Harold

I just washed my brain and I can't do a thing with it...

Well, the no power seat is a step in the right direction . Offer a 'Delete' package and promote it as ' the fast economy car' . Everyone has to tighten their belts..

What I'd like to see more than anything else is the decontenting of vehicles, especially cars like the Mustang, Challenger and Camaro. Offer delete options. No, I do not want the extra #50 of insulation that's provided with the power seats, which will drop another # 70 of weight. No, give me window cranks. Gee, there goes another #20. 16' steel wheels with lots of cooling slots. Steel is cheaper than aluminum, so though I had to put back #20, I've saved more money on the car. I don't need GPS- I can read a map. Costs are lowered and weight is saved- again. Think of the car you'd have if you were able to trim #300 of weight off of any one of them. Just a thought...

` Years ago on 'Fernwood Tonight', there was a guest touting his own 'Mobile Home Community'. People with RV's would travel in huge groups, never stopping, being fueled by huge tankers on the go (think in- flight refueling rigs for B- 52's), with escort cars handing out packets of Dramamine to the 'residents'.

Glad to see you're back on the job, Jairus. As for the squirrel........

Yeah, I've been doing a few conversions like this over the past two years. I've used the '62 T-Bird chassis under the '65 Lincon, the '67 Impala frame and floorpan under the '66 Wildcat and '65 Grand Prix, the frame and floorpan from the '57 Chrysler under the '59 Imperial, and parts from the '65 Ford and '71 T- Bird under a '69 T- Bird. 1965 Lincoln 1969 Thunderbird 1965 Grand Prix 1959 Imperial

It took President Roosevelt bushel baskets full of money, myriad government programs and several years before the economy started to recover from the '29 crash. History repeats itself yet again. What bothers me, though, is that these people who rail about the trillion dollar cost of a national health care system don't bat an eye when it comes to trhe trillion dollars blown on a war to nowhere, waged on spurious information. Try to find work in a state with 15% unemployment when you're over 50, and add to that a bad leg and a bad back. Had it not been for student loans and the support of family, I'd be living in a dumpster. I (and many others) live with pain as a daily thing and take it as a given that we gotta like it or lump it because care is beyond reach, yet we'll shell out gobs of green to the very financial institutions that got us into this fetid swamp in the first place.

Beautiful photos, Tim. I especially liked the green '39 Ford convert, the red '61 Chrysler and the red Montego. However, I still can't understand why someone in the midwest straps a surfboard to the roof of his wagon. C'mon- surfing on Lake Huron, are we? Great stuff, Tim. Betcher gonna do a mid- '60's Dodge wagon....

Thanks for the info, Randy. I'm selling my Sprite also.

George, you need to come to Flint to see the Camaro in real life- there's several running around. As for the Challenger, it's been handicapped by being based on the Charger/ 300 platform. Saw one on Miller Road today in traffic, and the thing was bigger than the 2005 Impala in front of it. Plus (because of the car it's based on) the Challenger weighs in at #4000- 600 more than the 'Stang.

Well, my secret project is on hold (due to extenuating circumstances), so here's one I started last fall. It's the AMT '64 Mercury with the engine, floorpan and frame the the '60 Galaxie. I have the final color coats and foil on it, and I'm reworking the interior so it will be appropriate for a hardtop. The air cleaner and wheels are from the AMT '65 Ford.

I just saw Randy Kern's sig with vthe Bugeye Sprite and was wondering if there's any Mk. IV series sprites in kit form...

That's a nice Camaro. If you were going for a nice shelf model, you nailed it. The paint and assembly are very well done. I'd be proud to have it on my shelf.

Those who are familiar with my rantings already know my feelings about Ford design Veep J. Mays total lack of taste and style sense, and this is another in a long list of gaffes. From turning the '97 generation F-150 (a clean and almost lithe vehicle) into a hulking barge, to the '99 Cougar, the Focus, Fusion, the (dr)edge (which looks like a wheeled suppository with a chrome sewer grate slung across the front), the Flex and the Lincoln MKX. Right now, I'm glancing at my '64 Mercury project and wondering how did design reach such a horrid low point in four decades. Postmodernism sucks.

Paging Mr. Airo- you've got some serious competition. Toatally jaw- dropping stuff. I was really impressed with the way he hid the electric motor. Unbelievable stuff.

I lived in Houston from 1980 to '85, and the big problem was the humidity. You know how bank signs show the temp and time? In Houston, they also showed relative humidity. Hey, when you have gators and cypress trees, you can guess it's gonna be humid. Oh, Spyder, you know Berkely Breathed of 'Bloom County' fame is from Austin? And Emo, sorry 'bout the Hula Girl.

Just be safe and hurry back so you can continue to wow us with your builds. There's a song on 'Shades of Two Worlds' by the Allman Brothers that deals with the Gulf War, but the events of the last few years have allowed it to remain relevant- Desert Blues Can't get no this, and I can't get no that, can't get no you know, I don't even know where it's at. Ain't got the smoke and there ain't no booze, Got them low down dried out desert blues, yes I do. Uncle George calling said I had to go, just what he wanted I did not know, I'm over here dug in so far from home, lookin' all around try and see what's going on. I got the sand in my collar, Got the sand in my hair, Got it in my pockets, Got it everywhere. I got sand in my shirt, Got it in my shoes, Got them low down dried out desert blues, yes I do, how how how. Joined up in the army Work was hard to find, End up over here, got my young ass on the line, but I'll be right here until my work is done, if I get back home I hope I never see no more guns. Here across the ocean, I left some of my good friends behind, I hope somebody's thinking about me, especially that sweet little woman of mine. Can't get no this, and I can't get no that, can't get no you know, I don't even know where it's at. Sand in my collar, got the sand in my hair, got it in my pockets, got it everywhere. I got sand in my shirt, got it in my shoes, got them low down dried out desert blues, yes I do. copyright 1991 by Dickey Betts and Warren Haynes\ stay safe, my friend

Beautiful! That has to be one of the slickest black paint jobs I've ever seen.

Wow- two of my all- time favorite Fords, and they both kick @$$. The '57 is killer, but the '59 made me drool.

The GT350-R had a back window like that to pull heat out of the cockpit. Historic precedent.

Beautiful job on the Gremlin- stick an AMX 390 or 401 under the hood and you'd have the ultimate sleeper. Love the paint...

Heck, I can do that working on real cars. I'll set a wrench down and then spend the next twenty minutes looking for it and questioning my intelligence. Then, it magically appears on top of the air cleaner where I set the $%^#$@* thing.

I'm thinking more of England and their state- run British Motors Corporation that died many years ago from the crushing weight of beauracracy.

I play guitar. I have an Epiphone Les Paul and a mini Marshall stack. The last few months I started studying a bit of music theory and a bunch of different scales and modes and my improvising has improved as a result. Mostly though, I just like to crank it up and bust loose.

I can't vouch for the Chevelle, but Lindberg was trying their darndest in the late nineties to knock everything out of the park. I've built the '97 F-150. a couple '53 Fords, the '67 442 and I have the '64 Plymouth on my to- do list.