Morning coffee

[RICH MUISE]

Two good looking cars. You don't see too many 60 Chevys.

[RICH MUISE]

Update on my wife.......she is finally getting back to normal health. Her stay at the VA ended up being an unexpected 8 days. The kidney infection had spread thru her entire body (septic), so they were doing some heavy duty IV to combat it, and finally got her to the point where they could send her home with an in-home set up for further daily IV injections which I've been doing for a few days now. She's pretty much passed her kidney stones we believe and is feeling much better.
That said, my lifestyle is about to change pretty dramatically I think. The illness has pushed up her retirement to NOW, so we're gonna be looking at a pretty major cut in our income. We'll be alright, as we had planned, even with the new house, but I'm going to have to cut way back on my every other week roadtrips. It's either that or quit my expensive vises.....smoking, gambling, etc. Yeah, I know, but vises are addictions. Anyway, I knew this day was coming, and that's one reason I was doing so many trips this year.
Had a guy make my day yesterday........At last month's 1st Saturday  cruise-in, a guy was there who was in town from Midland, a few hours south of here. He had been in town visiting family, and knew of the monthly meet. He had just sold a late 30's Chevy show car street rod, and was looking for a car to replace it, but a driver,not a project car. Because of the cruise in, he had brought lots of $ in case he saw something he liked for sale. He wasn't looking for anything in particular, just whatever caught his eye. He locked in on my car and we talked quite a bit about it before he asked if it was for sale. He asked if I had gotten any offers on it, but when I told him I turned down a 35k offer last year, he said, well, I guess that means the 25k I have in my pocket ain't gonna do it either.
So, fast forward to yesterday's cruise in. I was talking to some guys there when I saw a beautiful 57 Fairlane pull in that I had never seen before. After 15 or 20 minutes, I left my friends to go have a look at it. As I appraoched, my friend Gene, who was talking to him and also has a '57 Fairlane, said to me, "They don't want to have anything to do with you", and laughed. The owner of the new one asked if I remembered him (I didn't). He said "I was the one who tried to buy yours last month", and his wife said "it's all your fault". She said when they got home he hit the computer and started a search for '57 Fords. She said she woke up at 3:30 that morning and he's still on the computer looking, lol. Anyway, after several days of searching,he found one in California up in an area between Fresno and Bakersfield, drove to California to check it out and bought it. He drove it home to Texas with no issues at all. He did a car show here in Amarillo yesterday (which I had forgotten about), and since I wasn't there, he came to the cruise in hoping I'd be there.  I forgot his name, but gave him my card so he could call me next time he's in town, and my card also has the forum info on it, so hopefully he'll be joining us before long. As soon as I find out how to transfer pics from my phone to my computer, I'll post some pics of his.
As I mentioned, that really made my day. Makes you feel good when somebody likes your car so much they gotta have one, AND DO IT!, and let you know they did it. I made a covert to '57's, yay!!

[hiball3985]

Thats really good news about your wife, I hope her recovery continues to go well. I'm reaching the same point soon as my wife will retire at the end of the year, a little early and at a lower amount. She is just burned out so I encouraged her to do it. I'm going to quit smoking too HA HA I've said that before.
Great story about the 57, hope the guy joins us..

[RICH MUISE]

A little about the guy's '57............he bought it from a 75 year old guy from a town I can't remember, but he said it was roughly up in the Fresno area. Guy had the car for many years, since the 70's or 80's I think. Original rust free California car. Mild custom with a very different grill, combination of the frenched headlights but on the bugeye rims instead of the rim removal. Hard to describe color, but a really nice brownish red metallic, with silver metallic paint where the gold side aluminum inserts were. It has a 351 with a complete clip from a Crown Vic. 3 point seatbelts that attach at the roof (2 dr hardtop, so no pillar), disc brakes with a mod I was going to look into......a foot operated emergency brake to replace the hand pull. (With the disc brakes it's hard to get enough pressure on the hand brake to use it as an emergency brake as opposed to just a parking brake) off-white bucket seats and custom door panels. Lots I wanted to get a better look at, but we had a nasty storm rolling in on us really fast yesterday. That got me to thinking about whether or not he had wipers. His firewall was cleaned off like mine, no wiper motor visible. I didn't think to look to see if it had wiper arms. Both hood and trunklid were converted to hydraulic lifts

I'm wondering if any one here knows the car.
What I liked about the roof mounted seatbelts, btw, is only the buckle/receiver was mounted to the roof. No straps permanently stretching across the space needed to get into the back seat as all the pillar mounted systems have.

[CobraJoe]

Rich, glad to hear you is on the road to recovery, as far as everything else, I'm sure it will all fall into place and you'll be back to your regular, or at least, adjusted routine.

As far as the pics on your phone, just open th pic and hit the "share" icon



...then just E-mail them to your e-mail address on your computer.

