It only took eighteen months….and 26 years sitting in my garages.  In the beginning I was saying it was my ‘first baby’ but that kind of usurped Aub’s position in the family so Master D came up with it’s my first and only pet I’ve ever loved and I think that’s pretty darn accurate.  I LOVE this little baby toy car – which I am shocked every time I look at the size of it.  I so wish I had a photo of me driving it in high school.  If anyone has one, I’d be ever so grateful for a copy of it.  Through this process I learned a lot about where to find parts.  When I found a new grill in a tiny little town in England on ebay – it was Christmas for me.

First it went to the body shop – for seven months – I started visiting it and the shop every two weeks hoping they’d move along faster.  It needed far more work than either of us had anticipated.  Then on to the mechanic – who I thought talked slower than any human being I’d ever seen until I saw mountain man on Duck Dynasty.  I think he moved about as slow as he talked and he kept it as long as he did because he was lonely and liked me to visit him – so he took nine months.  The interior guy was as opposite as possible from the mechanic and talked a million miles an hour.  He worked pretty fast too only taking five weeks. Back to the mechanic, where B and I took it on a joy ride and the clutch blew out. Rebuilding the clutch took a couple more weeks.  Back to the body shop for polishing and putting on the bumpers and grill.  Back to the mechanic for a part he was waiting for and then I picked it up.  Driving it home was so much fun – I got thumbs up and waves all the way down State street for 20 miles. We had a little hiccup with some water in the gas tank, which B was able to drain out and replace.  It took $11 to fill it up. Now that is some gas conservation!  Here’s the transformation in photos:

The blue on the grill is plastic they didn’t take off before installing that I am working on one piece at a time.  I don’t dare take it back to them to do it  – I just want to go joy riding in it and I CAN’T WAIT TO TAKE THE TOP DOWN!