Freize Update - 2 Out Rally

 

 

More like a 2 out, bottom of the ninth, bases loaded and down by 4 rally.

I had all but abandoned building the actual Frieze deciding to use cast away door trim as, "The Frieze". That was kind of sad considering my impetus for this endless project in the first place was the construction of a frivolous, purely decorative façade of sorts. Of course, I couldn't leave that alone. Somehow, I became, inexplicably, inspired to build one small frieze over "home plate". This fit of inspiration coming while I was adding the moulding to the top of my work bench.

 

Well, that bit of impulse led to this charming disaster. It looks ok from a distance and even in pictures. In the flesh, though, or wood, it's hardly something for me to be proud of. The same creative drive that drove me to make this in the first place are the same that had me rush its construction. Gotta love my Yankee loving 16 year old. He thought it looked swell. So swell in fact that he bristled at my suggestion that I redo this whole thing. Sweet kid.

 

I was, however, rather impressed with my jig sawing. At least to some degree. It wasn't perfect but it was pretty fair. My mistake with this was using dowels inside the frieze.  

 

 



Pictures don't do this justice to how horrible this actually looks. Glob on several coats of impossibly thick exterior paint and you have yourself a good old fashioned, white hot mess. Onward to the rally!

 

  

The biggest challenge I had with the first frieze (which actually was the second frieze) was being able to carve concentric arches with a hand held jig saw. I had no template. What was I to do? Where was I going to find concentric circles that I could use as a template?

 

 

Ah, ha! A bicycle wheel. Of course! Actually, the first Frieze I built was arched from my bicycle's front tire, fully inflated. On the wheel. The side arches made from a quart sized paint can. I saw my bike wheel and I saw my Frieze. Yankee Stadium Frieze here I come!

 

 

As I think I pointed out during the work bench  expansion, I prefer to engineer and leave the actual construction work to others. The construction process is tedious to me, boring. I loose my focus and details get blurry. I make mistakes. Time consuming mistakes. Oh, so many mistakes.

 

 

This was a lot of cutting. A. Lot of cutting. A lot of time consuming, boring, tedious cutting.

 

The wood filler fills in a section of the Frieze that I thought I could drill out to give more of a real, Yankee Stadium Frieze. Fail. I got about a little more than one section done and I wasn't satisfied with it so I punted it. Time wasted but at least I tried it. There's a drill press at the radio station. Perhaps I can finagle a way to use it.

 

 

The dowels will go behind the structure as opposed to inside it like the first time. I'm liking this. A lot. Very exciting.
 

Stay tuned! 

 



Frieze Update - I Can't Leave Well Enough Alone

After about a week, actually, it took less time than that, I've decided this is not good enough to keep up. So, back to the drawing board. Of course.

How many times have a I mentioned I'm not a carpenter? One thing I will tell you though, after nearly a year of off again, on again work on "The Great Frieze Project", being a carpenter depends greatly on experience and the tools you have to work with. Really? Like most things in my life, I have to learn things the hard way.

 



I should have known this was going to happen. This board cracked in half on me while was futzing with getting the little pieces making up the inside of the Frieze. The iphone takes a very, very forgiving photo. This is not nearly as good looking in person as it is in these photos.

 



So, my plan is now to use the bike tire rim from my bicycle as the template for the inner arch just like I did here. Challenge is to find a smaller, corresponding arch for a template for the outer or lower arch. For that, I will use the smaller rim from Janet's bike. Genius. The inner arch will also be the lower part of the inside arch that will be the opening for the "pillars" (I don't know what else to call them).

 



Finally, I will put "pillars" behind the openings and attach them to the back of the cut out "Frieze" structure. Very similar to what I did here with our Yankees sign pin striping. These pin stripes are not cut to size; they run completely top to bottom under the NY.

 

It's a lot of work with the jig saw, but I'm confident I can get it done. Let's get at it!

WGAR Demolition Derby Car - We're Number Two...AGAIN!

 

At this year's Cuyahoga County Fair, once again, we entered a vehicle into the annual demolition derby. Like last year, we entered a Saab 9-5 from our friends at Bedford Mazda. Bedford Mazda buys commercial time on WGAR, by the way.

 

 

The only difference, this year's 9-5 was a sedan while last year we entered a wagon. Actually, that wagon from last year was our entry from 2011. Y'see, friends, back in 2011, a torrential downpour fried the electrical system in the wagon and we couldn't get it fixed in time for the "race". Yelp, this gave us a car for the next year. By the way, in Europe, they refer to demo derbies as "Banger Racing". When in Rome...

 

 

Our driver, Tom, did most of the prep work on our Saab (he works for Bedford Mazda) including swapping out the "light pressure turbo" V-6 from our entry and replacing it with the 2.0 liter 4 cylinder turbo engine from our entry from last year. Tom even used the hood from last year's car too. Pretty impressive, Tom. Tom's a big fan of Saabs and insisted that the 2.0 turbo engine was a better mill than the V-6. We trust Tom. You have to trust a man who loves cars where the ignition switch is on the floor.

