Saturday, November 02, 2013

And room for a Pony.

From the top, we have a 69 Falcon with no wheels but an American Mustang engine ready to be put in place. The BOH wanted a nice strong car for driving the precious child around. Kid will be 18 and driving it himself. We had a chap come down from Wodonga to buy the second hand gas tank and while he was here poking around the detritus, BOH sold him a bumper bar and several other bits and bobs. He puts everything on ebay and somebody is always looking for a part for an older car.
Next in line we have a combivan. This is now a national treasure as they've stopped making them. This will be a museum piece by the time it's finished. He does have half the interior done, bought a microwave and small oven, sink is in place and he needn't think I'm making the curtains. He has decided on a blue bottom with white top, blue interior and deep blue seats. Last week his aesthetic soul was outraged when an owner wanted black shiny thingies that go over the wheels when he had painted the rest a gorgeous metallic blue. I told him the payer was always right.
Next up should be the bottom photo. His first purchase of a soft top in metallic purple with celtic silver swirls along the sides.  It has fat wheels which means fat thingies over them and even I admit it looks awful, squat and not elegant. He's selling the wheels this week and the thingies. He's agonizing over the colour and I want it in the metallic swizzy purple and he says it's girly. Well, guess who's going to buy a swizzy purple convertible VW? I still have the purple synthetic leather I picked up at the hard rubbish collection last year but he's too caught up in the soft top manufacturing process to think of interiors.
So, third photo down. I wish I had taken a photo of this when it arrived in all its pale greeness, rust and general "Oh god, don't look at me I'm a wreck!" delight. He showed it to Himnextdoor who couldn't believe it was the same car. A random bloke walking his dog stopped in his tracks and drooled. My taxi driver this morning who is a VW tragic took 5 minutes to drive away. It's an almost Mercedes Blue he tells me but with a drop of this and a drip of that to make his perfect shade. $8,500.00 and it's yours.
I also had a silver something or other but that's gone to the factory for a makeover. Once he would have left a mess everywhere but now he comes and sweeps up the dust and parts are neatly stored ready for the next wally who can't resist a bit of car that might just come in handy. The convertible was wrapped tightly when rain was predicted and just as well because the local possums haven't forgiven him for removing the last combi. It had no windows and they loved partying the night away in the warmth.
He is an absolute perfectionist. The last VW, brilliant post box red had a minor defect on the engine cover where it just hit the carbie in the wrong way so he fixed that and re-did the cover. I couldn't see it but he assured me it was ruined. And this from the kid who loved nothing better than to take the wheels off his matchbox cars so they'd zoom better in the sandpit.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I think you have strong affection for the BOH.

It is not craut and it is not combi. Kraut and Kombi.

Old cars stop many people in their tracks, me included.

Elephant's Child said...

I suspect that you will weaken and make those curtains.
Good that you have (finally) trained him to clean up (at least a bit) after himself.
And the combi and the VW triggered lots of memories here.

River said...

The blue beetle looks wonderful!
Our Kombi was the same yellow as that one, but we didn't have the pop-up top or the camping interior. We had two rows of bench seats so we could split up the four kids and give them each a window with empty space between for their travel gear, (colouring books, hand held games, snacks and stuff). No more "mum, he's touching me!"
Fun days.
His highness sold the Kombi to pay for a piece of scrap from his best mate, it wouldn't hold much in the back seat, but did have eight super loud stereo speakers....
Nice to hear BOH has learned to use a broom.

JahTeh said...

Andrew I bow to your superior knowledge of vroom-vrooms. He really does do a fab job and the last Kombi he worked on for his boss sold for $68,000 which is why he paid for this wreck.

EC, not before I sew my lounge room curtains and I'm 2 years behind in doing that. The cleaning up and having parts in full view is crucial for prospective magpie buyers, him being one of that tribe.

River, it will make a great camper when its done, amazing how much room there is. It's amusing to sit inside when he has another bloke in the carport and both are going through what I would call rust and rubbish. It's not much different to me being in an op-shop.