Well, my truck died – I think the torque converter went bad, and in her current shape and age, that was the final death blow – it was time…
My truck was a 2000 Dodge Ram 1500 4×4 Quad Cab – I ordered it new from the factory in October of 1999, and it was a BIG deal at the time!
I don’t think I ever really stopped to think about the adventures I’ve been on with just “me and my truck…” until I pulled these pictures out for this blog posting. We’ve picked up and delivered alot of E-Types together, and she was a KEY player in getting this business off the ground and keeping it going. She was a MUST HAVE item!
And so when she finally died, I didn’t waste any time replacing her – I had a new truck in the driveway in less than 24 hours! Let’s just say that a new truck has been “on my mind” for a little while…
The new truck is great – it is 3 or 4 times the truck that the old one was, and I have been tickled over it for the past few days. But pulling out these pictures from the past few years has me a little wet in the eyes over the old girl – she was a good friend sometimes when I was far from home.
I think you will agree, and enjoy this sentimental batch of photos – the old girl did her fair share in bringing E-Types back to life – and then some!
-
- this was the first tub bought by the new business – it was a tub we parted out at the shop I worked at as a kid. We were going to build it into a race car, but it was still hanging in the rafters of the old shop when I started Monocoque Metalworks…
-
- Bringing home the brake – it was supposed to weigh “about 1500 lbs.” – turned out to be more like 2500 – ALL of which was at thye roof line! I dove home 80 miles at 40 mph with the flashers on and bulging tires…
-
- …down 896 on a Tuesday night – after midnight – on black ice – after the most snow we ever got here with 8-foot drifts – just look at the stop sign! Then I got up at 6:30 and went to work at JP Morgan – these were the early days!
-
- She also brought home the shear – which I then TOTALLY restored – to say the least!
-
- Coming home from Hershey one year – AACA Fall Meet.
-
- One of the first customer shells coming in to the new building – note the driveway is not in yet.
-
- One of the first shells going out…
-
- Coming back across the border into the US with fiberglass bonnet molds.
-
- This selfie was taken while bringing home a Series 2 OTS parts car from Long Island.
-
- I took a “wrong turn” on that trip, and ended up on BROADWAY in Manhattan!!!
-
- Delivering the hand-built and fitted welded-louver bonnet for the 41st LHD coupe.
-
- Compressor upgrade…
-
- Another rescued E-Type project car – this is a Series 2 FHC in Connecticut.
-
- It was always fun to drive down the road and see E-types in the rear-view mirror!
-
- And I loved waking up and looking out the window to a sight like this – pure treasure!
-
- Picking up the new English wheel in Hendersonville, North Carolina.
-
- Coming home from that trip, I pulled over and took this photo of the full moon rising.
-
- A restored V-12 bonnet being dropped off at the freight depot for a trip to Mexico.
-
- Moving E-Type body shells to the new storage area – this is a Series 1.5 2+2 cowl in front of a Series 2 OTS shell.
-
- This is a different, very solid Series 2 OTS shell that we rescued, and converted to Series 1 for use in the restoration of a very tired ’65 OTS.
-
- E-Type front suspension arms piled in the back seat – which was often FILLED with E-Type parts on these trips!
-
- Coming over the George Washington bridge between New York and New Jersey with that Series 2 OTS shell above.
-
- A load of SWB E-Type door shells being dropped off at storage.
-
- Alan’s ’62 FHC shell going back home – this is the same red shell above coming in on the gravel driveway…
-
- Here is a close-up of the old girl when she was relatively clean…
-
- This never got old for me. Unfortunately, I don’t think I can get this shot in the new truck…
-
- Crossing from Ohio into Indiana on a BIG E-Type adventure in the Fall of 2012.
-
- First, I dropped off a Series 1.5 center section and wings (in the back of the truck) in Indianapolis – which this photo was taken near…
-
- The old girl and I spent alot of LONG days together – heading off into the sunset on another E-Type adventure!
-
- Next, we dropped off the Series 2 bonnet near Kalamazoo, Michigan.
-
- At out next stop in the very northern tip of Michigan – Boyne City – we PACKED the truck, AND the trailer, FULL of E-Types!
-
- See! I’m not kidding!
-
- Then headed off somewhere over the rainbow…
-
- We made even more stops on that trip – in Toledo and Akron, Ohio – by the end, we were stuffing E-Type panels EVERYWHERE!
-
- Headed off on a beautiful Fall day to rescue another E-Type carcass near Pittsburgh, PA in 2012.
-
- Door skins required a SERIOUS roller – and the truck, as always, stepped up to the task!
-
- And then a better, but relatively small Diacro Press brake. I had to stop in the middle of Christmas dinner to make sure I won this on eBay – then picked it up in Brooklyn a few days later – here, the truck is parked on the sidewalk in Brooklyn, NY.
-
- This view just never got old…
-
- Delivering a Series 2 project car…
-
- Another rescue – this one is an early ’62 FHC.
-
- Dropping off a completely restored 1965 OTS shell at the freight depot.
-
- An antique diner in Millbrook, Connecticut, on the way to the Jaguar Races at Lime Rock.
-
- …and on the way home, we picked up the 1966 FHC project car – and brought back the Donovan #61 race bonnet for more work after the race.
-
- Here, that bonnet is headed BACK to Donovan in Massachusetts, in August, 2013.
-
- A restored Series 1.5 converted to covered headlamps, being delivered to a shop in New Jersey.
-
- I love this job…
-
- Piecing together a hybrid Series 1/2 project that we sold last September.
-
- That car being delivered to the freight depot.
-
- Gavin’s completed 1967 FHC shell being delivered to Columbus, Ohio.
-
- Happy times in the old truck!
-
- The remains of a Series 2 OTS, rescued in Cincinnatti, Ohio.
-
- A brisk late Fall morning in Pennsylvania – headed up to pick up my “new” 1967 2+2!
-
- A REALLY close call – this was a narrowly avoided disaster this past Winter when I hit ice coming over a rise just before dawn in western Maryland.
-
- Coming back – after the highway patroilwinched me out and I settled my nerves – NOTHING stops a good E-Type adventure! This is an EXCELLENT Series 2 OTS shell!
-
- Last Wednesday AM – headed up to Donovan Jaguar on the Taconic Scenic Parkway just as the sun is coming up, highlighting the Adirondacks in the background.
-
- …and last Wednesday PM, when the transmission finally had nothing else to give to the E-Type rescue cause… This is where she finally stopped moving under her own power – the maintenance entrance of the Bell Vista Country Club, in Marlboro, NJ. Man, that was an expensive 108-mile tow! What you can’t see in these photos is that she is filled with about 1/2 of a 1966 E-Type FHC that I just purchased in Poughkeepsie, NY.
-
- And so with a blown automatic transmission and new tires needed soon, this was my answer to that problem. We have needed this for a while – a new truck! This is a 2014 Ford F-150 XLT 4×4 SuperCrew – she’s big – and FANCY! Wow – trucks have changed ALOT in the past 14 years!
-
- Brand new, full of gas, and OF COURSE – British Racing Green (or as close as I could get…) – with a little light grey thrown in to remember the old truck! And she’s ready to take over where the old girl left off! First thing tomorrow morning, we’ll be transferring all of the E-Type parts in the old truck into this truck and taking them to storage, then heading up to buy steel sheets. The adventure never ends!