[KYBlueOval]

Rich, very good news regarding your wife.Friends of our lost a young adult daughter to septic poisoning. It is nothing to be taken lightly, but you know that now.
Rich, I've got a '68 Ford Foot Operated E-Brake assembly installed in my Ranchero. If you like I can E-mail you photos. I might even be able to post them, but I must admit that I'm still having problems in posting photos, but I keep trying. This assembly is not functional at this point, but you can see what was required to get it in place. Let me know.
Rich, did the  recent Dallas Cop murder trial make the news/paper in Amarillo? My son Miles was one of the three defense attorneys. The cop got 15 years. They are filing an appeal. This will go on for years.
I've got an unusual car story. I have a '63 Studebaker Avanti that I have owned for 46 years. Recently , through the Studebaker Driver's Club Forum, I was contacted by the son of the original purchaser. The son said he was driven home from the hospital in my Avanti and would I send him a photo. Next week while in Atlanta, I'm having lunch with the original purchaser and his son. His son, "thinks" dad has the original bill of sale!
John

[RICH MUISE]

Thanks guys. Yep, my wife kept asking when she'd be able to go home and the doc told her she had no idea of how sick she was, she'd get to go home when she was ready. I'm married to a tough old broad. Funny how you learn new words.....I always thought septic was a tank underground in your back yard. Never knew it was a medical term. Later, thinking about it, I remembered a throat spray I have used for years......Chloroseptic.
John, If I ever get around to the foot brake conversion, I'll request pictures. Meanwhile, if you do get the posting pics figured out, it would be good to have in our tech section. His was mounted on the side panel, I can't do that on mine now, my chassis harness is there. Does your mount on the underside of the dash?
Neat story about your Avanti.
Not sure about that specific cop story....seems there are so many lately they start to morph together.

[KYBlueOval]

Rich, it mounts to the firewall. I'll take some photos.............in case you need them in the future.

[RICH MUISE]

Now that you mention that, I'm not 100% sure his was actually mounted on the side wall. Firewall mount makes more sense, but his was at least up against the side wall eliminating that area for practical access to a fuse panel.

[RICH MUISE]

Nice to see the Ford Ranger is coming back for '19. Never could figure why they stopped making them. Even the 150's seem huge to me. Hope they do well. Seems strange giving Kudos to Ford for a new line, since I've been saying for months I hope Ford chokes on the new line that's going to be made in China. I still hope it becomes a disaster of historical proportions for them. Or am I wrong?............anyone putting their name on a waiting list for a car made in China??

All that said, many Kudos to Jeep. I was excited to see pics of the '19 Wrangler pickup prototypes. Very retro look to most of the expected final version presentations. Some of the pics I saw were very reminiscent of the 60-70's pickups, but then so are the wranglers in general, so this should be a really cool vehicle. It's a definite for '19, so shouldn't have to wait long to see them.

[CobraJoe]

Rich, Ford stopped making the Ranger because it went from 8 percent of total industry sales in 1994 to 1.9 percent of industry sales in 2012, while the F150 sold more than 645,000 trucks, 10 percent more than in 2011. These astronomical numbers solidified the 150's status as not only the company's best-selling truck, but its best selling vehicle, period. Add in the fact the owners were reporting 15- 19 mpg with the ranger and going to a full size, IMO, was a no brainer.

What I am excited to see is the 2020 Bronco; supposedly built on the Ranger chassis with solid front and rear axles. The sad part is that Ford claims it will not be a 2 door like the original.

[Ford Blue blood]

My 2016 F150 with a 5.0/6 speed/3.55 gives an honest 16 - 17 around town and a solid 21 - 22 on the road.  That 21 - 22 is while enjoying the 75 + speed limits out west.  On the way from CO to WI running at 82 - 83 still gave the 21 - 22 mileage.  Had a few Rangers 30 - 35 years ago as the girls learned to drive, yes manuals, and the mileage was worse then the F150 is now.  They were nice light duty "commuter" trucks" but would just not big enough for my 6' 2" 240 lbs. (at that time) frame.

[RICH MUISE]

Still having problems with the date on my camera, but I did get one pic of the garage door project. With my wife getting back to normal, I was able to get it close to finished, at least as far as the building permit goes. Final was bought off yesterday. I won't do the inside drywall until I remove the overhead door. Anyone need a free aluminum 16' garage door?........just take it down and it's yours.
The 8" concrete stubwall and outside walkway should eliminate any water problems like I've had.
Anxious to get this all done so I can finish getting my garage organized.

[Ford Blue blood]

Very nice work Rich!  Been following the saga of your wife's health.  So glad things are coming back together for you guys.  The transition from "all is well" to the "new normal" life style will take some time, but hang in there, it is worth the effort!

[hiball3985]

Looking good Rich. An organized garage, what the hell is that?