Yesterday was a long time coming. For the very first time the Bellytank left the garage. I'd had a mad thrash this week, one of the club members Peter Quick ( yeah funny that ) is a member of the early Ford club and although the 'tank is a little short on Ford bits he wanted to have an exhibit of salt stuff at a show they were having today. One of the bands I play in (andrecamilleri.com) has had gigs at the Melbourne International Arts Festival so there's been rehearsals , and the gigs ....and I have to earn a living as well ....in the mean time I've been out in the shed . One day we'll be able to do a proper detail on the car but so far it's a continual process of coaxing things together , shrinking the gaps , making things work better , fit neater .The paint that has been on the car since March was a two hour job we did the night before we thought we were leaving for the salt , this last week I've spent a lot of time on the canopy , getting the skin attached properly and then reworking the catches and shut lines , it's the butterfly effect ....the tiniest adjustment here changes everything there....sometimes I thought I was going mad..." why don't the catches lock in , they used to?...." grind , file , fiddle , open close , open , close , file , curse , open ,CLICK !!!......Gig Friday night ,back in the shed 7am Saturday , a quick rub, a shot of spray filler , a rumage through the left-over paint supplies to find some white and then the final fit-up of the nose to kill time before I start the aircompressor too early and my neighbors want to beat me to death..... If you ever want advice on how to paint things really, really quickly , and not very well drop me a line , I could paint your car in the time it takes you to go to the can and wash your hands.The new billet front hubs arrived this week but I didn't have time to fit 'em....the fuel tank isn't in it either so it won't be getting started at the show.
I clear the shed and Vaughn gives me a hand to get a trailer out of the driveway...the time is drawing near , Vaughn goes leaving me to do the roll out. I set up the hoist and lower the car off the stands front first then the rear , gee it's low!........I start to roll it out of the shed , it won't make it over the 2 inch rise at the door....I put some boards down and hey presto it rolls into the sunshine for the first time
Greg Watters rings about the airfield meet next week " how's it going??"... "mate , it's going very well I'm staring at it in the driveway!" Grumm arrrives , we just stand there and stare at it , it's low ,low ,low!! I have to get down and loosen the tailpipe in order to fit the tail piece of the bodywork on ...now that's an annoying job when the car is on the stands , on the ground it's nigh impossible , I'm lying face down on the driveway.....ideas on how to hoist the whole car quickly going through my head......
Pete arrives with the trailer and it takes about half an hour to get it on , this is the first time we've been able to look at it from any further away than three feet... it looks great , they pull out onto the street , I take a short video stroll around it on the trailer and they drive away , our baby!!!!!
I'll post the footage on youtube soon .
I started at work at 7am this morning so I can't go to the show( but I can write this!) and I'm here til 8pm.......race cars , as you all know ....ain't cheap.