Update from St. Louis . . . and Gary

Talked to Gary this afternoon. He's still in Boise, and thinks he just about has his engine put back together.

However, he had (wisely) thought better of pushing his rebuilt engine/ new engine too much, and will find a place to park it and get a flight out here to St. Louis.

Good for him! I hope he took pictures, and we who are here in St. Louis can't wait to see him.

Chuck, Phil Needham, Ken Lessig and I are here so far . . . Cole Brooks and David Livingston are supposed to be here today, but I haven't seen them yet.

It's just great today to see all the Bs keep pulling into the hotel parking lot, one after another. They are from all over. I saw plates from California, Ottawa, New Mexico, Oregon, everywhere.

Oh, and my car is finally fully operational once again. After much befuddlement, we finally took the generator out and opened it up this morning. Fried. Toast. Burned beyond recognition. (Yeah, THAT will keep it from charging . . . ) Theory is that the coil short ciruit/arced and fried the regulator and the generator.

Luckily, there was a great alternator/generator guy just 6 miles down the road from the hotel. Walked into his shop with my generator, walked out with a rebuilt one he had on the shelf 5 minutes later.

(One small snafu, the generator he gave me had a different kind of bracket on it, and when we put it on the car, it wouldn't let the pully fan turn. So we had to go back to his shop, but he just pulled another one off the shelf! Great older guy, the kind of guy who the minute you see him, you know he's been around engines all his life and knows what he's doin.)

Chuck and Phil deserve big kudos for helping me out and getting everything put back together. Thanks, guys!

More later, once we hear Gary's plans.

Thanks for the update Kim

Parking that car is the smartest thing Gary has done since Sunday. Pushing for St. Louis like he was would have gotten to something on a fresh overhaul. I burned the rings on a freshly overhauled '56 Harley KHK in a hard run to Norfolk, VA In 1958. I went from the Mississippi River, about 110 miles South of St Louis to 30 miles East of Charleston, WV in one day....... No interstate highways back then....... In the rain all the way. My Levi's had so much grit in them I stood them in the corner at the motel that night.

Glad you got your sparkies going again Kim. Chuck jumping the fields and it charging fooled me. It must have been charging with one field coil, if I'd been ther to smell it I would have nailed it.

Congrats! And thanks for sharing.

You raise a good point, John. The nose knows. It may seem like a weird ritual but I always give a printed circuit board a quick snorf to see if it has that "lost smoke" smell. I've solved a bazillion problems and made a buck or two with the old sniff test. That smell is unmistakable. If you smell it, something has fried and needs attention.

Kim et al,
So glad you all made it safely.
Have a great time now you are there.
Keep us stay-at-homes posted.
Regards, Graham.

About what time are you guys in St. Louis going to the show site on Saturday?

John -- Well, the show opens at 9 a.m., and I imagine Chas. and I will get over there by 10 a.m. at the latest.

Look forward to seeing you there! We just took a cruise out to the park (top down) at sunset, and it sure was pretty!

That's about the time slot I had in mind for getting there. Don't know about Bea for sure yet and only talk about it inside the house when her detached garage door is closed.

I know that Gary made the smart choice. It's still tough to take, though. I haven't had this much fun living vicariously through someone since Lyle Lovett married Julia Roberts!

Thank Gary for the fun he gave us while it lasted. Have fun and PLEASE post lots of pics.

Craig Kubiak
'79B

It DIDN"T smell burn't John. actually the commutator was coming apart. But I already told you that