hoe hoe hoe your boat...

It's always good to have friends with toys,
and its even better when they have friends with toys.

hoe hoe hoe your boat...

I was in the midst of an engine/tranny swap,
and it had come to the point of heavy lifting.
One option was to dismantle everything and remove it piece by piece.
Another option was to trailer the boat to a place with a hoist or crane,
and another option was to build a temporary A-frame.
The best option was call a friend with a mini backhoe!

A-frame

It took longer to wait for the trailer rig to show up than to do the work.
We found it easier to do the job by removing the hoe part of the excavator.
Dig the custom weld job on the side there.

hoe

I'm not used to guys drinking beer and working at 11am.
But if that is what it takes to have a steady control hand,
who am I to complain,
especially when I'm the one wearing flip-flops!

yank

Now I want one of these!
The neighbors would love this thing stored in the front yard.

big orange

Later on I may show some of the install pics.
To make it easier,
I brought my portable workshop.
Amazing what can get done with swap meet tools!

perich brothers portable workshop

The owner was happy to have the work done in his driveway,
regardless of all the noise and commotion.
Nice as the kids were able to hang out too.
Jakob met a new friend,
this really cool French Bulldog.

Jakob and the French Bulldog - 2013

These crazy pups are an anomoly to any living creature.

They can't reproduce without artificial insemination,

and they can't give birth without cesarean section.

Kind of like what humans are turning into!
Good way to create a job market I guess...

TP

red dot II update

The other day receive an email from the Red Dot II's new owner,
way overseas in the UK!

red dot II - UK era
1929 ford roadster with hallock windshield

Many hands and many changes after our time,
but it looks like definitely gone to greener pastures.



The roadster had changed hands and appearances manytimes after leaving us.

red dot II
1928 1929 ford roadster with hallock windshield

In it's brief heyday with us it took on this form.
A great driving hot rod that had the potential to blow out eardrums.

Red Dot II Roadster

When Jalopy Joe got his hands on it,
the transformation was quick and obvious.
Some things I liked,
he nickel plated some stuff,
and did his trademark burgundy upholstery...
and others not so much,
the wild use of bondo and blue + red paint,
and ditching all the hard to find gauges and moon tank...
As long as he was happy all I could do was bite my lip.

red dot II - jalopy joe era

Before he died the roadster was passed on to a guy in Arizona.
An acquaintance out there put some time refinishing some things,
and it turned into this.

red dot II - arizona style

What happened to the track nose and hood!
Fortunately he had kept it just in case.
Dig the louvered hood.
Also cool they kept some of the little things like pushbars and headlight stands.

red dot II - blue era

After Peter's email,
I searched around,
and found out that the Red Dot was for sale earlier in the year.

1929 Ford AV8 - THE H.A.M.B.



Cool video,
but hope he knew the roadster was way faster than that!

red dot II - doggy style

It does look good with a 32 grille shell.
The old tracknose pieces are getting shipped out too.

Anyway it was good to see and hear the old hot rod.
I'd love to do donuts in that lawn!

TP

ZIBO

Many of you may know the name ZIBO.
Few know who or what it means.

ZIBO
american bulldog

This was ZIBO,
the last of a long line of dog's in my life.
My wife (to be) and I got him after another dog, SIRKI (great dane) had died.

Zibo was a true shop dog.
Didn't stray too far,
guarded his family and territory,
loved lying in the dirtiest asphalt.

He had some great tricks.
One was sitting on a barstool for hours,
long enough to actually fall asleep.

Early on I had taught him to not cross the street,
as another dog of mine, ZUKE (rhodesian ridgeback)
had collided with a car many years before.

Since we lived across the street from the shop,
this was really important.
Many times I would get caught up with the kids (2 at that time),
and he would be sitting there hours later waiting for me to come back.
Ventura was a small enough town,
and people would go buy the shop just to see him.

zibo at paso robles 2001 or so

ZIBO had a sad ending with us after 5 years or so.
One evening he was just missing.
As stated earlier he wasn't a wanderer,
and I knew someone had taken him.
The police don't treat missing dogs as stolen property,
and the animal shelters never recovered his license.

After a half-assed flier/reward attempt at finding him,
with the help of many friends,
I had to admit that he was just gone.
Having 2 baby kids at the time,
it actually helped me to focus on our family.

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grateful dead - wharf rat - february 18, 1971
The first and probably best live version of this tune.
Even better when heard in the dark - rat - star sandwich it was played in.

Grateful Dead Live at Capitol Theater on 1971-02-18 : Free Download & Streaming : Internet Archive

Click the above link,
and play the next 20 minutes starting with number 9.
Three listens and I will guarantee you will be a deadhead.
Bad ass jam right there...

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A couple years later a neighbor came over really distraught,
saying she had known all along that the daughter of the shop owner next door had taken him.
Now that her (ex)girlfriend had found out about their long-term affair,
it was okay for me to know what happened to our dog she pretended to help look for.
Some friends and I tried to rattle more current information from the Mom and her cronies,
but the mixture of stripper, tweaker and dog thief was too hard to crack.
I would have rather never found out!

Anyway,
ZIBO's birthday is somewhere around this time.
Now he would be 14 or 15 years old,
so hopefully he's dead,
and had lived a better life than we could have given him.

Names withheld to protect the guilty!

TP