Last Sunday:  Well, it turns out my ‘starter’ problem was more of a weak battery issue.  I hadn’t realized that the battery was over 6 years old (they don’t last that long around here).  After spending a few weeks dreading having to crawl under the car to swap out the starter motor in 100+ temps, I figured I’d grab another starter solenoid (since the one on the car right now came from a buddy’s truck when the one I’d bought was bad out of the box).  While I was at the O’Reilly’s, I thought about the battery situation and decided to bite the bullet and grab an Optima Red Top (they didn’t have any yellow tops).  I got home and swapped out the batteries, figured I’d hit the key just for fun, and it fired right up – the starter sounded just as strong as ever (no lag… must’ve been the battery all along).

This morning I went out to the garage, put the key in the ignition, turned it, and it fired right up.  So, I took it over to Cars & Coffee and had some breakfast while hangin’ out with my car-guy buddies.

Wow – someone needs to tell that old fat guy to lose some weight and quit setting his drinks on the windshield washer bottle.

Went out to another car show – around 90 cars, no award (no biggie, though – had a blast even though it was 95 and no shade).

Got home, parked in the driveway under the carport and went into the house for a few.  Went back out to put Frank back in the garage, hit the key and the starter did its usual chug one revolution and drug down to nothing, but didn’t recover and spin normally to start… then just buzzed.  I figured it was heat soak, since it normally does this after I’ve driven it around awhile, so I let it sit for a few hours and cool down.  Just went back out and hit the key, and it just buzzed.  So, I think the starter’s toast – I hope it’s just the starter, anyway.

Fortunately, these cars aren’t nearly as heavy and bloated as everybody thinks they are, so I had my wife steer into the garage while I gave it a push (we have a slightly inclined driveway, probably 2-3 degrees under the carport, but more like 6-7 at the end).  Fortunately, a quick shove and Frank’s back in the garage, safe and sound.

I guess I’ll swing by O’Reilly Auto Parts sometime this week and pick up a new one, then swap it out next weekend or something.

Here are the obligatory poser pics.

Here’s a link to the flickr photo album my pal Stephen Horton took from the day.  Lots of cool cars… lots of sunburned folks, too.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/stephenhor…VVvWNxHReo

Went out to the Whiskey River Saloon for a car show – man, that parking lot is small. Had a great time and a good turn-out – it was a benefit show for Jesse Gomez… one of the local Corvette club members recently diagnosed with cancer.

I didn’t realize I had the wheels turned when I shut it off… oh well. I guess I need to work on the tires’ white letters some more as well.

Here’s a link to pics of the rest of the cars in the show:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/stephenhorton/albums/72157707752009344/with/46537287935/

Dave and I took off to Warren Performance Exhaust (WPE) in San Angelo to get the bung for the O2 sensor welded in. While there, I asked them to weld up some of the joints for the Pype stainless exhaust to eliminate some clamps, and install some permanent tailpipe hangers (I’d used the floppy universal hangers and tons of clamps when I originally installed the system). Dave and I took off to Corner Stop a few doors down for some awesome breakfast burritos and Migas while the work was being done. After we returned (about an hour later), the work was already done, and only cost $50! Sweet!

Took a quick ride over to Advance to get some paint for the Ram Air air cleaner and A/C idler pulley & bracket, then went back to the house. It was pretty ‘swampy’ as Dave liked to say [regarding the humidity, compared to Phoenix] so we just chilled and hung out for the rest of the day. Gonzo came by and hung out for a bit as well – had a good time shootin’ the sh!t and tellin’ stories.

I’ll get those things done one of these weekends when the temps come back down, the bugs go away, and there’s not some kind of car show or band thing going on. Stay tuned!

OK – couple of highlights from today’s car show, and a link to the FB album:

Here’s the Mustang:

And a shot of the engine:

A couple with Tom Smith from Misfit Garage (he’s actually quite the character – cool guy):

My pal Gonzo with his awesome ’70 Camaro:

And my buddy Dave, in from Phoenix with his bad ass 2018 Mustang GT:

The link to my FB album: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2188874031123503&type=1&l=cf90e3cdc2

Spent a little time with the Mustang this afternoon cleaning up everything to get ready for the annual Ruckus at the Rec Camp Car Show tomorrow, Saturday 29 Sep 2018.

My buddy Dave took a quick video as I was getting ready to pull into the garage and tuck it in for the evening.

So, I just returned from a conference in Omaha, Nebraska, but while I was there, my pal Gonzo called me – I missed his call because I was on my way to a degausser factory tour (probably wondering what a degausser is, I’m sure… don’t worry about it). Anyway, he was calling me to see what was going on, and I’m guessing to let me know his awesome ’70 Camaro is running again and back home. SWEET! I later saw it on Facebook and was pleased to hear he’s back on the road.

Friday afternoon, I met up with him and let him know about Cars & Coffee going on this morning. We made plans to bring out the Camaro and the Mustang, since they hadn’t been ‘together’ since a car show something like 2 or 3 years ago, or something like that (they literally grew up together at the Auto Hobby Shop as projects started around the same time).

We pulled up, grabbed a couple of parking spots, went inside and had some breakfast, then hung out for a few hours with all the other cool cars that showed up. Had a blast! Now, I just hope I can find a couple pics to swipe from FB to load-up here.

So here we are a the 2nd Annual Joe’s Bar & Grill car show, still missing Jim. Lots of cool cars and cool people, too. Grabbed a couple of pics after having an OK day.

I call this one, “Irony.”

So, today’s a bittersweet day. We’re here once again for the Goodfellow AFB Rec Camp Car Show, now called ‘The Ruckus at the Rec Camp,’ and once again, Horny Mike was invited to show up. We had a blast, he’s a cool guy, and it was a great time for everybody… except the Wing Commander wasn’t very impressed with Mike, and I don’t think will be inviting him back. So, that sucks.

The really sucky part of the day is that my pal Jim Eimer is missing from the festivities. He lost his battle with sepsis in August, and now I’m pretty much sittin’ around this car show by myself that’s been one of our favorite annual events for the past 14 or 15 years. I miss Jim, and even though I’m surrounded by friends and even making new ones, it’s just not the same not having he and his Jeep parked in the next slot. Gonna miss ya, Man… but I’m still coming out every year as long as I can to keep the tradition going. Hopefully, we’ll get your Jeep healthy again to win some more awards in the future.

For now though, here are a few shots of the Mustang from the day.

This one was a cool guy who actually bought the awesome 1970 Boss 347 restomod (not a real Boss ‘anything,’ actually) that’s been seen around town for the past several years. Jim would’ve loved that car.

Got a pic with Horny Mike as he was making his rounds.