First Update

We saw the cars on Tuesday. They are up in Oroville, about an hour from Davis. They looked great, and well, horrible at the same time. They were complete, and then some. Twenty years of sitting where ever they were sitting did a job on them. They aren't very rusty at all, but they are full of animal and plant debris, they smell bad, the interior (which we do not need) is rotten, and, well you get the picture. But, they are complete! Also, the motor turns by hand, and the oil on the dipstick looks new, and a quick peek inside the valve cover looks great. The carbs are Webers, which is great, and they are frozen shut, which is even better. No crap in the intake. We feel much better about the motor situation and can't wait to get the cars home to pull the plugs and check them and do a compression test.

We made an offer, it was accepted, and we'll go back on Monday to get them. The parts car will go to Alan's house and the other to mine.

Since Tuesday a lot has happened. Alan pitched a bunch of team names to me, and I pitched a couple back at him, and I even did some focus group testing (two guys), and as of about an hour ago we have our team name.

I visited the Chevy dealer in town this morning and the folks I talked to today were nice, and interested, but not helpful, yet. I was looking for contact info for the Corvette Racing team, and help with the graphics we wanted to put on the car (same as on the real Corvettes). Their parts guy said he'd see about getting us some Corvette badging. Hmm, I wonder if we can fit a Corvette gas cap onto this car. I left them a copy of my 2009 LeMons video (2 DVD set!) and promised to be back soon. I'll ask about the gas cap the next time I drop in.

I posted a request for a big ass wing on the Bay Area Prelude forum and got a number of responses right away. The first asked if I was really going to put it on my Prelude. Hell no! Two others had wings to sell. One is a carbon-fiber wing and I will pick it up in Richmond tomorrow. The guy wanted only $60 for it, but that's still over 10% of our build budget, so I am trying to barter that down with video services. If that fails, I've been offered an aluminum wing. No price yet, and it is in Stockton. So our goal to have a big black wing with an XM logo on it seems to have been met already.

As for decals and such, I contacted a guy, Bob, in Georgia, who does signs and vinyl (He once skinned a Jaguar to make it look like the General Lee!), who I almost did the Fireball Run with two years ago. Back then he offered decal help if I ever needed it, so I renewed ties. He sent me a link to a secret sign-guy site where you can download the logos of many companies. He can use them to make the decals for us, and has offered to do so. He hinted at my well known video abilities, so I'll be doing video for him in exchange. He's doing the Fireball run again this year, so that's probably what the video will be about.

I checked out the site Bob sent me the link to and found nearly everything we needed! Motorola, Mobil 1, GMAC, etc. I didn't find the right Compuware logo but Bob found it for me at another one of his secret sign-guy sites. He's ready to make the decals for us. We don't have the cars yet.

I visited the bone yard in Woodland. No Opels. Well, I wouldn't recognize any Opel except the GT, and I didn't see any GTs, so that's practically the same thing as no Opels. They did have a GT there about 4 years ago. It sat around the yard forever, but it is long gone now. I checked at PicknPull.com but they don't even list Opels. The Opel racing and classics sites I have found will be coming in handy soon, I am sure.

As for painting, we'll roller it. I've received great tips and links showing how to do this cheap and make it look great. All I need is some cheap yellow paint, a roller, sand paper, and some black rattle-can paint for the butt and wheels.

As for where to keep the cars, I live in a duplex and the co-owner, Alan, lives in a nice neighborhood with nice houses and except for his house all have less than nine cars in the carport and garage. I've cleared things with my duplex neighbor, who thinks it will be interesting. I'm not sure what Alan has been able to do at his house to prepare for the arrival of the parts car, but he did say that he and his son Zep need to finish that Firebird-to-Z car engine swap asap so they can get rid of the Firebird shell and make room for the Opel GT.

As for my idea of making a small stage in the front yard and putting the car on it, and working on it there, sort of a public art-in-progress exhibition, I drafted a letter to my neighbors, explaining my plan, how this was not some redneckesque shade tree thing, that it wouldn't smell or be noisy, and that it might be nice to see the transformation of a pale, rusty, blue object of pity into a proud and shiny yellow race car. In other words, don't call the cops on me. I was all about the try it out on the two neighbors who wouldn't immediately gag at the idea, but then, running the whole scenario through my mind again, I realized that prep'ing and painting a car under a sappy tree was not a good idea. So, letter deleted. I'll put the car on dollies and do all the work in the car port. But, in writing that letter I had promised a completion date that was a couple weeks before the August race. Damn, we had better get busy!

Much progress so far, but on top of what Alan and I have managed to get done this week we are also getting a lot of interest and support from people in the Davis Motorsports Club. A potential paying driver, offers to help wrench on the car, advice for the roll cage, and even one guy who will do the logo and other graphics, and the t-shirts, for the team. Not bad.