Re: Seals, clutches, and other fiascos (extremely longwinded version)

[WALTEE <WALTEE@prodigy.net>]

> Hello everyone, again;
> Sheesh, I go away to work for a couple of days, and all kinds to things
> happen. My son broke his collar bone at karate the other day, so I 've
> sort of been preoccupied with that, and then work raised it's ugly head
> again, so I was there for 24 hours. When I get home, my wife tells me
> that there is this soap opera taking place on the internet, and it's
> much more interesting than talking about car parts (call it -" As The
> Stomach Turns", perhaps?). I wonder how totally screwed this guy's life
> must be to get so torqued at something as silly as getting posts from an
> e-mail list. Smoke a Valium or something, Ivor, criminy it's only VW's
> we're discussing here, not the New World Order. What a wanker.
>  Any way, Bill Niles was asking about seals for notches. You can find
> them at WCM, of course or RMMW's as well. If you ask them, they'll tell
> you that seals are *not* interchangeble, Notch window seals don't fit
> Fastbacks, etc. A little experimenting and a little vulcanizing glue can
> go a long way to furthering a project. Couple that with the vast amount
> of experience available to any of us for the asking from the folks on
> this list (kudos to Greg Merrit, again!) and I don't think there is any
> problem that can't be fixed (just witness the FI hell that some folks
> are still going through). Bill and Steve's in Bellflower, CA and Type 3
> Detectives in England also can get alot of *obselete* parts, all you
> have to do is call. Speaking of Type 3 Detectives, my order of
> replacement rocker panels and Euro tail light lenses  for my '73 came in
> today at 7:30 am while I was still on duty and my wife was still asleep.
> My six year old son (broken collar bone, and all) answered the door,
> paid the C.O.D. out of his piggy bank, and signed for the package all by
> himself, bless his heart. That's my boy!
> As for what makes a valuable car worth buying, a wise man once told me
> that it takes at least two people to make any car a classic, if only one
> person thinks it's a classic, then it's just a pile of junk to everyone
> else. There are three reasons to buy a car, and fix it up yourself,
> rather than buying one finished already: One-some people don't trust any
> work but their own. If you did the work yourself, then you've only
> yourself to blame for mistakes. Second-some folks pay as they go. You
> may not be able to afford a finished car, but you may be able to drive
> the car and work on it as budget allows. And third-there are those that
> simply enjoy the work.  They get the most pleasure out of sandblasting a
> frame, or scraping old gaskets off heads, and these are the people that
> don't keep track of the hours spent on their cars. The universal truth
> is that fixing up a project car doesn't have to make sense-financially
> or otherwise. They simply have to fit into an owner's spiritual balance
> sheet (with thanks to Keith Martin @ Sports Car Market Magazine).
> Thanks.
> David "It's not just a project, it's an obsession" Walters
> '73 1600 Notch
> S. FL, USA
> P.S. For ToM and Roland, you guys are lucky. It usually takes me a day
> or so just to make up my mind to work on my car.