These pictures are dirtier than Mrs. Slocombe's pu**y.
It's insured for what it was supposed to be, more than it's worth in its actual state as you've seen, and far less than I have in it after the "$24K surprise". State Farm would have thrown a flag on the play if I'd tried for the latter, even though I use them for just about everything. It's part of the quandary.....and I hope I don't have to use it - I know how banks feel holding onto all of those underwater foreclosures to avoid the write-down.
The Butcher Shop is a great steakhouse located in the West End area. It is in an old converted warehouse about 3 blocks from where Kenedy was shot. I go there every chance I get.
Too funny I guess Aidan's not a cowboy... Thanks for the heads-up Dave. Good Texas porterhouse, bbq, tex-mex...what more could you want? I guess seafood Oh, I forgot Circle vino
I've been thinking to add some pictures of my unmolested '83 400i, to show the showroom stock condition at a few of the locations that Kurt has also photographed. First is a closeup of the cross-stitching on the driver side door handle. This cross-stitching runs along the entire seam of the handle. It's also used in the handles in the rear seat side panels. Next is the weatherstripping at the base of the rear quarter windows. On my car the driver side strip runs the entire length of the window, but on the passenger side there's a gap of about two inches. The end of the passenger strip is cleanly cut, i.e., it did not degrade and lose the two inches of missing strip over time. I am not worried about this gap, because I know from my work in construction defect litigation that, unless there is a wet seal caulking treatment between glass and frame, weatherstripping is not intended to be completely waterproof. It's supposed to reduce the amount of water which enters the system, but if the water has a path to drain out the bottom, that's not a problem. Next is the console, to show the straight seam and the use of "French stitching." I just put two coats of Leatherique on this car last weekend, and I am pleased with how well it cleaned up from that little bit of elbow grease. In fact, I am sharing photos of the front and rear seats to show how nice a $15,000 chicken coop Ferrari can look after a little Leatherique. Next I am showing the door jambs, driver and passenger, to show how the windlace, the weatherstrip, and the stainless trim piece are supposed to fit together. That big gap that Kurt has on the passenger side between the trim piece and the top of the windlace-weatherstrip is inexplicable without looking at it up close. If the windlace and the trim piece are missing each other by 1/4", I don't know how you'll adjust them to make them come together. But that's what needs to happen: some kind of adjustment. Finally I'm showing the lack of any gap between the door panel and the sheet metal door shell on the driver side. I took this panel off myself, to fix that little red warning light and mainly because the connection between the exterior handle and the latch mechanism had unscrewed itself and needed tightening to make the handle work. Obviously, to make the panel fit flush on the sheet metal, you must eliminate any obstruction which is keeping them apart. One thing I found on my panel was that all but one or two of the plastic plug-in fasteners were missing. I found that these GM-Chrysler units from Auto Zone work. They're a little small for the holes in the door shell, but the panel uses so many of them -- at least 12 -- that they provide a secure fit even if they're not quite right. I also had to cut 1/4 of the hat off the circular flat top of each fastener, in order to screw them into the slots provided on the door panel. Oh, finally, and this is off topic, but this is the reason I got the camera out, so you've got to look at them anyway: pictures of my car's 29-year-old Michelin spare tire. Cool stuff. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Thanks for posting those, Bill......It's almost like rubbing it in Your first pic is what that stitching is really supposed look like, and even with a little shrink/pulling of at least two decades of weathering and drying, looks infinitely better. I had a chance to get some pics of a 400i and an unmolested (except for a body repair) 412, which aside from the trunkline is mostly the same, and therefore uses many of the same trim pieces. From a 400i at Norwood: Image Unavailable, Please Login 412 at Norwood: Image Unavailable, Please Login Notice not just the cross-stitching and face stitches (along your forearm when you're seated), but how the grab handle part itself has shape to it, other than just being wrapped around the structure and a couple of cotton balls worth of "padding" to "give it shape". That third pic of that weatherstripping being a little short, same observation regarding age/shrinkage - Yowza! ! ! It was.......ahhhh, COLD that day! ! ! </George Costanza> The seal itself is between the glass and the chassis, so no worries about leakage from this. The rubber mostly just tidies it up for a finished look. C-pillar trim: So that's how the rain rail/trim junction goes together!! (as if it's not obvious) NO big cutting edge protruding ! !...... Image Unavailable, Please Login .....and screws for the trim itself that were installed with a screwdriver close to the glass, not a screwgun with a fat body so the angles are all over the place and tweaking the trim piece itself in ways it's not supposed to, so you end up correctly installed like this: Image Unavailable, Please Login .....so the body vents aren't exposed....and with a molding between the trim and paint. A revelation. Look, Ma!! No lumpy mice hiding in the door panels!! Image Unavailable, Please Login As I've noted, and as often cited by Brett himself, there was consistently at least one of these cars in the shop for reference, in case someone was new and Brett wasn't there. While some of the door panel caves' and gaps' causes aren't known yet, they'll be addressed when the car is redone correctly. The arm rest/panel fit is something more than the door attachments, but thanks for the tip on the GM-Chrysler fasteners from Auto Zone. I'll probably use that tip when I have to pull at least one of the door panels off to remove a lock for a locksmith to make a key, since one didn't arrive with the car - No, I can't lock/unlock the doors from the outside right now (another reason it doesn't get used much). If you think that spare is old, I think the one in mine might be an original, and I also have the original skinny space-saver 19" for the Boxer. Hard as a rock.
