|
|
 |
|
|
When I arrived at the family farm to prep the buggy for transport, my uncle let me know that it was in pieces and would have to be partially assembled first. The motor was out in the shop where it's been sitting for the last 30 years, so he started up the tractor and we loaded up the engine on the front scoop, along with a bunch of miscellaneous parts in boxes. We took all these back around to the farm house. When he opened the garage door, I got my first glimpse of the buggy I'd wanted for so many years. It was a darker blue than I remembered, and also had a lot more scratches and wear than I'd hoped, but my uncle said the gelcoat was thick and they would polish out fine, so not to worry.
|
|
|
|
We had tried to push back the pickup of the buggy, once I realized just how much there was to do. My uncle is a good welder and machinist, so we had hoped to assemble and weld up the roll cage, and make some modifications to the transmission bell housing to accept the newer 1600 dual port bus motor that was built for this project. The trucker said he couldn't delay the pickup, though, and so we had just over a day to get everything together for shipping. The tires were all close to flat, and there were too many boxes of parts, so we had some sorting to do. The engine had to at least be bolted on, and the parts boxed neatly with just the items I needed. The chassis needed cleaning out as well, as someone had spilled some sort of solvent on the old underlayment, which had dissolved into a gooey black mess.
|
|
|
|
There were a couple of fiberglass racing seats that my uncle made using some Lotus seats as a master. He was very keen on me using them, but they were ugly and difficult to get in and out of. There was a fair amount of discussion about them, but I finally decided to leave them behind, as they were far from the comfort level I was hoping for.
|
|
|
|
The rest of the prep went fairly smoothly, with the exception of a valve stem that snapped off one of the rear wheels. My uncle took it in to the local tire shop and told them it needed a new valve stem. When he returned an hour later, they pointed out that they had found the problem (a broken valve stem!) and it would be $10 to fix it. After that, it was smooth sailing, and we had the whole thing packed up with boxes and wrapped with pallet tape about an hour before the transporter showed up. I wished I'd gotten some pictures of that. The guy's name was Ernest, and he had his 10-year-old nephew with him. The transporter was a F-450 pickup with the trailer mount in the bed, and he had the 10-year-old drive the truck forward while he worked the hydraulics. Then when we had it on, he had him back it up to reconnect the trailer. That was when one of the local cops drove by heading to the local airport diner. He slowed down and looked over and saw the kid at the wheel and my uncle directing things, and he just cruised on by. Guess the burger was sounding better than writing a ticket ;-)
|
|
|
|
|
|
And so it was on its way! It arrived 12 days later (5 days after they said it would come) and it was fine, all the boxes there. Now it's in my driveway, while I get ready for the first nightmare of my new project...the DMV! I've got a lot of paperwork, including a bill of sale for the pan and the engine. But Massachusetts didn't issue titles until mid1972 and the pan was bought in May, 1971. My uncle had spent days trying to get it titled in MA, but had finally given up when they suggested he start researching the seller's tax records in the county building to look for a line item tax charge for registering the original bug over 30 years ago. Now I'll start over here in California. Wish me luck!
|
|
|
