It Rained on my Car Show!

Sunday, I drove "Nell" to a car show on the local waterfront.  Quite a few members of my Classic T-Bird club brought there cars as well, and the show organizers did a great job of keeping the club cars together.  The 20% chance of rain persuaded me to install the hard top.

 We had great spots, right near the water and a broad public walkway.  The grass where we parked was on a slight incline, and the ground was a little uneven were I parked.

When I first tried to shut the driver's side door, it refused to latch and bounced back open.  Rather than carefully investigating or lowering the window a little, I simply shut the door a little harder.  That's when I heard the sickening "pop"!

While I am not certain about what happened, I suspect that the window being slightly out of adjustment, combined with the flex of the body on the uneven ground, created just enough interference at the top of the door frame to crack the window.  Bummer!

Still, the view was beautiful and the cars looked great... at least when one of them had the windows down.  I should just relax and enjoy, right?  No use crying over a broken window!

God does have His ways of reminding us who is really in charge.  Just a few hours later, the 20% chance of rain became a certainty.  Time to roll the windows up again!

It only rained for half an hour or so, and then the sun came out for the rest of the day.  I actually had a really good time at the show, and had several great conversations with other club members.

Driving an old car means spending some time and $$ on maintenance.  A broken window like this, while annoying, is actually an easy thing to repair.  I have already removed the door panel, and made arrangements with "Ford guy" to order new glass for the door.  Nell will be back to normal in a week or so, and I expect to align the window more carefully so that this particular issue doesn't happen again.

Life always seems to go more smoothly when we can keep our disappointments in perspective.

Refreshment

My wife and I have just celebrated 35 years of mostly blissful marriage. We indulged ourselves by driving her comfortable crossover SUV up the Pacific coastline, and spending a week on a chartered sailboat in the San Juan islands. It was far too long a trip to take in the cramped t-bird, and I really wanted my wife to have every conceivable comfort. Here's a sunset shot from our last night on the boat.




Peaceful. Restoring. Blessed. We needed this trip, but it is good to be home. My wife is now facing the reality of hip replacement surgery in September. It will certainly make her more mobile and comfortable in the long run, but the thought of major surgery is always daunting!

Ever since I installed the beat-up dog dish hubcaps on the t-bird, I've been looking for a good deal on a better set. I was told by a judge at last year's CTCI convention that the hubcaps were the reason that Nell got third instead of second place in touring car judging. I've low bid a few ebay auctions, but I finally saw a set worth investing in. I ended up getting a good deal on a clean set of re-chromed original hubcaps, which arrived just before we left on out vacation. I spent a day last week masking and painting the centers with body color, just like the beater set I used originally. Here's a shot might show the difference between the old ones and the new ones... New on the top, old on the bottom.

The difference is less subtle in person. Besides being riddled with dents, the chrome on the old hubcaps is kind of "porous", with lots of tiny spots, and is flaking off around the edges. The flaws in the new hubcaps are much less obvious, especially from a few feet away.

Since I had to mix up some paint anyway, I decided to finish a spare fuel filler door that I had drilled for a spare V8 fender emblem. I figured that Nell should have a V8 in back, since she already had a V8 in front. Of course, I still have the plain filler door. Let me know what you think!




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