Cherokee "progress" today

At the moment, not much. I'm the only Benz tech in my county, but that doesn't keep me busy. Next month I go back to my old job of making parts for and working on vintage Lotus race cars

Uh huh... I know... yup I do uh huh uh huh

: > KJK : >

: >

: :

Well... go on down towards Sonora, all the retirees that have taken over th place (and ruined it) should have a few MBZs that need love. Back to making parts, is that what you want to do? Do you like it?

Kate

I try to not go into town, and towning to here is expensive.

I love it. It pays well, it's challenging and non-repetitive, I work alone on a ranch in a building with two large lathes, a Bridgeport mill, plenty of carbide tooling, a TIG welder, lots of other equipment, set my own hours and days, can take my black lab when i don't ride my bikes, and my "commute" over bad minor roads shows me more deer and turkeys than people. You have a better offer?

Sounds great if you ask me! Nope, the only thing better is what we have now. Good, reliable income and no time clock to punch ever again.

Kate

No, but just as good. I've been working for different Chevy dealers as a tech for the last 18 years. A month ago I trashed it to go to work here:

(don't bitch at me about the cursor...I know already)

Turned a 13 hour day with a 135 mile round trip commute into an 8 1/2 hour day, 22 mile round trip. I'm saving about $250 a month in gas alone. More than enough to make up for the lower wage. Also, he pays by the hour as opposed to flat rate. Heh, building cool old cars with other people's money...as my brother said "And they pay you for this?" Damn straight!

-- Old Crow '82 FLTC-P "Miss Pearl" '74 XLH chopper(somebody else's baby now) BS#133, SENS, TOMKAT, MAMBM, DOF#51, DH#2 "There's only 1 RE"

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Very cool! I went from the German car business to restorations in 89, spent my first 5 years as a machinist/mechanic in a barn doing restorations along with a bodyman on Stearns-Knight cars, fun engines those sleeve valves. Came to another resto shop when he closed, but the local guy is a real weasel. Mostly pre-war stuff, rich owners heading for Pebble and the like. A couple are collecting dust in the Nethercut Museum. Some of the cars are here, along with some of my own lesser vehicles and silly crap,

found the resto business paid about 2/3 to 1/2 of what I could make keeping yuppies on the road, but I love it. This British racer gig is damned good money for my area, it seems that smart racers know they could lose it all on turn one and consider their racing budget expendable, unlike those who look at antique cars as an investment, ruining the hobby for the rest of us.

"Old Crow" wrote : Turned a 13 hour day with a 135 mile round trip commute into an 8 1/2 : hour day, 22 mile round trip. I'm saving about $250 a month in gas : alone. More than enough to make up for the lower wage. Also, he pays : by the hour as opposed to flat rate. : Heh, building cool old cars with other people's money...as my brother : said "And they pay you for this?" : Damn straight! : --

Sounds like a guy's dream job!

Hey, tell the guy that little floating thingy that follows the cursor is annoying as hell, will ya?

KJK

HUH, now WHY didn't I see that BEFORE I bitched at you about the cursor....???

Oh, I know. Because it didn't finish reading your post until it had already annoyed me.

sorry.

KJK

I think it'd look better with little butterflies or birdies anyway;^0

Seahag

"KJ.Kate" wrote in news:uZJKf.30499$X7.13863 @bignews7.bellsouth.net:

Are those bodies in as good a conditon as they look ? You don't find that kind around the NE. Got a pic of the commando ? and is the frame good ?

The one I stripped had some small rust holes in the floor, but saving it wasn't in the plan, and towing it East is costly. I offered the body free for 2 weeks before i dismantled it. The 74 has a floor badly rusted out, by California standards. It's not all palm trees and beaches out here. The Jeepster bodies I have, both are pretty bad, as is one frame (metal fatigue) but since I don't want to build a rig i cant rub a tree with, that's OK with me. Frames are easy to find here, but again, shipping is impossible and if you want to come out and get some, i can get guys to save them.

Plenty of pics on this page, my Jeepster is in the 15th and 16th pics here, and a few other places on the page

shots of it here, about in the middle,

"Stupendous Man" wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@individual.net:

I also seem to remember there is some guy in texas that is restoring FSJ's and reselling them for some healthy money...

The Austin with the side car is awesome! The BSA isn't bad either.

My personal fav at Vince's happens to be a '29 International truck I'm working on. Pretty interesting to see how they built things back when the top speed of the vehicle was expected to be less than 35 mph.

Yeah, this job is just too much like tinkering in my own garage. I'm having a ball, and the money's enough to pay the bills. Heck, with a job like this I won't have to retire, I can just work less hours as the years go by.

-- Old Crow '82 FLTC-P "Miss Pearl" '74 XLH chopper(somebody else's baby now) BS#133, SENS, TOMKAT, MAMBM, DOF#51, DH#2 "There's only 1 RE"

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The 63 A-65 BSA is under restoration, waiting for me to make some more disposable money. The sidecar is a fake, I was visiting San Diego and took my Wing with sidecar and dog, and since I was to be there a month and hate the hack, so I removed it, and set it on the running board of the 1930 "Chummy" for the photo, and photoshopped the color. It was printed in the New Zealand Austin club newsletter.