Ray, I’m not doing so good. This project is dragging on and on, and nothing is getting done, and I can’t find anybody to do it and I sure as hell can’t do it, and it’s costing me all of my retirement savings. What have you got me into? I’m getting real depressed. How do I get out of this mess? In the second chapter, Erick Vaduya and Drake Palmer of DP Metal Fab had the body all ready to paint. Wrong! My mistake. What they really did, and they told me this too, was to get all of the rust out, repair broken and rusted out sections, and rough shape everything (except for that damn bed). I heard what I wanted to hear (again) and not what was being said. Now I’m finding out the truth – the hard way. And it don’t feel too good.

Lanny, Pat and I finished almost everything on the chassis and in my usual way, I was pushing and shoving to get it over to DP Metal Fab so Drake could finish the bodywork and paint it, at least that’s what I thought. That was in May and it seemed so simple. Up until that time I was having some success at pushing and shoving. (Lanny, Pat, Drake forgive me for being such a pain-in-the-ass. Sometimes I forget my manners and don’t treat folks as I should. I’m really sorry guys.)

Erick was leaving DP Metal Fab to work either in construction, or as a cop. He chose construction, which meant that he wasn’t going to have any time to play with the Brazen Hussy. And then Drake got real busy. Drake is a real good friend, and I knew that when his metal fab work came in, that was going to have to be his first priority – that’s how he makes his living, and feeding his family comes ahead of working on a friend’s pickup truck. So the Brazen Hussy sat in Drake’s shop, getting in the way and causing Drake to worry that somebody would hit it, ding it or otherwise do something that would need to be repaired later.

In his spare time, Drake was showing me all of the little (and sometimes not so little things) that needed to be fixed before the Hussy could be painted. The left front fender wasn’t shaped right (it probably had been hit in the side and badly repaired) because it didn’t fit to the running board, or the cab. It was too high at the rear with the result that the hood didn’t fit correctly. The right rear fender was badly rusted at the rear and in the wheel well. This had been repaired, but it needed to be reshaped and a support tube bent and welded into the wheel well to match the opening of the left side fender and stiffen it up. The bed was really not straight and the rails were curved and crooked. When you looked at the back end of the bed, it looked twisted – not a lot, but it was there and visible. The side panels of the bed were one inch short and as a result the fenders didn’t fit. Gussets and fillers would have to be made and welded to the sides of the fenders to match the side of the bed. The running boards didn’t fit to the cab. They sloped down in the front. The left door was tweaked and didn’t fit the opening correctly. And worse yet, the inside portion of the door, at the bottom of the window frame, was cracked and whenever the door was pulled shut using the grab handle located there, the door would twist and the crack would opened up. Eventually it would really break. The door needed major work.

There were so many little things. The fenders and cab weren’t smooth and/or shaped right. With primer it didn’t look bad – but it didn’t feel right and with shiny paint on it, it would definitely show. I said I didn’t want a show truck, but I also didn’t want an embarrassment either.

Time was a passing, and nothing was happening. And I was getting down, down, down. I was desperate to push and shove somebody. And there was nobody to push and shove.

It was about this time that I learned a big lesson. When you hire someone to do something, you can have it done your way, just so long as it doesn’t interfere with that person’s pride of doing a good job. Sure, you can get Joe Smuck to do a crappy job, and everyone will know it, including you. But when you tell a craftsman that it doesn’t have to be pluperfect, they’re going to look at you in a funny way and say, “Whada-ya-mean?” They don’t want to have other people looking at a so-so job and saying, “Joe Craftsman did this?” No way, Jose! If you’re going to hire someone to do the job, and they’re good, then you have to let them do a good job. And you’re going to have to pay for it with money and time.

Which leads me to another depressing reality. Good guys, craftsmen, don’t grow on trees. You can’t just pluck one off when you’re ready. Good guys are busy. You have to join the line and wait your turn. That means a pusher and shover, like me, suddenly comes to a grinding halt. Drake could do a lot of the metal fab work and I really wanted him to do it because he is outstanding. No one welds like Drake. And he can create parts and fix things in an amazing way. But when he gets busy with his regular work, all I can do is help him in whatever small ways I can – and wait.

Drake had been very insistent that I needed a very good body and paint man. He knew his limits and said so. So I began to check out the available shops and quickly found that I was way down on the totem pole and it would be many months before anyone would be available. And when they got to work, it was going to take some more months before they would finish. And it wasn’t going to be cheap either. I was ready to check out Miracle Paint in Sacramento. But I just couldn’t face the thought of all of that “pretty work” surrounded by an orange pealed, badly fitted, strange looking body. After all, this was going to be a “Fabulous Fat Fender Ford” and not a Puckermobile. Down, down I went, into that ring of fire (with apologies to the memory of my favorite singer).

Well (that’s a deep subject and I think I’m in it), I did find an excellent body and paint man, Bill Klingler. I saw the work that he did on a Firebird, and it was excellent. And as luck would have it, he had an opening in his schedule. But when he started looking the Hussy over (actually feeling it over) and frowning, I knew that I had really not understood what Drake, Lanny and Pat had been saying. My optimism got in the way of good sense. When he said eight weeks and many bucks, I really hit the skids. Every time one the guys in the club would ask how things were going, all I could do is try to smile and say something stupid, like “It’s coming along”, or “It’ll be going to the body and paint guy soon.” What I really wanted to say was, “I QUIT”.

But I can’t quit. I can’t forget how much fun I’ve had working with Lanny, Pat, Drake and Erick. I can’t forget the excitement of when we fired up the engine. I can’t forget the satisfaction of getting something really right and knowing we done good. I can’t forget the admiring looks and comments. I can’t forget the help and encouragement from Don, Diane and all of the other people in the club. I can’t forget the loving smile Claudette gives me when I try to explain something good that has happened. I’ve got to finish this thing, and I’ve got to continue to do it right. A lot of people have invested their pride in the Brazen Hussy. I’ve got to get myself up, on an even keel and go forward. I’ve got to finish it!

So, how’s it coming George? Drake has straightened the bed tubes as much as they can be straightened. He’s manufactured gussets and fillers for the rear fenders and we’ve welded in the body bolts to the bed, so the rear fenders are attached. The running boards can be leveled. The door has been repaired and is really stiff now. Tabs have been made for the vent screen and at a later time can be welded into the cab. The latest report is that the Brazen Hussy is in Bill Klingler’s capable hands. And that means that I now have to do all of the Honey Do’s that I have been avoiding for the past six, or more, months.

Ray, I gotta tell you, you did a great thing at Grandpa’s Memorial Picnic (many thanks to Ed and Nancy for a wonderful day – you folks are the best). I was struggling to put on a happy face and climb out of the dumps when I walked over to you and Claudette I overheard you telling her how great it was going to be when we took the Brazen Hussy down to the Towe Museum in November, and then there was the show in February. You actually believed that she was going to be finished and that she would be worthy of showing. You believed and I didn’t. I was trying to get myself up and you were showing me the way. I’ve got to believe in where I’m going and be grateful for all that was happened! And the time isn’t any big thing. There have been many guys who’ve been putting in years and aren’t done yet. Thanks Ray. You really are a special guy. Now, excuse me, I’ve got to go over to Lanny’s and see if I can use his lift to get myself up.[TOP]