More progress made on the body : )

[The Stig]

I met with Tony today. He has a plan for getting my car finished up...

Some things, we were on the same page with. And some, we weren't.

Apparently there is still quite a lot of money that he's going to allow me to spend. I wasn't on that page... And apparently he's not going to get started until October 1. I wasn't on that page... He feels that to fix the things that need to be fixed, we're looking at approximately 90 more days. (Through December). I definitely wasn't on that page...

We talked about how the car would need to be disassembled, and how the undersides of the panels would need to be somewhat smoothed, and sprayed with undercoating of some sort. Same page...

The doors are going to be disassembled and fiberglass added in order to shape the edges to close the gaps at the rear of each door. We have a plan of attack for the door windows that will allow them to fit the doors as they should, and also seal as they should. We're on the same page with that...

The mesh screens around the car are going to be re-worked so that they fit and look like they were supposed to be there, and not just and afterthought to get hot air out of the radiator and engine spaces. Same page...

He feels that the interior needs a little more work to get it to a point where it gets to the next level. Absolutely not on that page... I have $27,500.00 in the interior already. I mean what the heck does it take?

I thought that I had a pretty good grasp of what it takes to get a GTM to an extraordinary level. Or at least what I thought was extraordinary. I believed that I was about ready to get it done and then join the party. But instead, I've pretty much been told that I had more to learn. Multiple times. He says that it screams "kit car". I wasn't on that page...

He assures me that the body will be perfectly straight, and the paint will be deep and clear, and that it will be ready for the bright lights of the car shows and SEMA (2016). I told him that I'm pretty much over that bucket list item, and that I can't even get Dave Smith or his "people" to return phone calls or PM messages. Besides which, I don't expect to own it that long.

I still feel very confident that she's going to look very nice, and will be an unbelievable car when it's ever finished. But I can also say that I've never felt more disconnected from it...

Tony thinks that I'm going to feel more involved when we get started again. I told him that my wallet is only thing getting involved lately, and for the foreseeable future. As usual.

It'll be finished just in time to put it away for the Winter. I'll turn the heat up in the garage, and sit out there with my coffee, and just stare at it until some Saudi Oil person comes to pick it up... Right...

Lucky me.

Mike



When I got to the shop, the car was uncovered. One of the builder's on this forum stopped by the shop to talk about having his car done. We spoke on the phone about the cars, and he had mentioned that he would like to see mine while he was there. So I asked that it be made available for him to take a look.



I have no idea why there is a 4x4 piece of wood at the front corner... I do know that the ride height at the front of my car is 4 1/4" with correct tire pressure...

I opened the hood while I was there in order to look at the underside of the mesh. It looked as though the car had been sitting in the desert for a year. Dust everywhere... Even covered in plastic. But then it's tough to keep dust out, when it has been sitting in a paint shop since March. For the most part, he's had the doors sealed with masking tape in order to keep the dust out of the interior. So that's good.