 

 

With all the glass and really, anything that could fly off the car in the heat of the crashing removed, Tom got at it last Sunday and once again, did very well. This was Tom's second year of "Banger Racing" and braced with a year of experience and additional research on demo derbies, attempted to ram the rear of the Saab 9-5 into the front of his competitors. Demo Derby 101--ram the front with your back in hopes of knocking out the radiator. Knock out the radiator and its just a matter of time before overheating overwhelms the engine. I love the smell of leaking antifreeze in the morning. It smells like...victory.

 

 

You can see here that the stoutly constructed rear of our car rolled up like an accordion giving us additional ramming strength. Only issue, everyone in a "Banger Race" is attempting to do the same thing as our man Tom was doing. Several, unfortunate, knocks to the front end of our Saabie and our radiator lost its juice.

 

 

But not before we knocked out just about everyone else and finished second.

 

 

Nice job, Tom!

Frieze Update - Almost Finished

 

 

My wife has always been impressed with my ambition. I have always been humbled by it.

 

This Frieze Project has been one long, humbling, experience. 11 months ago I first blogged about doing it and after much trial and tribulation, I'm finally nearing completion of it. Still, it continues to beat me senseless.

 

 

Things went south when my initial frieze plans, which seemed perfectly "do-able" on paper, in reality, were impossible to finish considering my skill and experience levels and the resources available to me.

 

 

So, I moved on to recycled trim from the bathroom remodel. Good thing I rarely throw anything out. I thought this made a suitable substitute. Work smart!

 

 

But I couldn't leave well enough alone. Nope. No sooner do I start tacking the trim up that I realized that expanding the upper shelving AGAIN, would make for an attractive "roof" for the whole center of the workbench centered over my handsome, NY logo. That new "roof" would be the focal point for ONE frieze as opposed to a series.

 

 

 

The middle arch I traced from a bike tire. The outer arches are from a quart can of paint. The columns inside the smaller arches from my original plans for the frieze series.

 

 It's not what I originally planned nor am I completely happy with it but I'm "in the ballpark". Rim shot. Boom. I'm here all week.

 

1995 Chevy Tahoe - Look, Ma It's Not Even a Hardtop

I'm not a truck guy but being a coupe lover it's not surprising to me that I loved the two door Chevy Tahoe. And look, Ma, it's not even a hardtop.

These two door Tahoe's are spiritual successors to the Chevrolet K5 Blazer which were also based on Chevrolet's short wheel base light truck chassis. "Back in the day", if you wanted a four door, full size SUV, you had to move up to the ginormous and unwieldy Chevrolet Suburban which was based on Chevrolet's long wheel base light truck chassis. Then, in 1995, Chevrolet redesigned their full size SUV line introducing a four door full size SUV based on Chevrolet's short wheel base light truck chassis. The rest, as they say, is history.

 

 

The two door and four door Tahoe's were sold side by side and, wouldn't you know it, the more practical in every way four door out sold the two door models by a wide margin. Easy to see why when they updated the Tahoe in 2000 they passed on a two door model. Another coupe bit the dust making these handsome 1995-1999 Tahoe two doors quite rare. Cool as all get out but nonetheless, rare. After 1995, the Chevrolet Suburban, incidentally, became little more than a Tahoe with an extended cargo area out back.

In the mid to late 1990's, the confluence of a red hot economy and cheap gas ignited sales of not only SUV's but full size SUV's like our two door Tahoe here. More "car like" than the K5 Blazer ever was, in retrospect, it's easy to see why they were as popular as they were and how their myriad off shoots continue to be so today. Combining practicality with an ease of operation, an elevated driving position and chiseled good looks, it was only a matter of time until SUV's and cross overs not only sub planted minivan's in America's driveways, but family sedans as well.

1966 Ford Mustang - The Stuff of Legend

Being a "legend" can be challenging. Having worked with many, both real and in their own minds, I can tell you that most of them are nothing in person what people think they would be. Then again, what people think they are, most times, has nothing to do with made them "legends" in the first place. Not that it would make a difference. If you become a legend for something other than what makes you what you are as a human being, most likely, there's going to be a disconnect between you and you, "The Legend". 

 

When Ford pulled the wraps off their new Mustang in April of 1964, a legend was born. The Stuff of Legend being little more than a humble Ford Falcon with a fabulous body bolted down on top of it. Much like someone who became a legend for something different from what they are as a person, The Mustang didn't become a legend because it was a swell car. Contemporary reviews of it were scathing; its not like it became sucky in retrospect. No. It sucked from the get go. Brakes that faded quickly, slow handling. A bobbing suspension. Cramped interior. Sluggish engines. You can almost feel the disappointment in the Road and Track and Motor Trend articles. The authors wanting the Mustang to be everything it looked like it could be. Oh, did I mention this car was cheap too? Cheap and good looking? Sign me up. Bad brakes, horrible steering and handling be darned.

