A Facebook friend in California just relayed that he’d found a cool old bread loaf style trailer near his home. Prewar, intact, fairly priced, but a total rebuild. He was torn, because he has a very cool, very rare trailer now, and this other one would be a nice compliment to their current one, and his vintage tow car.
He passed.
I should take a lesson from that. While I’m making good progress on the ’47 Spartan, it’s down to the fussy finishing and detail work that I’m not fond of, not patient enough for, and takes more time than I want to spend. It’s also clear I’m in no way going to meet my (self imposed) deadline of having the trailer done by the third week of may for the Tin Can Tourist Spring Rally in Milford to debut. I could have it usable, but not finished, and I don’t think it’s worth taking it uncompleted, not polished or finished to the level we want. It’s disappointing, but not we have two others to use, and lots of events coming up this summer where we can “debut” in style.
I have the plumbing done, the fridge is in and the vent system roughed in. Had to order more Olympic rivets before I can cut the vent hole in the roof and move the original stove vent blister to that space, so that’s a bit of a hold up.
The plumbing is done, mostly. The grey water tank has to be hung and the sink drains run to it. My good friend Mike Greene of Sierra Custom Interiors gave me a bunch of PEX tubing drops, crimp rings, miscellaneous fittings and the crimping tool, I’m indebted to him for that. It went well, it’s always good to add another thing to my skill set.
The trim work is also 90% complete. I steam bent the curved pieces with a home-built steamer set up, my first attempt at bending wood. It went pretty well, and I have a few little pieces yet to go that can’t be done till some other things get done, like the fridge cabinet.
We have the interior fabrics, thanks to another friend who’s an upholsterer and let us buy the fabric on her account for half what it’d have otherwise cost. The foam we have to order, but she’s helping us out with that too. Kim will make the covers and curtains. It should be very dramatic, we’re excited about our choices, no peeking until we’re done!
All this is good, and I have to admit I did feel relief whenI decided the other day not to try to have it ready for May. It was like a weight had been lifted. Not that I’m not working on it, but the pressure is now off. I was feeling a bit overwhelmed by that project, and seeing my long neglected Thunderbird, the half-completed ’63 Riviera I started last year, and the “new” ’34 roadster setting in pieces, all of them covered with a thick, soft layer of wood dust, was a bit overwhelming.
These three cars are cars I’ve loved since I was a kid, and always wanted. The fact that none of them are completed and drivable doesn’t really matter, because I love having a project, but three at once, along with normal maintenance on our other cars, not to mention household chores, lawn care, and so on, takes tool on my “free” time. Part of my rationale for having all these projects is to provide activity for my upcoming retirement, so the fact that they’re not finished shouldn’t be a stress factor. It seems a long way off, but I know that 4 years from now I’ll look back and wonder where the time went.
And what I was worried about.
Cool McCool's Garage 