"thumper" wrote in message ...

On 6/13/2013 11:28 AM, Eisboch wrote:

I get a kick out of letting people try my S&W 627. I load it with
alternating .38 Special and .357 Magnum rounds and make sure I set
the
cylinder so the first one that fires is a .38 Special. The second
shot
almost always gets a "Holy ****!"

http://richarderiksson467.wix.com/richard-eriksson#!page-four/cx3c

I'd rather have the GTO...!

-----------------------------------------

That was my favorite. It was the first of seven classic cars I had
back when I was into collecting them as a hobby. I bought it from a
classic car museum in Florida. It had 43,000 original miles on it and
had just come back from a $10,000 "detailing" by a company in Canada
that only does GTO's. The detailing included going through the
entire car, replacing components that showed any evidence of wear.
All new interior and chrome .... even suspension parts that had the
slightest bit of normal surface rust on them were replaced with new,
OEM parts. The exhaust system was replaced with the O.E.M factory
type manufactured by a company in California that owned the rights to
the original pipe bending and muffler designs. The engine was torn
down and all bearings, rings, valves were replaced with new. Same
with the transmission. (4 speed manual). When they are done with
this level of detailing, the car is basically in brand new, show room
quality condition. When I received the car, the undercarriage and
frame was in the same condition as the rest of the car. It was
spotless.

That's the problem, as I soon discovered.

Even though I installed heat and air conditioning in the garage where
I kept this one and only drove it during the summer on sunny, rainless
days, the climate here in the northeast began to take it's toll.
Nothing major, but small areas of surface rust started showing on the
undercarriage, even on the new parts. To be expected on a daily
driver but it can be a killer on the value of a collectable classic.
Plus, cars need to be driven. With a sable of seven of them that I'd
only drive during the summer and on sunny days, it wasn't possible to
drive them all enough. So, after enjoying the "hobby" for about four
years I sold them all (the General Lee was gifted to someone) before
their values began to drop too much.

Selling the '46 Ford Streetrod was an interesting experience. I
advertised it in Hemmings. Within 2 days a guy in Texas called me
about it. After a brief discussion he said he'd grab a plane the next
day and fly out to see it. I offered to pick him up at the airport
because I live 40 miles south of Boston but he said he'd rent a car.
He stayed overnight in Boston and visited the following day. Typical
stereotype Texan with a big cowboy hat and string tie. Checked it
out, we went for a drive down the street, came back, negotiated a bit
and he handed me 95% of my asking price in cash. I gave him the title
and he said he'd contact me about his shipping arrangements (which he
did the following week) and off it went to Texas.