Disaster!

If you've watched the national news, you may have heard that Oklahoma got hit by a terrible ice storm. When the ice on my shop started to melt, it flooded about a fourth of the inside. My Beetle was not in the flooded area. The shop is a mess, but only that.

It's nothing compared to what some of the people just south of me have suffered. The people in Muskogee, McAlester and surrounding areas are still without power and some parts don't have running water. It truly is a disaster for those poor folks down there. Homes are damaged due to falling trees and flooding of burst pipes.

There are disaster relief teams working in the area and if you would like to support them, you can donate to Southern Baptist Disaster Relief by clicking here:



Also, Bank of Oklahoma and the News on 6 partnered together to accept donations for disaster relief...if you're in Oklahoma, click here for more information:



I look forward to getting the shop cleaned up and dried out so we can get back to work on our Beetle! I'll post some pictures of the mess in my shop when I can.

Pedal Assembly

I've got a problem. It concerns my brake/clutch pedal assembly. The reference books I've got seem to have a slightly different variation and I'm not sure how mine should even look because mine was absolute toast. The part that the clutch cable beam goes through is so corroded it looks like stone.

See?



I'd like to salvage as much of the assembly as I can. I know it's pretty rusty, but I'm pretty sure I can clean it up. I'm thinking of seeing if I can find the ruined parts at a salvage yard.

I've got the gas pedal packed away.

Happy New Year from our Shop to Yours!

Well, we saw the end of 2006 while working in the shop on the Beetle. At least in New York...we were back in the house by midnight here.

Here we are, having our New Year's Eve party. The fare consisted of several different noshes that my brother-in-law sent us for Christmas. He does this every year...sends us a great box of goodies, which we save (for the most part) for our New Year's Eve party. He lives in California, so it's always a bit of adventure opening his gift...you never know what goodies are packed inside!



It's fancier stuff than we normally snack on, so I haul out my fine wedding crystal (which likely came from K-Mart...but that's ok) and we all drink ginger-ale out of champagne flutes.



It's the only time they boys are allowed to drink out of the nice glasses...so it really makes the evening special for them.

We also watched the movie "Cars"...Joshua got it for a Christmas present and now everything is "Cars" related. He loves that movie!

Matthew most enjoyed the basil-infused oil...he likes dipping french bread in it and eating it that way...


I think any minute Steve is gonna attack him for that bread...heh heh!

It was a great party. I know Steve and I look terrible, but we had been working on the Beetle all day. Having my family out in the shop, celebrating the end of 2006 and the beginning of 2007 right next to my Beetle was just the best. Although Time's Square looks fun, there's no place I'd rather celebrate than in my shop with my family.

Now...back to the topic...

Steve got that major hole fixed. He welded the patch into place, then went under the car and welded a reinforcement into place as well. Right there where the body sits down on the rear chassis support beam was a bit weak. So the reinforcement will help stabilize it.

Here's the patch...clamped into place and also held into place with some powerful magnets I got out of our broken microwave's magnetron.



After he welded it into place, he took the grinder to it...



Finally, he put a layer of seam sealer on the welded part and this is what it looks like now! No more big hole back there! It's solid!



Watching that Cars movie got me to thinking about how nice it would be to get this old Beetle fixed up and get on Route 66 and drive west...all the way from Tulsa to California. Take the Mother Road to Bakersfield. We could go visit Steve's brother and sit around eating noshes with him!

Might be just a pipe dream...but I've had pipe dreams come true before. It could happen!