HELP

In my last post I lamented the mess I had made of the trunk lid on the 84 Mustang I am restoring. Well, after countless hours of sanding, hammering and filling I finally got it straight and today I painted it. IT IS BEAUTIFUL if I do say so myself.

Being a perfectionist is a character flaw I,ve always had and it has alienated some people that I look back and regret losing as friends. I have no idea why it is that anything I try to do has to be perfect when other people's poor, in my opinion, craftsmanship doesen't really bother me, unless of course he is doing it for me.

When I mow my lawn, which is large, I mow it twice. I mow in one direction the first time and the second time I mow perpendicular to the first. Not a blade of grass gets missed and the pattern mowin leaves must be 90 degrees. I go to all this trouble with my lawn but since I retired I only shave every 3 days.

If anyone has an explanation for my quirk I would appreciate hearing from you. I'm to anal , didn't have bad potty training and had a loving family so those are not the reasons.

Chuck

What Have I Done!!!

I wrote in a previous post about restoring a 1984 Mustang convertible my Son in Law got for my Daughter. I have completed the engine, interior and wiring and now I'm doing the body work.

I have created a mess I'm not sure I can fix. My Son in Law removed the luggage rack that he thought was not original to the car and threw it away. Well, it turns out the rack was original on the GT models so dumping it was a big mistake. It was mounted on the trunk lid and there were screw holes left when he took it off. So, no luggage rack and a bunch of holes in the trunk lid. What did I, in one of my more brilliant moments do? I asked a neighbor to weld up the holes. The guy welds for a living so I assumed he knew what he was doing. Wrong!! Automotive sheetmetal is thin and my welder friend is used to welding pipe so he overheated the metal and warped it 6 ways from Sunday.

I have spent a week trying to smooth it out and it still looks like hell. I would buy a new one but they are as scarce as hen's teeth. I have no option but to fix it. I'm thinking about taking it to a body shop but I'm sure they would take one look at it and tell me to take a flying leap. Besides, I'm humiliated at the mess and don't have anyone to blame it on.

One way or another I am going to get it smooth but I have learned a couple of lessons from the experience. 1) Never throw away anything you take off an old car, you will need it as soon as the dumpster is picked up and 2) never ask a friend to do something he doesn't ordinarily do. He will screw it up every time.

Chuck