A good weekend with Dad

If you've been reading this blog since the beginning, you know that one of my big regrets growing up was not paying as much attention as I should have when my Father bought and worked on a 1968 Mustang.  He would go out and work on it and I would sometimes help, but mostly with a lack of interest. I should have learned much more about cars than I did. So, with that background, I was pretty excited about this weekend since my parents were coming to visit us for the first time since Big Red came to stay in the garage. Dad looked the truck over and asked why I wanted such a large vehicle, but asked if I wanted some help on anything while he was in town. Of course, I said yes!

Yesterday, in the limited time we had (I still had to work while the folks were in town), we decided to see if we could wrestle off the hubcaps that had been giving me trouble. In short order, we had three of them off, with the fourth hard to get to. I'll give that one a try this week when I have time to crawl under the truck, since that wheel is close to the garage wall.

While walking around in my garage, my Dad also commented on the mirrors and how much they were in the way. He asked if they were original, and if I planned to keep them. Since the answer to both questions was "no," off they came. Even though they are a more recent addition to the truck, some of the bolts were stuck, and some access panels on the inside of the door had to be removed to get at the bolts.

We also looked at the master cylinder, and discussed my plan of attack for trying to rebuild it. He brought me a bunch of tools that he no longer has plans to use, including a tap and die set, and a grinder, amongst other things. Great stuff.

Best of all, the final comment from my Dad when we were done working, was, "this is going to be a fun project. I'd love to come up and help you more, but 1200 miles every weekend is a bit much for me." That comment alone made my weekend, not to mention working with my Dad on a fun project like Big Red...