Do clothes make the man or woman? In this case, absolutely. Under this slamming bod is a weak kneed, primitive, Ford Falcon. Take one for a drive. You'll see. "Is there something wrong with this thing?" America didn't care, though. Ford sold more than a million of these things before GM launched the Camaro and Firebird in 1967. To become the legend it became, a car with such humble beginnings would have to have at least the body that it had. Oh, and the price was real nice too. Let's not forget that.

 

Ford did offer some "go fast" options and a somewhat improved handling suspension but the lions share of sales were comely "little" six cylinder buckets like this. The little Mustang with its plucky styling was all about image. She was all show, no go. 

 

However, compared to a contemporary Ford Galaxie, the Mustang was a relative joy to drive. Everything, again, being relative. Little did it matter, though. Ford sold plenty of these cars cheaply because of that killer bod. That killer bod, "The Stuff of Legend".

Failure to Frieze - Work Smart

 

 

In New York, great players are not remembered for how good they were. They're remembered for how many championships they won.

Years ago Steve Jacobson, a Newsday sportswriter and one of my favorite writers of all time, wrote a scathing article about Patrick Ewing. He skewered the Knick great, by all accounts a decent human being with great athletic skills and an impeccable work ethic, for not being a good leader and not (I'm paraphrasing) having the heart of a champion. Mr. Jacobson also noted that, with regards to Ewing and his puritan work ethic, "hard work is overrated".

 

 

This section of the 1976 Yankee Stadium concrete Frieze is on display at Macombs Dam Park across the street from the new Stadium. The original was made of copper.

 

It's with that thought that I have decided to work smart instead of hard when it comes to, "The Frieze". Don't get me wrong. I will finish this project; it's just that at this point it's apparent to me that the way this will look once completed, will be far different from what I had initially intended it to look like.

 

 

 

My ambition knows no bounds. However, in reality...

 

The reason? Well, making the Frieze is incredibly hard and as I've pointed out many times, I'm not a carpenter. Now, I'm not one to back down from a challenge but as my man Clint Eastwood pointed out succinctly in Dirty Harry, "A Man's Got to know His Limitations". I know what I can do and more importantly, what I can't. With the resources (tools) available to me, making this is hard work with limited upside. I "can't" do this with a hand held jig saw. Sorry. I'm not about to drop  money on a band saw or what ever else it is I would need to finish this.

 

 

This is not going well. 

 

So, I've decided to do use the trashed moulding from the bathroom remodel as a "Frieze". Of sorts. It will look nice. Will it be a Frieze? Sure will! Most importantly, this is working smart!
 

 

 

This moulding, which will be "The Frieze", is from the bathroom remodel that delayed the start of the Great Frieze Project in the first place.

  

Hard work, after all, is overrated. Right, Steve?

 

 

Work Smart!

 

 

1964 Chevrolet El Camino - Car or Truck?

Research. It's always a good thing. Thanks to research, I've finally put to bed the age old question of whether an El Camino is a car or a truck. For the record, in the good state of O-H-I-O and all of Murica, these "coupe utility vehicles" are classified as trucks.

 

 

I know. Weird, right? Especially considering the El Camino was built off car platforms but (sounding like Captain Kirk) who-am-I-to-question-the-all-powerful-and-knowing-BMV? Yes. In Ohio it's the BMV. In New York State it's the DMV. Tomato? Tah-mah-toe?

 

 

 

Car, truck or coupe utility vehicle, an El Camino is whatever you want it to be. There's few vehicles ever made, save for Corvettes, that are as "cool" as a Chevrolet El Camino. BTW, "El Camino" means "the road" in Spanish. See? Research. Always good.

 

Josh Thompson stopped by the station this morning and his record label representation (and ride for the day) was driving Josh around in his this '64 Elkie. Suffice to say, y'all, today did not suck.

 

This black beauty (paint is not original) has lived most of its two passenger life (it has sweet, oh so sweet bucket seats so there's no chance for a third passenger unless you get dangerously creative) down south so despite a scratch or two here and there, there's not a spot of rust anywhere on her. Had she spent any time of up here you know what would've happened to her. Rust, unlike research, is bad. Very, very bad.

 

 

The original 327 V-8 and Powerglide are long gone. In the 327's place is an ample GM "Goodwrench 350" with a 2 barrel carburetor. I'd peg horsepower around 190 and torque peak a manly 275 pound feet at a low, low rpm. Tap the gas and she boot scoots like a jack rabbit. This car truck can move!  No telling what tranny is down there but I'd bet it's the butter smooth, Turbohydramatic 350. Power steering is over boosted but most cars, sorry, trucks back then were. It turns very easily. The brakes are "manual", no power assistance. Drums all around. But of course. Braking is deliberate but they work just fine.

 

 

Watch out, momma! Here I come! Yeeeeee-ha!