Halloween Spooktacular

I haven't posted in a while because I done got married! But I'll save that for a lengthy post. Today is all about HALLOWEEN! The yard is fully prepped. The graves are up, the cob webs are flowing, the lights and strobe are ready, the speakers have spooky music, pumpkins are carved, and Henry is in the Desoto. I'm just waiting for my first victim. Lori had to fly home to Arizona again so I'm doing this all myself this year. It's just not the same.

Dirtbag Challenge

Yesterday I spent a few hours outside washing and waxing the Desoto. It needed its yearly wax job. The paint is starting to get covered with pinhole surface rust spots and the bottoms of the doors are bubbling pretty badly with rust. Not much I can really do. Someday I'll spend some more money and get new window rubber. It's bad enough my exhaust is hanging with coat hangers.

But the big event of the day was The Dirtbag Challenge in San Francisco. Every year there's a low buck chopper contest (no Harleys). Build a bike for under $1000 and do some burnouts. That's about the gist of it. Every year I say I'm going to enter and I never do. Maybe next year.

My Numbs Are Thumb

I made it to Jimmy's sans the wife, she had to stay home and finish up some wedding crafts. This was the maiden voyage of the Desoto after all the brake work. I took Luka and met up with our friends F + L and their 51 Plymouth and found a spot. Holy Jesus it was cold. The longer the day went on the colder it got. We checked out some cars and, after a lot of searching for a lighter, fired up the grill. We were huddled around the teeny propane grill for the little heat it gave off. We also met up with D and his 64 Impala. All in all, cool cars, cold weather, high entry fee. I may not go back.

On the way home the dust cover on the front right wheel flew off. I could hear it *ping* on the street as I drove. Coming home on the highway things were good until my exit, where the front right wheel started whining then screeching horrible. I pulled over and saw grease oozing out the axle and smoking. Guess I tightened the nut a wee too much. Hopefully I didn't cook the bearings, but if it was making that much noise I probably did. It's going to start raining so it looks like the Desoto maintenance weather is over. We didn't even get a summer, it was so cold all the time. Here come the rains.

Here are all the pics from the show.

Jimmy's Bound And Down

I busted my ass and my knuckles this weekend to finish up the Desoto. I feel like I ran a marathon hustling to get everything done. I got the drums back on, brakes adjusted, and Lori helped me bleed them. I need to do it again as they're stull squishy but they'll work for now. We'll be making it to Jimmy's Old Car Picnic in Golden Gate Park after all!

Poor man wheel painting


Scrub down with purple Power and coated with Mop N Glow. Ah, trade secrets.


One of the things that always bugged me was my tail lights were missing the center red reflectors. I found these blue dots on Ebay. they didn't fit. Some snipping, grinding, and Epoxy later they do. I also cleaned up the insides.




Those center dust caps didn't fit either, but some grinding and pounding made them work.


Before


Style points

Stud Muffin

Boom-Shock-A-Locka!
I got my drums converted to studs so I can use regular lug nuts on the wheels. Old MOPARS (Dodge, Desoto, Chrysler, Plymouth) used bolts that screwed into the drums to hold the wheels. And to make it even more confusing, the right side was right side thread, and the left was left hand thread. My machinist Pete ended that problem.


Now I can use decorative lugs like bullets.


Just in time for this weekend's Jimmy's Old Car Picnic. More pics to follow.

Clash of the Hussies

Lori dragged me to a Clash tribute show on Friday at the Bottom Of The Hill that the Hussies were playing. I was figuring, "Great. A shitty tribute show with shitty local bands." Except the Hussies, of course. Talk about being wrong. All the bands were great. Local magician on guitar Eric McFadden pretty much brought down the house during his set. I've never seen nor heard of this guy before. It was like listening to Hendrix cover Clash songs. Amazing. The Hussies only had two practices in, but managed to get 4 songs down Hussies style. Interchords opened. This other great band The Hooks played and I was pretty impressed with them.

But the biggest event of the night happened right after the first band. The Hussies were getting ready to go on second when they announced a "special guest" would be playing a few. Everyone went out back to smoke. Suddenly the guitar started ringing out. I blurted out "Who does this guy think he is, Billy Bragg?" Oh hah. About 20 people suddenly stopped what they were doing and stared at me. About 5 of us crept inside to see who this was. My eyes widened, yes, indeed, Billy Bragg. He was right there belting off a few of his songs. Mr. Long-winded political lefty himself, today's Woody Guthrie, Billy Bragg. He talked about his new foundation "Jail Guitar Doors." Simply awesome.

And the Hussies had to follow him. They did a great job!


Links:
Billy Bragg
Jail Guitar Door
Interchords
Two Timin' Hussies
The Hooks
Eric McFadden

New Hat Day

It's getting to be crunch time for the wedding. Every weekend, every evening. Lists and lists and lists. I got my ring this weekend. And we went to the Hat Guys in Oakland where I got a real nice fedora to go with my wedding suit. And of course, a little something else for my noggin. Nothing like a new hat to make a bald man feel good.