Neanderpundit

As much as I loathe working on my own ride that I might make it to work on monday, I often think how much I’d love to build a custom car. The skills are there, from fab and design to build and- well, everything but paint. I’ve often thought I’d love to take something like an old 914 and chop and channel it, make a car with a body about 14″ tall and bulgy fenders to contain the slicks, or even a classic Tbucket or a chopped and channelled Tudor.

I’m certainly not unique in this, there are loads of guys who have made wonderful hotrods, and even the folks who take “regular” cars and make them pretty have a good time with it; partner’s brother Rich is ressurecting a Mustang and doing it right, and I’m mixed between happiness and jealously for him.

I often think in the October of our lives, the Ogwife and I might take weekend car trips around the country in a nice restored or rodded ride, and then I wake up. I think about the work involved in making/keeping such a ride, and then I think of taking those trips in a modern, quiet, air conditioned car with all the amenities, and I decide that this is a better idea. We can more easily purchase and pay for a nice Mustang ragtop and it will always be ready for use, and not require 4 weeks of prep for every weekend of driving.

Yeah, I’m old and tired of fucking around.

Postscript: This came up part because of seeing a piece of the Barrett Jackson auction, part because last weekend I sat down and watched “Tales of the Rat Fink” online; yes, you can now watch the whole movie, and if you’re a car geek, I reccomend it.

I took the Carbine to the range today, and Mike and I and Ed shot it. It was extra sweet with pie, and I was glad we had something with a little bit of recoil so Ed could experience something a bit more than the 22 he brought.

I was shooting the steel Herters ammo, the stuff Cabelas is selling for $140/500. it runs fine in the carbine.

I replaced the original, stamped steel trigger group with a “real” one from Dirtcrashr early this year, it was a great deal and the new pieces run awesomely. The trigger is smooth as silk, and the lower really fits the magazines more tightly. About the only other thing I might do is to put a flattop bolt in it, because the round top is rubbed shiny on the receiver-I can now see why they made the bolt flattopped.

Shot the MKii for a while, and Ed seemed to like it enough he wants one of his own. He could do worse.

In the meanwhile, go visit Iowahawk and read the newest Text Only Game written for only one person.

Hat tip Rachel Lucas who, by the way, finished her degree and is blogging again.