PCO6
Well-known member
I built, or rather tacked together, the car pictured below in 1971, exactly 40 years ago today on New Year's eve. It's long gone but I'd like to think some kid is still having fun with it on a farm or trail some where. I doubt it though.
The story is that 2 friends and I built 3 cars just like this one and went on to build a few other similar cars. We were all in our late teens at the time. Although we each had a LOT to learn, we were all budding amateur mechanics, engine builders, welders, machinists, fabricators, etc. What a great time in my life that was.
One thing none of us had done before was bend the tubing that would be necessary to build the chassis. How hard could that be we figured?
Our biggest problem was getting a tubing bender. We finally convinced a rental shop to let 3 kids have a Greenlee hydraulic bender for 2 days. These were in demand by contractors but the guy at the rental shop was willing to let us have one provided we took it on New Year's eve and day. That was only possible because no one else needed it then.
I had sketched up what we wanted and we knew there would a lot of adjustments as we put the first one together. The plan was to tack one together on New Year's eve, bend enough tubing for the other 2 on New Year's day and have the bender back for the "regulars" to rent on the first day of business in the new year.
The first day went so well we decided to celebrate New Year's eve in the garage. That was a BIG mistake. We were far better CELEBRATORS than we were fabricators back then. Needless to say day 2 didn't go as smoothly as day 1. Fortunatley the hangovers had cleared by the time we returned the bender and the guy was so impressed he allowed us to rent it again ... but only on weekends.
Does any one else have a New Year's Eve garage story?
The story is that 2 friends and I built 3 cars just like this one and went on to build a few other similar cars. We were all in our late teens at the time. Although we each had a LOT to learn, we were all budding amateur mechanics, engine builders, welders, machinists, fabricators, etc. What a great time in my life that was.
One thing none of us had done before was bend the tubing that would be necessary to build the chassis. How hard could that be we figured?
Our biggest problem was getting a tubing bender. We finally convinced a rental shop to let 3 kids have a Greenlee hydraulic bender for 2 days. These were in demand by contractors but the guy at the rental shop was willing to let us have one provided we took it on New Year's eve and day. That was only possible because no one else needed it then. I had sketched up what we wanted and we knew there would a lot of adjustments as we put the first one together. The plan was to tack one together on New Year's eve, bend enough tubing for the other 2 on New Year's day and have the bender back for the "regulars" to rent on the first day of business in the new year.
The first day went so well we decided to celebrate New Year's eve in the garage. That was a BIG mistake. We were far better CELEBRATORS than we were fabricators back then. Needless to say day 2 didn't go as smoothly as day 1. Fortunatley the hangovers had cleared by the time we returned the bender and the guy was so impressed he allowed us to rent it again ... but only on weekends.
Does any one else have a New Year's Eve garage story?