haven't been writing as much as I thought I would. Hurricane season snuck up on me. I ride hurricanes for a living, and there's been a lot of new stuff to keep up with. Anyway, the car came back from the body shop in late May. The paint job looks great. However, it may only be skin deep. They cut a lot of rust out, replacing it with new metal. However, they somehow missed some rust in a few places. The rust became apparent under the paint very quickly. I've got some rust bubbles on the rear hatch ledge, where there was never any rust before. I've also found a rust hole on each side on the inside of the rocker panels, behind the dog legs. The dog legs were replaced with new metal, along with some of the interior metal of the rockers. I don't see how they could have missed this rust, and I don't see how I missed it as they did the work. I was there every day, watching. I feel like I missed something obvious, as the rust holes are so large that I can poke two fingers through them. You can't see them until you put the car on a lift and examine it closely. Anyways, I brought the car up to the shop today. I took my time bringing it to them, as I wanted to see what other surprises would present themselves.

They will probably fix the problems. This is a small island, and I'm well known and well connected in the community. Being as the car is also a standout car, I think they'll want to protect their reputation and fix it right. I've put the car in two small shows already, and I drive it a few times per week. It gets lots of attention, and serves as a great business card for those who have helped me work on it. My show display includes cards from those who did the work that I couldn't do myself.

One thing that makes it a standout car is the interior. I love it. I've not been able to finish it yet, due to problems with headliner glue, but it's going to be great. I love the white leather seats and the white leather shift boot.

Gave the car its shakedown cruise, putting 300 miles on it during a trip north to Miami last week. Passenger side headlight quit, and the AC quit. Will look at those after the body work is corrected. Otherwise, the shakedown cruise went well. The speed limit on my island is 35 mph, so I enjoyed driving fast in Miami. It cruises smoothly at 85 MPH. You can't believe how good it sounds as you stomp on it under a freeway overpass. Those twin carbs with K&N filters scream, and the twin vertical resonator tips howl. On wet pavement, it's a blast to tease through the corners. Given that I drive a bicycle or a pickup for my daily drivers, it was a kick to pilot something with soul for a change. Will start posting pictures as soon as I get it done, but I've held off for some reason. Want to be able to show it as I intend it to look, I guess. Gotta get the interior finished up, and also need to do something about the wheels and tires. I love the old Keystone wheels that came with it, but need to do something with the rusty center caps. More later...