PDX - prequel - Hayward

Here's another PDX prequel...

About a month and a half after the Martinez jaunt,

I had passed another testing sequence,

this one in Hayward.

Time for a Perich Brothers road trip.

Jake and I rallied up from SD,

picking up Jaxon 

who was visiting his grandparents in Ventura.

I felt exactly like the kids did here.

The timing was way too tight,

and by the time we got there,

I was all spun out.

The testing was surreal.

I did good but definitely not good enough.

In reality I would not have been a fit,

kinda a churn and burn type shop.

And Hayward was like the meh of NorCal.

While we were there,

we would BART in to "the city".

Rolling through Oakland,

the kids hadn't seen the extent of a harder hit area before.

We made it to the Chinatown stop,

and decided to check it out.

For a weekday it was packed,

people everywhere.

We were all a bit overwhelmed,

still running on a few hours sleep.

Leave it to good ole dad for mission impossible.

Looking on the map,

it looked like the haight-ashbury area

was right over the hill.

Let's walk!

Well walk we did!

I didn't realize it's over 4 miles away!

We went through the tenderloin district,

walking passed people that didn't make it out of the grateful dead lot.

Great vacation pops!

Funny thing is we passed all these subway stops,

but the little map wasn't to scale.

Just a few more blocks kids!

The hike up the hill got us out of the dregs,

some cool SF architecture,

and adjoining parks.

Finally made it to hippy central.

Wow had it changed since I'd been there last.

Seemed a bit more commercialized.

Still cool to check it out.

The standard H-A street sign shot...

Our girls traded back,

they were kickin it at home.

We went through the panhandle park on the way back,

which led us to monster up and down blocks,

zigzagging the streets of San Francisco.

I was the old fart digging the buildings.

That means soon I'll be visiting museums.

My goal was to show the kids 

how nice it is to live with space.

These city folk must not like hoarding junk!

We passed by so many trolleys,

they may have made our trek easier.

The kids never complained once.

We did raid the bathroom of a coffee shop,

I'd call it a splash and dash.

We finally mosied our way back,

passing some serious looking government buildings.

I bet we clocked about 9 miles easy,

and saw such a high and low of society.

A bit more lows than I expected...

I hoped the kids would come back with some good memories.

It made me realize how few vacations we had taken,

even if just for one day.

We made it back to Luke and Megan's place 

in Castro Valley,

and Jaxon chose to sleep in the little RV.

This made him believe 

he could live in a trailer in the backyard.

Holey Chit!

We didn't get to hang out with the Brown's much,

but Jake caught up with the dog Cole.

Their place was so awesome.

Huge yard,

chickens and space.

Exact opposite of 20 miles west.

We explored for a bit before heading home.

Go check out the sewer Jake!

Watch out for taggers.

Isn't that crazy how the yard is over the tunnel?

We got back to one of the best surprises ever,

the meathead neighbors had listed their house!

After that I didn't focus on escaping as much...

TP

Inoxidable iv - shiny ugly

This little project was tough,

taking expensive stainless hinges,

and cosmetically ruining them.

Someone had used chromed hinges,

then welded extension plates.

Over time rust bled out through the white paint.

It was important to recreate 

the exact messed up angles,

unequal positioning and random holes,

otherwise the alignment would be off.

It takes longer to copy a bad design!

This was a rare occurrence 

as the eBay seller let me down.

Locally the donor hinges were going to be $400!

I found an ebay listing for less than $100/pr,

but the 3rd party drop shipper only sent one.

After a week of no replies a third was found for this project, 

and of course 3+ weeks later the original order was sent.

So if anyone needs one shiny hinge...

Anyway the end result looks sharp.

Most of the hinge is covered up.

Fun stuff...

TP

Purge

Ahh I've been dreading this post,

but the time is now,

I need to clear my iPhones memory,

and get to some positive stuff!

Way back last year,

I started working on a little 30 pickup,

owned by a guy 

I had nicknamed Dumbass in my phone.

The kids would say...

"You got a text from dumbás"

http://perichbrothers.blogspot.com/2015/06/killer-truck.html?m=1

It was a POS,

and what a relief to see it go.

Bummer for the next guy it would trap.

A couple months later,

he too burned out,

and a deal was made to get it on the road.

Tony got to do the fun part,

chopping the top,

and some of the not fun part,

putting 3rd rate junk together.

Even the gas he had was junk,

arguing that it was ok.

The work and it's fixes were so mangy and crappy,

it's embarassing to show pictures.

That's what happens when rushed,

using junk parts,

and basically working for free.

This was like stuff done on a work boat.

Make it strong so Dumbass doesn't die.

One step above a rat rod.

The STD list grew every day,

slopping it together like a madman.

It was like practice to do decent work quick.

Just what I needed.

Dumbass had no clue how to finish it,

although he would send dozens of website links 

to information on how to finish it.

Some that I actually wrote.

Holey chit...

Miraculously I got it running 

in time for the big Mooneyes show,

but he was too chicken to drive it there,

trailering it like a pansy...

I guess that's common nowadays.

Create a new car club with guys that buy hot rods,

then trailer them to car shows.

Yeah.

I'll be happy to build and drive them.

Whatever the case 

it didn't look bad from far away,

maybe cause of Tony's pipes and chop,

or maybe my stance redo,

tire size and headlight bar...

Then it got interesting.

I caved into his whining,

and let him take the truck without reimbursement,

trusting he would be good on his word.

Nope.

Shoulda known.

30 texts a day turned into 1 every 3 days.

If that.

I'd have to hound him on Instagram!

Of course this was during xmas,

the perfect tine to get screwed.

I actually had to hold his other project hostage, 

hanging it in the rafters.

He tried to sneak it contacting the other shop guys.

In the end he never had the balls 

to pay up or talk to me directly,

he threatened lawyers and other crazy talk.

I ended up throwing his junk outside.

Easier to purge rather than sink.

TP

Halloween Anniversary

Remember when you guys 

had to read about cops and code enforcement?

This past year has been quiet, 

less stressful,

all thanks to the best neighbors we could hope for.

This Halloween marks their first anniversary

in the neighborhood.

Matt, Gina and Corbin are seriously awesome,

the exact opposite of the old neighbors.

Instead of sly videos and 911 calls,

they actually go outside and hang out.

The Whaler projects couldn't have been considered before.

The Skolaski's are interested in the progress.

After a year and a half of tiptoeing paranoia,

what a huge relief.

We were probably months away from giving up!

Visiting their house for the first time was surreal,

like going into the evil lair.

They've succeeded in lightening it up.

Now we can wave, 

drink a beer or two...

Most importantly the kids and wife are more relaxed.

They were excited to decorate for Halloween.

Thanks Matt, Gina and Corbin,

you've made it a neighborhood again!

TP