Well, this pic is not so clear or inventive, but it IS current -- Took it today at the local Hot Spot about 4 PM and just beat the rush which tends to fill up all the tanning booths on the tanners' way home from work! Don't think I have much time to clean it up before HNT, but I'll try.
This pic was taken as I started to strip down to tan nearly nude. I don't know if you saw a similar pic I took a few months ago, but I can see a definite lessening of the spare tire around my middle. Since I know my WH Girls are all trying to get skinni for Bikini Season which is about ON TOP of us, I tell them I have to get ready for Bikini Season too, & that usually gets a laugh! Of course, they don't see me like THIS or they might think I would actually wear a speedo suit at a public beach! If my legs had no bad scarring and less fat, I'd consider it. But, seriously, I DO want to wear my swim trunks low on my hips so my Good-Evil tat will definitely show as I walk down our local beaches! (I am, therefore, continuing my quest for less tonnage and more tannage!)
For what it's worth, my '59 Thunderbird restoration is progressing to the point where Ted, my car guy, wants us to take it to the local fancy Burger Place parking lot this Friday evening to show it off. NOTE: THE LICENSE PLATE TO THE LEFT IS MINE FOREVER AS LONG AS I PAY FL's ANNUAL FEES ON TIME!!! There is a LOT left to do -- we have barely begun but it now has all the significant body work on the left rear quarter panel pounded out, bondoed, and primer painted. It also has the 5 new special-order, bias-ply, white sidewalls to match the rest of the original "survivor" characteristics of this classic car--highly unusual in that this car has ALWAYS been "on the road" & kept in a driveable state. One reason that it IS in such good shape must be that my aunt & uncle in Sacramento (CA) always kept it parked in an enclosed garage at their home and only drove it on special occasions. Those tires were mounted on the original rims that Ted had ground & sandblasted free of all rust buildups.
This restoration work is very labor intensive and Ted is a perfectionistic stickler not to just rush it through in a half-ass manner like a normal car-and-body shop would to finish and get paid. Ted multi-tasks long-term projects from different people which allows me to limit the expenditures for his labor and parts to $1000 each month. That way, I can afford it out of my retired pay and Ted can enjoy restoring this first classic T-Bird of his restoration career. He is "a 1-man car shop" & fixes normal cars normally, too. Ted really DOES do everything a "car guy" COULD do (including buying, transporting, and selling) with a motor vehicle. For a 51-year old car, my T-Bird has only a little rust buildup in a few edges of panels which Mike will sandblast off before he primes and paints the exterior in the "candy-apple red" I want to finish this T-Bird in. That color is the only change I will have made to the original car equipment and appearance in this restoration.
The eventual complete replacement of interior white & red leather will have to wait awhile til I have enough money saved to do that. However, my car guy already found a local lady he did car work for who can reupholster the complete interior. Ted is MUCH more impressed with the value & showmanship capability of this T-Bird than I am, but restoring classic cars ARE his thing! I know nothing about them and cars have never been a central part of my life as I never got to own ANY car until I graduated with my 4-year university degree and took an Air Force commission as a 2nd Lieutenant.
Ted says the value of this restored "Survivor" Thunderbird will far exceed the COST of restoring it, but that really doesn't matter to ME! My lifetime mentors, values, & experiences always taught me never to do things primarily for money or what they will do for how I look, nor to make others envious of me. And I will NEVER sell it! I am doing this because this car has overriding sentimental value as a family heirloom left by 2 of my most adored and adoring relatives ever and, apparently, my aunt had promised it to my older son before senility robbed her of her memory. That detail was not in her Will and I was her sole beneficiary so it is up to me to make her intent happen. But, since that son is also inheriting everything I have when I go (& is NOT paying for this restoration), I'm going to have a fair amount of personal fun with this classic antique car before I go! Ted keeps swearing that it will take all kinds of prizes in car shows he would enter it in but, you know, I'm just not THAT "into" all the fol-de-rol! Next week, CAR pics of everyone's rides on view Friday at the Burger Place!
