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The 69 Adventure
Chapter 25 - Awakening the Sleeping Bastard
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| Christmas came and this story would be remiss if it didn't showcase Nate's present - a model of the 69. The detail is incredible, down to the ladderbar, exhaust, fuel cell and battery in trunk, even the dash and speaker holes on the back deck. The car is just about an exact replica of the 69 in mid-July. I have no idea how many hours Nate spent on this, but it is truly priceless, sitting in a case on my piano. | |
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The winter was rough, but the Bastard slept peacefully under it's blanket of snow, while the shopping list got longer. |  |
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Icebox celebrated his first birthday and was enrolled in Doggie School. I made it to the Atlantic City car show, but unlike 2002, I came home with only a birthday present for James and a stand for the model Nate had made me. I also made the LV Fancy Dinner but headed home early, due to weather and exhaustion.
The boob was still acting up and in January, the doctor had cleaned out the scar tissue. That let it heal, but it swelled up again and when it couldn't drain, I ended up in the emergency room during the doctor strike, where they did a more extensive procedure and cultured it. It was my first experience with morphine and Sam and Heather had to come get me. Back at the doctor's, they finally diagnosed the problem and I scheduled surgery for April 2 - exactly one year after the neurologist prescribed Topamax. The prospect of surgery didn't bother me as much as the thought of anesthesia. I had experienced lock-in once before from anesthesia - it terrified me.
The weather broke and Kat offered to get the 69 down with me. I had ordered the line-lock and the 4.11 gears, as well as a speedometer. We got the car down much more easily that putting it up. I had had no intention of doing anything with the car until after surgery and the recovery period, but I was concerned about leaving the car here if I was incapacitated for a long time - or worse. It seemed the Bastard once again was making its own schedule, regardless of my plans.
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I made it to the track to see PK race his car for the first time. The car ran great and I knew I needed that line lock and 4.11's, if I was going to win the cheesesteaks! The temperature was cold - freezing cold! I had no desire to race and freeze, nor did I think the 69 would like the cold temperatures. |
Kat came over and installed the line lock. I didn't even drive the car. The next weekend, Kat went to the track and PK was conned into coming over to help with the 4.11's. It was an all day job and the two worked until 10pm. My sole contribution was coming up with the installation tool and laying on the couch, wrapped in a blanket. The infection in my chest was taking its toll.
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I had also ordered a race jacket (large, so just about anyone could use it) and 110 lb springs - the 69 had 200's. Well, actually I was so busy ordering parts and not thinking of quantity, I ordered one spring! By the time I went to order the 2nd spring, I had more parts to order, including a Holley Kit for the carb.
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Mac came up for his spring break. It is always such a pleasure to have him here. We spent a day up at LV with Chevy2ss (Shane), the Wraith (Alex), CDArtz (Artzie), Chas, Kat, and White Rocket. We visited a junkyard and collected all sorts of parts!! I got a few check valves for the brakes and an ashtray for James' Honda. Then we had a Chinese dinner and Toefur, Ann, and a few other spouses showed up! It was a fun day and great weather~ WhiteRocket and I discussed the rollbar - I think I found my welder! Mac installed the kickdown for the tranny and re-arranged the dash wiring while figuring out the problem with the temp gauge (a loose wire). I had also gotten some wire covers and replaced the gold breathers with silver. Mac also painted the brake fluid reservoir black - it's amazing the difference a little paint can make! I wanted to try to make it to the track, but the 4.11's weren't broken in. I had also decided I was not racing and making excuses of this or that wasn't done. We went to the track to watch PK and had a blast! SnowyJay was down too!. |
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Early Saturday morning Kat, CT Jay and I went to visit the car paint place. I had been carrying the paint numbers for 69 rally green and 2000 Mustang green since last summer. If I was going to be out of commission for a while, it was time to look at making it pretty. We got two little cans of each - for free so we could decide which we liked! I had already decided I wanted green metal flake and clear coat with silver mini-flake over whichever base we chose.
I was going for surgery the following Wednesday and the 69 was still sitting in the yard. And it was running like crap~ dieseling. Mac had checked and reset the timing. It hadn't helped. He had replaced the cap and that didn't help either. We decided to change the plugs. The guys checked the wires and the coil wire was bad. I picked up new wires and plugs. The wires were Accel blue and although they matched the new blue cap, I was sorry to see my green Taylor wires go. The new plugs and wires seemed to do the trick. We had gotten two 10 mile drives on the gears before it rained on Saturday.
| We decided to try out the paint. I wrote Icebox in 69 green on the passenger door and my name in Mustang green on the driver's door. By the end of Saturday this is what the car looked like - it was running well and looking better. |
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Since there were so many people around, we had a few over Saturday night - it was PK's birthday!. Mac played guitar for us and Shell, Frosty, Sean, and Jeff were here too. It was a nice small group - I was afraid I wouldn't be up to a big get-together. I was really sorry to see Mac leave on Sunday. Hopefully he'll be back in a few months. The 69 was safely vacationing too!
After my surgery, I had 69Mustang come bring me chicken soup- it really does make you feel better. He also had video of the track on 4/3 when it seemed everyone was there! Kat & Julie came over and spent a night - Kat brought her trunk.
While I recuperated from surgery, Kat played with the paint - Julie donated her old trunk. The Mustang green is a deeper, richer green, but when painted next to each other, it depended on the light as to which was darker. I liked both. It was going to be several weeks before I could race and I wanted the roll bar done first anyway - I had time to decide.
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PK took me to dinner the next week - I still couldn't drive. Kat & Julie joined us and I had a great time, although I paid for it dearly the next day. PK & Kat went to the Englishtown Swap meet and took my shopping list. I really do have great friends!
