter in
the mail, I spent a bit of time at the shop this evening. Repainted the
valve cover on the red racer, worked on an oil catch tank, various little
bits like that to prepare for the races this weekend. Things like drilling
a 1/4" hole through some 1/2" bolts to make fittings for vent lines.
It was not working at the shop which hadn't been done for years, it was the
manner of getting there and back again. I drove down the street, got on the
freeway, got off at an exit near the shop. Did my stuff, jumped in the Eep,
got on the freeway, took the 9th South exit (I live off 8th South) and zipped
home. Yep, after something like four years of having the main freeways
through Salt Lake all torn up, with detours and flaggers and cones and traffic
jams everywhere, the brunt of the interstate work is done. Some of you may
recall the message I sent a while back about the paving machine as it passed
by the shop late one night. It is nice to have the project nearly done.
Speaking of projects, check out http://www.team.net/mjb/junk01.jpg
A number of years ago, I was involved in a deal where I acquired quite a pile
of stuff. Part of this stuff was a couple of parts cars and some frames that
I'd basically forgotten about. The fellow who had the stuff before me stored
a TR6, a Sunbeam Alpine and some Triumph frames in his friend's backyard.
This friend is moving and it is now up to me to get the stuff out of there.
What fun. There are three frames: TR3, TR4, TR6, all pretty much suffering
from many years of outside storage. We're talking Sawz-All and dumpster here.
If there's some sort of frame bit you need let me know before I toss them.
In truth, I may keep a chunk of the rear portion of the TR6 frame laying around
the shop. That way, when prospective customers regain consciousness, I can
more accurately explain why getting rid of that little clunk in the back will
cost them 5 or 6 hundred dollars of welding and fabrication work.
The TR6 you see has no motor or gearbox, I've not yet annoyed the flying,
stinging insects living under the tarp to take a closer look. Maybe it at
least has a differential, we shall see. The Sunbeam Alpine in the very back
may be the most solid, valuable item, I could see getting $100 or so for its
remains. Stay tuned.
mjb.
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