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| 6th installment: | |
| nov 2000-dec 2000 I've been having a good time slowly wrenching new and cleaned parts to my powder-coated frame! And I have a new pal:his name is Comer Tuck. He's a pussy-cat we found abandoned near our house. Why the strange name? We like to name our stray cats after bosses (i.e. Bill, Harald, etc...). For a few weeks, I had an interim boss named, guess what, Comer Tuck (and bootin nice guy, too). Comer and I were at a public meeting in which the meeting started off with introductions of the attendees. Comer and I, as well as many others, introduced themselves. Eventually the introductions made their way up into the back corner upon which a large rancher with a booming, crawling voice introduced himself and then added: 'I want everyone here to know that I named my dawg Comer Tuck!' On the drive back home, I asked Comer about the rancher's exclamation. Turns out that several years ago Comer crossed paths with the rancher when Comer was out measuring water levels in wells (Comer and I are in the water bidness). Before letting Comer on his property, the rancher conducted an intense interview: What are you here for? What are you gonna do? What are you doing this for? Who are you with? What's your name? Comer Tuck? That sounds like a fine name for a dog! Comer hadn't seen the rancher since that time and indeed, the rancher had named his pooch 'Comer Tuck.' Anyways, we found our kitten about a week after this meeting and I proclaimed: 'Comer Tuck sounds like a fine name for a cat!' Comer loves to work on the Isetta with me. If I am in the garage, he has to be in there with me 'helping.' We are a lot alike in that we a special talent in dropping parts and losing them. Comer's favorite game is to get up in the rafters of our garage and when I am in the erect 'What the hell am I going to do now?' pose, he will reach down and tap me on the head with his paw. Crazy cat. OK, OK, back to the car.... As I said, I've been slowly attaching parts back to the frame. Here's where a year between taking the car apart and putting it back together works against you: How did that part go back again? Thankfully I took a lot of pictures of the car in its original condition, but unfortunately not enough. The steering knuckles were particularly challenging. After the third try, I got the darn things together right (I hope...), and they look good! There's nothing like wrenching down your shiney parts. The car looks better than brand new. The other big thing I've tackled is rebuilding the chain drive, which hasn't turned out to be too bad. Mine's in not too bad of shape except for a little chew work around the top where an errant bolt flailed wildly. I hope that never happens again. When the chain drive is put back together and attached to the frame, I will finally have a 'rolling chassis.' In our spare time, Bruce Fullerton and I have also put together a t-shirt of a broken-egg Isetta (see my sweetheart's sister model it below). We have these things for sale here if you are interested. Until next time....
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