Elks Lodge Veteran’s Day Car Show

Great turn-out today for the Elks Lodge Veteran’s Day Car Show at Car Town Hyundai. I had a blast hangin’ out with all the cool car guys and their cool cars on such nice day! Frank even pulled a Top 40 Award as well! Thanks to Stephen Horton for all the cool pics (I was BSing with my pals and forgot to walk around for pics). Here’s a link to his Flickr album: https://www.flickr.com/…/ste…/albums/72157711713858528/page1

2019 Joe’s Bar & Grill Car Show

Had a blast at yesterday’s JB&G Car Show – Frank pulled a “Top 50” award as well. Unfortunately, my camera battery died 2/3 of the way through getting pics of all the cars, along with some of the ones I’d wanted to get while parked on the lawn, but my pal Stephen Horton came through with his pics.

Here’s a link to his Flikr Photo Album:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/stephenhorton/albums/72157711412237693?fbclid=IwAR2JmTqZfH2TQZw-Ciq1tEmNC-0V6y-T06gcXJaIoy-IL0qiNlvqLPrw8Tg

2019 Ruckus at the Rec Camp Car Show

Last Saturday: Took Frank to a local car show.  Didn’t win anything, but had a great time.  My friend Jordan Barnett bought my pal Jim’s ’63 1/2 Galaxie 500 XL, got it running, and brought it out to the show.  It was good to see it finally out on the road.  He’s planning on continuing the vision Jim had for the car… I can’t wait to see what he comes up with.

Monday: I ordered a new horn/mounting kit for my Jeep’s Grant Challenger steering wheel, along with a new Mustang hat and complete set of lug nuts (since I can’t seem to find the nice ones I ordered for the Mustang awhile back – lost somewhere in the garage).  It all just showed up a few minutes ago.  Wow – Summit Racing, knocking it out of the park again!

New Carpet

OK – MUCH better!

Here is the first attempt at ‘carpet’ using some course embossing powder (need to pay attention to the label next time):

And here’s the second attempt, with the lower door panel carpet pieces, and some cream-colored flock to make ‘sheepskin’ seat covers:

I even left the pile of brown gravel I scraped off from the first attempt in the picture. Hopefully, I’ll get a good shot to get this one finished this coming Labor Day weekend.

Cars & Coffee @ The Corral

Went out to a third Cars & Coffee event starting up in San Angelo yesterday!  Apparently, people weren’t happy with the change in venue for C&C and decided to strike out on their own with another event – which makes 3 C&C-like events in San Angelo now.  Wow!  I heard some griping by the high-exotic/Corvette crowd that took over the original C&C and moved it away from Golden Corral to a local bar parking lot – which was to be expected, I suppose.  Hey – not everybody wants to go to lunchtime drinking events in their expensive hot rods, I guess.

My pal Gonzo showed up with his awesome ’70 Camaro Z/28. We had a blast BSing and checking out all the cool cars.

Here’s the link to my pal Stephen Horton’s Flickr album: https://www.flickr.com/photos/stephenhor…2QrzIwDuUM

Cars & Coffee at Fuzzy’s Tacos

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.

Crimestoppers Car Show

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

First Car Show of 2019

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/