Places I've been and events I have attended

Tom Kochtanek

Well Known Member
Supporting Member 12
A few weeks back I found a bunch of old T shirts torn up and placed in the family "rag bag".

Here's what they were sacrificed for:
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The wifey made a collage of the prints on a couple dozen of those T shirts, representing places I've been to and events I have attended.

The Fred Totten Shootout is well represented with five spots, some doubles:

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Cheers! TomK
 

Tooth

Well Known Member
Supporting Member 3
TOM, I've been doing some thinking about the hot rod you have in your man cave. You have the 62 upstairs with the SWC behind it and the Pontiac too. There's a 62 Bel-Air downstairs known as the salt shaker, and I believe it's sitting in front of a 61 convertible. And next to the salt shaker is a 62 Biscayne that is super nice and super clean and Super solid. And I understand that you want to make a driver on the street out of the 62 Biscayne. So my question is why wouldn't you take the Biscayne and put the dreaded 409 in it with a cage the 9.3 and make a race car out of it that you could drive on the street? The body work is done it just needs some safety equipment in it and the rear end changed your already rebuilding the front end. With historic tags it would not keep you from driving it on the street you just have to get good gas! Then you could restore the Bel air and make a driver out of it. How many drivers do you need at once? Lol I'm just stirring the pot, and you guys need to get back to the track in a safe car!!! And you could even use the interior out of the Biscayne in the Bel-Air since it's deluxe... I'm sure that there are other people on this site that might agree with me, Like maybe James, Brian, Dave, Pat, Brad, Jim, Phil, W Head, Carmine, Don ect. I think we should all vote on it for you and help you make a great decision.....:winner:happy:danceHAVE A WONDERFUL EVENING FRIEND, BUDDY, PAL!!!
 
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Tom Kochtanek

Well Known Member
Supporting Member 12
Tooth, that has been suggested and I did give it some thought.

I've had the '62SS car for some time now, she's a keeper. The BA409 car has been in the fold for over a dozen years now, she was a "driver" for most of that time. Now the '62 Biscayne, which is super solid, wants to replace the Belair as a nice streetable driver. I think of the White over Aqua SS car and the Black over Red Biscayne as "bookends" representing the lowest and highest trim packages for the two door passenger cars from 1962.

That leaves the BA409 car out of the picture, hence it's phased conversion into a drag car. Only problem is James has it going so fast (for what it's worth) that it's no longer safe and needs a lot to get it to that stage. Last year I spent some $$$ putting that QB engine together for the SS car and in purchasing the Biscayne. And then there's my ongoing nightmare with a certain 1962 convertible that is in metal purgatory (and bleeding my limited and miniscule resources). So right now I've got several irons and no fire :) :) :).

To add to the mix, we (James and I) had the notion to build that 1961 Biscayne into a more suitable drag car and transplanting the BA409 engine into that body. That could be a cool project. Another option would be to buck up and get the BA409 car back in shape to race. James is probably laughing at me 'cause for 4 years I held off on cutting that body up as needed. Now that seems like a good idea...

All this stuff takes a lot cash, something that in retirement isn't as plentiful as it once was :). The wifey wants to take on a bunch renovation of projects on our personal residence, to the total of something like $70K and I'm trying to figure that one out :(. Unlike your spouse mine isn't convinced I should spend more $$$ on my "goofy projects"...

I've got a few options to generate the needed $$$ but really don't like selling stuff that I (and my friends) have worked my (our) a$$es off just to fund another project that I don't think I want or need. For example, she just wants me to sell the Corvette to buy new windows (there are 75 of them) for the house. Ask anybody who's done that and you'll hear nothing but regret... I'm not big on Zero Sum games :).

Sounds like I'm whining at priviledge so I'll stop there. We all deal with these sorts of things from time to time. Just need to realign our priorities and keep moving forward!

For now, I'll enjoy driving the various cars and looking at my new T shirt display :) :) :).

TomK
 

Tooth

Well Known Member
Supporting Member 3
I guess it's always easy to spend somebody else's money,:hide I just wish I was lucky enough to have a third of the Impala Biscayne Bel-Aire stuff that you have. And I plan on seeing you soon and picking up the 409 block we talked about ( if you still are willing to sell it to me) I know a while back you had said that for now you would consider it as long as you didn't change your mind. So I'm hoping you don't think about it much so you won't change your mind. LOL and while I'm thinking about it James has a leak down tester. Anyway it's hard to dream for somebody else and I understand where you're coming from perfectly. And you are absolutely correct about the Corvette. If I had that sweet ride and I sold it to buy Windows I might even jump out one. Anytime she brings it up you might just ask " do we have any cake"?
Just keep dreaming about your projects and I can always poke you in the eye if you need me to :poke..... and you know if you need help I'm a text away!
And I must say what your wife done with your t-shirts is really cool and they'll last a lot longer where they are now then if they were in the drawer being worn torn and dirtied up.
 
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Tooth

Well Known Member
Supporting Member 3
That's a good idea Dave oh, I think Tom just bought his wife a new car or SUV. I think maybe it was around 50,000. And Tom needs a lift and has the provisions for it and his man cave. Sounds like there needs to be a compromise...:dunno2
 
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