So, the Mission Support Group Commander (Colonel Bernardi) has made a VERY unpopular decision to shut down the Auto Hobby Shop for a handful of reasons, but the most apparent being that he’s an upper-crust elitest asshole that could give two sh!ts less about the rest of us peons he lords over (“Why can’t they just go to Midas or someplace to get their oil changed?” he was heard uttering). Well, not everybody can afford $400 oil changes on our Porsches like you, dickhead. His ‘official’ rationale is that there’s a big inspection coming and that AHS is basically an eyesore because it’s got car stuff all over the place. Well No Shit, Sherlock – it’s an automotive shop, after all.

This plays out a bit later in this story, but for now, Jim and I are on notice that we need to “Get our Shit and Git!”

I’m in a good place – I can take my stuff home any time and finish up there, but Jim’s kind of struggling with his Galaxie and not exactly pushing hard to get it ready to go. This turns out to be the last weekend we can actually work on our cars with the shop open and other folks being able to use it.

With some adjustment of the holes in all affected sheet metal, I was able to get the front valance installed. Had to be extra careful because it’s a painted piece – but… no scratches! Whew!!

With some adjustment to the driver side quarter panel, in the way of a new mounting hole, I was able to get the rear valance installed, along with the bumper, and get the exhaust pipes located in the cut-outs. Still gotta adjust the quarter end caps and line up the trunk lid, but that can wait for another day.