Beautiful Day
Every time I say "beautiful day" I hear the U2 song in my head. Today it was truely a BD. I took a little ride this afternoon up hiway 53 into Tennessee. The weather was nice and the cars were lining up behind me. I pulled over a couple of times to let everyone pass. I don't know where everyone was going in such a hurry. After all, it was Sunday afternoon and I was out for my Sunday afternoon drive.

Knowledge is Power
I got a few new books yesterday from B&N. I usually get my books from Amazon but Ginger had a gift certificate so I went that route. The new books are:
1. Chevy Pickup Trucks (Enthusiast Color Series) (Statham)
2. Monster Garage - How to Customize Damn Near Anything (Klancher)
3. Welder's Handbook (Finch)

There was a sheet metal book I wanted to get also but it will wait til later. I am doing a little bit of research into what kind of work is needed to restore a vehicle. At this point I am leaning toward a Chevy Pickup (1972 or older). What I would really like is a 69 Chevy short wheel base fleet side. The short wheel base is hard to come by. Eighty percent of the trucks made between 1967 and 1972 were long wheel base.

The other vehicle I am considering is a Beetle. A friend offered me a Beetle. He thinks his father would let me have it for free if I would come get it. The catch here is that it is down south of Birmingham and I would need to trailer it home. There are actually two down there. He thinks one still runs thought he thinks the other is in better shape. This is definitely worth considering.

I plan on doing some reading before I commit to anything. Ginger has given her consent for said project though the approved budget is very low. A free Beetle would definitely fit the budget, but anyone who really knows me, knows I have had a thing for Chevy Trucks since before I could drive. I even tried to acquire one a few times, but wiser minds prevailed. When I was in high school you get a 1970-ish Chevy for about $1200 - $1500. These were decent shape. Today the same truck runs about $8000 - $12,000 if it is in reasonable shape.

Today I ran across a 1961 Chevy Pickup for sale. It was sitting in front of a Junk Yard. The body was in reasonable shape though it appears to have not moved in a few years. The tags expired back in 2001. I didn't get a real good look at it because it was behind a chain-link fence. I may have to give them a call to find out what is wrong with it and how much they are asking.

Pimp My Ride
I got some good advice from the MTV show "Pimp My Ride". The host, Xhibit, said "stop using tape on cars ya'll." He claims to be from Detroit but but that sounded pretty southern to me. It seems like pretty good advice as well.

I spent a little time wet sanding on the Miata again. Today I focused on the left rear quarter panel that had all the oxidation. By the time I was done, the section of the car looked better than any other spot on the car. It was hard to believe it started out being the worst looking spot on the car.

Last Call
I finished the bed yesterday. I will post a finished photo soon.

We moved the new patio furniture from the garage onto the back porch today. They are not done yet but if we wait on them, it will be snowing before we get to use the porch. All that really remains to be done is gutters, final electrical, and cleanup.

Model T Trivia
Chevrolet made a vehicle they called the Model T from 1918 to 1923. Chevy's Model T was a truck. The better know Ford Model T ceased production in 1928 when it was replaced with the Model A. I hear this car looked great when painted black. The Chevy was also only available in black. They later added a second color called Blue Bell Blue. Guess where I got these facts.