My 400i came with no keys at all. Well, it came with a key blank that has been ground down so it will fit in the ignition lock, which itself is missing some plungers (I think I'm remembering the right word). So the key blank will turn the ignition switch, but it's about to break off, so I use a screwdriver instead. But as far as the door and glovebox, I found a locksmith who makes housecalls and who has the ability to cut keys using a file and trial and error. Before you take the cylinder out of your door you should ask around in your community if there is not a similarly talented locksmith local to you. I don't think that cylinder removal will be easy. My guy even gave me half off -- $125 vs. the regular $250 -- because he liked this unusual old car so much.
Thanks, I'll do some checking. I also need an ignition key that doesn't have to be inserted to just the riiiight depth, as well as some spares of both, once we get them right. Per yesterday's conversation with Dave at GT Car Parts, there are 4 possible key blanks just for the door locks. Ugh. Fortunately, they're all basic Fiat keys.
Not yet; haven't had the time to find the locksmith to do it, much less, get it to him. Sometime soon, though. Then there's that Opening it is its own treat, as I've let several people experience. Opening it from inside is even more special - I have to operate the pull at the front of the door, while simultaneously putting my shoulder into it, hard, and not let my fingers get wedged into the pull/lock mechanism as the door breaks free.
About 6 times in a day bruises my deltoid. There's also a sort of Cirque de Soleil contortionist-in-training aspect to it, too.....with a touch of suspense: Will he get the door open and retrieve the full length of his finger? Or will the tip stay with the door as it swings away briskly? Took the latter part of the afternoon off for a drive, eventually ended up over at Norwood to ask James about the timeline for assembling the Boxer's engine and installing it, now that the paint appears imminent, to be followed by interior and reassembly. There's a pretty nice unrestored dark blue/tan 400GT in right now. I'll be back for pics of this correct one for the future rerestoration for both the interior and body/paint of #22579, since this one hasn't been touched by such "Expertise", and is of nearly the exact same vintage. More miles, and the body and panel lines are gorgeous, dash and console non-swelled and fluffy, door panels and pulls smooth and firmly padded in the right spots, it shuts and sounds right, etc....... - A great reminder of what mine will be, and why I "did it in the first place" .....or thought I did. I still need to post the final B P 13 of the series, referencing the interior parts that just completely disregarded the clearest of instructions and what constitutes "completely new" interior, excepting the steering wheel, carpet, headliner and C-pillars, if only for the record here.
Ready to go into the paint booth, bu-u-u-u-uttt..... After getting the body lines right and ready for paint, when they tried to pull the pins for the doors for the door opening jambs/sill/header, the top pin on the driver's door only came out about 30% before it started mushrooming. Bottom hinge already out, but that top one is being a bugger, and has been soaking with penetrating oil for two days. A little rework at the front edge of the door, and it will be ready for refitting (just to confirm nothing shifted during the difficult pin removal) with the new pins before pulling again and paint. Was over at Norwood around lunch for pics of that unmolested 400GT, and asked James about the hinge - he told me that GT Car Parts (where I already got the new pins) has some oversize pins just for situations like this, in case you have to drill the old ones out. We'll see. Keep your fingers crossed. On my 400GT, someone asked some specifics about the Invoices last weekend, so I took a much closer look at the two I received. I'll get into those soon; It's "interesting" what I found, and then realized. The "gift that keeps on giving". Ugh.