48 hours to go, and then I'll bring home the last of four Festiva's from a collection who's owner passed away at the end of last year. But the bonus car in the mix is an MX3 that I actually feel like I am stealing... The property was sold to a next door neighbor who has absolutely no interest or respect for anything smaller than an F-250 truck! When he quoted me $300.oo for both of these cars ($150 EACH), the hardest thing on earth for me to do was to just shut my mouth, think about it, and say: "Yes Sir!" When someone is so prejudiced against a particular car that they under-sell it, that is the time to say "I'll take that, got anymore?" #ad By this time Sunday - I will have seven cars & trucks, and a Ranger chassis, a trailer, two of the cars run and drive, one car and one truck are highly modified, and the MX3 just might fire off with very little work at all. ~Not bad going, considering last year at this time I had no running wheels at all. Since January of this year (2016) when I decided that no matter what, I had to drive SOMETHING - I have turned things around 200%. What's funny? The looks on peoples faces when I tell them I rarely spend more than twenty bucks a month on fuel... True happiness is running 75 MPH with the A/C on full blast, carrying more stuff than most people can in a BIG car ~ And not having to park it because you can't afford to fill it up again!
Its a matter of perspective. The value of having something gone is often worth more than the money itself. My one and only Dodge truck was like that. I sold it to my brother in law for a song because I was tired of seeing it, didn't want to hassle with it and was no longer willing to turn a single bolt on it even if that meant getting more for the truck. $150 is more than the metal scrap value for a Festiva, I imagine that's a win-win for the previous owner considering a running early 1990s Festiva in "fair" condition has a book value of about $900.
I dumped my Blue truck after selling the crate engine out of it for about that much - it was later scrapped. For the engine I got I think $150, and a roller 302 out of a mustang that I later sold to Glenn (?) for a song to put in an F100 of his. *It was a short block The Blue Mule was half-assed anyway, it had an 8.8 rear five on five and a half bolt circle, but the front was still five on four and a half (it was a V6 truck from the factory) and I realized I just didn't want to go any further with it. Sometimes we just have to lose old "DEAD END" crap that doesn't serve us anymore, and that was one of them. But I still think I could have modded the front suspension and had a sweet thing of it. But it was at a point when I was scaling down. You have to look at what life puts in front of you sometimes, and choose. I also note that it was before the chapter seven, and money for parts and everything was pretty scarce. I think I did good, from there I glommed onto an '89 Ranger with a five speed, the one waiting for me to put a transmission and everything else into it. That one set me back $1800.oo, and I still have IT and it's original engine. But it has a Windsor in it now that was meant for a '69 Mustang. Sometimes you do what you have to, and never look back. "Coulda" "Woulda" and "Shoulda" are stupid ideas that can trip you up. A brilliant man once wrote that: "a wise man is always prepared to lose his baggage" I have to work with what is possible RIGHT NOW - today. Basically - dumping the Blue Mule and "Greywolf's Revenge" (the F250 flatbed) was about 'Clearing the Yard'. I knew the cash wasn't right. But now I am not only on track with what I wanted to do since I first saw fuel prices scooting up, it also plugs into travelling across country. And that is a thing I have always been fascinated with.... ~Wolfie
A man, his madness, and Christmas in November... It dawned on me that the tri-wye header I found in all the other stuff when I first looked at what was laying around at the place I have been gathering parts and cars from HAD to be for an existing machine of some kind, it's too expensive to just bag parts at random for some future purpose - so I took a second look at it earlier today. When I originally ran the numbers off this header it pointed to a completely different engine, but now that I have put it side by side with the 4V head I have here, it turns out I have a nearly complete top end for a 1600 B6 engine, but NA rather than Turbocharged... This is good - all it needs now is a shortblock and yet another engine stand! Take a look: #ad #ad #ad Now - I have a transaxle for a B6, and I have enough 1.3L engines between the four Festiva's to assemble three of them as a pair of stock 1.3L's and the 1.6L Turbo stands as it is. *The one with the bad roof, windshield, and cowl will be hacked apart for body panels With this prospect staring me in the face - what I think is going to happen is that it will become the "KILLER MOTOR" for the original Suzuki Swift (Wolf Cub) project, so that my deep rooted intention to mount a wikkid Metro/Swift to take to a GEO meet in Ohio is as good as done... Since I already have one hot-rodded Festiva, this could work out perfectly, but the CURB WEIGHT (according to Edmunds) is 200 Lbs more than a Festiva * 1918 vice 1750 Lbs The trade-off is the overall height and width I think it will be a worthwhile project just to see how close they become after I remove the rear seat from the Swift, and tinker with it some.
Coming into the final stretch with the paint and body work, about time! But it's been hotter than ever these last few weeks...