This pic was taken as I started to strip down to tan nearly nude. I don't know if you saw a similar pic I took a few months ago, but I can see a definite lessening of the spare tire around my middle. Since I know my WH Girls are all trying to get skinni for Bikini Season which is about ON TOP of us, I tell them I have to get ready for Bikini Season too, & that usually gets a laugh! Of course, they don't see me like THIS or they might think I would actually wear a speedo suit at a public beach! If my legs had no bad scarring and less fat, I'd consider it. But, seriously, I DO want to wear my swim trunks low on my hips so my Good-Evil tat will definitely show as I walk down our local beaches! (I am, therefore, continuing my quest for less tonnage and more tannage!)
For what it's worth, my '59 Thunderbird restoration is progressing to the point where Ted, my car guy, wants us to take it to the local fancy Burger Place parking lot this Friday evening to show it off. NOTE: THE LICENSE PLATE TO THE LEFT IS MINE FOREVER AS LONG AS I PAY FL's ANNUAL FEES ON TIME!!! There is a LOT left to do -- we have barely begun but it now has all the significant body work on the left rear quarter panel pounded out, bondoed, and primer painted. It also has the 5 new special-order, bias-ply, white sidewalls to match the rest of the original "survivor" characteristics of this classic car--highly unusual in that this car has ALWAYS been "on the road" & kept in a driveable state. One reason that it IS in such good shape must be that my aunt & uncle in Sacramento (CA) always kept it parked in an enclosed garage at their home and only drove it on special occasions. Those tires were mounted on the original rims that Ted had ground & sandblasted free of all rust buildups.
This restoration work is very labor intensive and Ted is a perfectionistic stickler not to just rush it through in a half-ass manner like a normal car-and-body shop would to finish and get paid. Ted multi-tasks long-term projects from different people which allows me to limit the expenditures for his labor and parts to $1000 each month. That way, I can afford it out of my retired pay and Ted can enjoy restoring this first classic T-Bird of his restoration career. He is "a 1-man car shop" & fixes normal cars normally, too. Ted really DOES do everything a "car guy" COULD do (including buying, transporting, and selling) with a motor vehicle. For a 51-year old car, my T-Bird has only a little rust buildup in a few edges of panels which Mike will sandblast off before he primes and paints the exterior in the "candy-apple red" I want to finish this T-Bird in. That color is the only change I will have made to the original car equipment and appearance in this restoration.
The eventual complete replacement of interior white & red leather will have to wait awhile til I have enough money saved to do that. However, my car guy already found a local lady he did car work for who can reupholster the complete interior. Ted is MUCH more impressed with the value & showmanship capability of this T-Bird than I am, but restoring classic cars ARE his thing! I know nothing about them and cars have never been a central part of my life as I never got to own ANY car until I graduated with my 4-year university degree and took an Air Force commission as a 2nd Lieutenant.
Ted says the value of this restored "Survivor" Thunderbird will far exceed the COST of restoring it, but that really doesn't matter to ME! My lifetime mentors, values, & experiences always taught me never to do things primarily for money or what they will do for how I look, nor to make others envious of me. And I will NEVER sell it! I am doing this because this car has overriding sentimental value as a family heirloom left by 2 of my most adored and adoring relatives ever and, apparently, my aunt had promised it to my older son before senility robbed her of her memory. That detail was not in her Will and I was her sole beneficiary so it is up to me to make her intent happen. But, since that son is also inheriting everything I have when I go (& is NOT paying for this restoration), I'm going to have a fair amount of personal fun with this classic antique car before I go! Ted keeps swearing that it will take all kinds of prizes in car shows he would enter it in but, you know, I'm just not THAT "into" all the fol-de-rol! Next week, CAR pics of everyone's rides on view Friday at the Burger Place!
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