2009 IPD Garage Sale

Slideshow here.

Imprfct'd's IPD Annual Garage Sale and Car Show photoset

Saab loving was needed

Hey, all-- crashbox tells me that some Saab loving was needed on the blog. I'm game. I look forward to posting this summer as I will be spending the dog days of summer tearing apart the 1987 Saab 900 (Devon) again to take care of a transmission pinion bearing and a leaking power steering rack. The 1990 900 Turbo-vert (Ulla) is being persnickety after a winter in the garage, but I guess it's my fault for putting it away with a few issues. Ball joints, driver's window regulator rebuild, and convertible top replacement are scheduled for the early weekends of June. I'm almost done re-upholstering the seats. Leather is stiff. The 1991 900s (my only naturally aspirated car, Seymour) has been a lucky find- $500 and no real issues. I am replacing the CV's to eliminate clicking and vibrations on sharp cornering, but that's all! New York's safety inspection is picky, and Devon failed (e-brake and power steering need rebuilding) just as Seymour became available. I left a note on the guy's windshield two years ago offering to buy his car if he ever wanted to sell. He saved my note and called me at the same moment, literally, as Devon failed NYS inspection. He told me to name my price. I low-balled at $500 because of the CV's and small amount of body rust. For a one-owner, well-maintained car, I think I got a steal. This takes a little bit of the pressure off the projects with Devon and Ulla. Anyhow, let me know if any hot Volvos need a date with a black Saab.

IPD Garage Sale

Well folks, tomorrow is the Annual IPD Garage Sale.

I'm hoping to take the camera and do an Imprfct'd exclusive scoop, with lots of pictures.

Stay tuned.

With all the parts I need to start building the wheels for my new bike assembled, I am finally ready to bust out the Sheldon Brown tutorial and get to work! Though I had good luck with my previous wheels using some clothespins and the frame of the bike for truing(!), I felt that this time I should really use a proper wheel truing stand. There were none on craigslist.org, and ebay was way too expensive and takes too long to ship anyway. I needed an alternative...

There just so happened to be some old aluminum door frame pieces hanging around the shop as scrap, and I started thinking...

Sometimes you've got to make your own tools.

Bike Resurected: Specialized Hardrock Sport

Love and thanks to crashbox for getting a bike up and running for my fiance Alyssa! It's solid, with a cro-moly frame and gripshift/shimano components, and best of all, it's free! We're both very happy about it!

Update: 'Stang's at the Upholstery shop

Hope it's done sometime this week, coughed up 300 bucks to get the seats redone and headliner put in. After spending 1200 trying to kill the mechanical gremlins and failing I am feeling very deflated about the car. Hope the fresh interior works out....

Imperfected Perfection

Just in: rust, dried grease, and a broken spoke.

I picked up a new bike for free from the Ojai church rummage sale today! It is a Volkscycle Mark X, a brand I know very little about as of yet. What I gleaned so far from from the omniscient google is that it is a Japanese brand, build in the early 70s by Bridgestone, and was not considered a high end bike, though it seems to have been decently respectable as an entry-level machine. Mine looks like hell, but after lubricating the drivetrain and brakes and pumping up the tires I found that it works nearly perfectly! It shifts beautifully smooth, brakes reasonably well, and despite the wheels being more than a little out of true, it rolls down the road just fine. I need to find a missing nut for the front brake and the pin for the cotter crank on the drive side broke off when i tried to tighten it, but the rest of it is in working order. I still can't believe that the ancient tires hold air, and surprisingly, though built mostly from cheap steel, it seems to weigh right around thirty pounds; not too bad considering. And check out the sweet rack and seat tool bag! The mustache bars are a nice alternative to the standard drops too.

After some consideration, I have decided that the intense patina this thing sports is way too good to mess with---so my goal is to do as little as possible to keep it reliable and functional, and just revel in the sheer crappiness of it...it will be fun to have a geared bike again too...

Santa Paula Cruise Night 5/09

Represent!

It was another fun Friday in Santa Paula. Rain tested the meddle of rodders and racers and it was a very interesting show, despite the naysayers. Because of the weather, I was able to only get a few pics so here we are:

The belle of the ball had to be this real-life 300sl. One don't see 500k cars in Santa Paula very often, lol. The owner was a cool old guy who inherited the car from his father. He drives it, lets it get wet, because "noone else does." I can respect that!... though I have to admit I was bummed when he wouldn't let me sit in it. Think that's about as close as I'll ever get to seeing one of those on the street.


Chevy! All really clean cars. 4o9 in the 'vert = win.


But my fav had to be this pair of '69's. That is a great looking camaro. The Charger has an incorrect (I think) a12 option hood, but had LACR stickers to more than justify it's very mean looking existence.

I was delighted to see a pack of Cobra sitting in the drizzle; got to see the blue one drive away... do 427's sound even better than 44o six-packs? Perhapts. The sweetest one was a Factory 5 Dayton, epic and gorgeous, which was constantly surrounded making photos nearly impossible. Other nice fords include a sharp highland green Fairlane and '69 coupe wearing shelby stripes.

Great to see the Imperfect'd gang there! Cross my fingers for my mustang for next month.