It just wasn't meant to be, I guess

Sadly, our project has ended before it began. What was to be a bonding experience for a couple of sisters and their ailing and emotionally distant father, turned into a typical (for us) family explosion.

Things were working out great. Steph was even gaining more 'family' time with Dad by easing off the 'caretaker' role. Now, it may sound cruel for a man's daughters to not want to take care of him, but trust me, it's not. Anyone who has known a father that has never been much more than a man who likes to argue for the sake of arguing, knows that he's not an easy person to get along with. The stress of taking care of Dad was too much, and it's understandable since she also has her own life and full-time job. There are resources aplenty for a person needing to get around out here. Steph was even going to make arrangements for home delivery of groceries. Surprisingly, Dad was cool with Steph's decision. Until about 3 days later when suddenly he felt jilted (and, not to air dirty family laundry, but this wasn't really a surprise that his mind changed so suddenly). When she told him we'd be coming over to start working on the car he said, 'don't bother. As you have changed your mind about taking care of me, I have changed my mind about the car and am going to sell it.'

With that short conversation, he killed any hope of a normal father-daughter relationship with any of us. And, sadly, he crushed our hopes of learning something fun and interesting from our father.

He will not sell the car. He just doesn't want us to touch it. I thought, with his mortality so 'in his face' that he was truly trying to change and be a better person. But this tiger can not change his stripes. He will be a mean and spiteful person until his last day.

I am sorry to say, unless there is some miracle of miracles, these 'Barracuda Sisters' are merely 'Plain 'ol sisters' and this diary has ended.

(I feel that, since this is a 'diary' I will be forgiven for the highly personal tone of this entry.)

Just an update

Unfortunately I don't have any photos to accompany this post. Yes, a car blog with no photos is a bit dull, but this is just an informational post.
Since it has been quite some time since my last post, I thought I'd check in.
Steph and I hit a snag with some family issues that needed tending. I wasn't sure we'd come out of it all with permission to go on with the Barracuda project. I wasn't even sure the car would still be available. But, after a couple 'meetings' with Dad, and getting all the 'rightful owners of property' figured out, the car still resides at Dad's house which he is planning on staying in for at least a couple more years.
That said...it has turned cold again, here on the East Coast. We had GORGEOUS 70+ degree weather for about a week, then more frost and 30 degree temps came back.
The good news, Dad also still wants to work on the car with us and wants to get a portable car port. I had wanted one, don't have the money to spend on one, and had decided to rig up some tarps. This will be better, though, sometimes Dad just likes to spend money until it's gone.
We are eager to get a move on, and with my schedule these days, I am excited the actually have the time to do it.
Until next time...when we will hopefully be doing some actual work!!...

I haven't been playing Bingo...

I haven't posted in quite some time. Snow storms, new 6-day work schedule, and a whole slew of other day-to-day hassles getting in the way, I suppose.

But...the past couple days here have been sunny and in the 60's! I hear there's a bit more of the cold weather on the way, but that's to be expected since it IS still just March.

I'd love to start some work, but Steph's been working mid-shifts at her job, so me getting out at noon doesn't really count for much yet. Then she's off for a long weekend in Boston with our other sister, so it looks like we're looking at maybe starting some work early to mid-April.

In other good news, it looks like Dad's foot is healing since his last surgery has opened up an important vein in his leg. That means, maybe out of the wheelchair after some physical therapy, and more help to his knowledge-less daughters!

I'm not sure how it will be to work WITH Dad, though. He's a very aggressive personality, and I am sure his short fuse will lead to some serious frustration the first time he says something to Steph and I, only to be faced with two blank faces and shrugging shoulders.

My hope is that in my adulthood, I will not shed tears out of my own frustration with him. The DAY he taught me how to drive a standard (in a lovely Ford Probe!) I cried. Maybe it was because of me, but my memory of it begs to differ. I remember him becoming frustrated when I would stall in first, and say, 'Just do it like I said! Let up on the clutch and press the gas at the same time!' Which is what I was doing but 50% of the time my timing just wasn't right.

After that day, I swore I would never drive a standard. Then my mom's car died and we were down to the one car...for the 3 of us. And I was back from school (one year was enough for me at the time!) and working full time, too. The Probe! I went out driving with Mom a couple times, because she put me more at ease, but I just never got comfortable driving that car. But I had to do it. My job was a five minute drive from my house. I left 30 minutes early each time just so I would have time to calm down after the stress of driving! It was awful. After a couple weeks, I bought a bike!

When Hubby and I started dating, he drove an old Volkswagen Fox. Standard. (I had an '84 Cavalier...p.o.s. but I loved it...my first car!) My car died and he helped me pick out my next car, Acura Integra (loved that one, too, but the body rusted, someone hit me, I took the money and bought another Cav!). All the car shopping had him looking to get rid of his car. He found a blue Toyota MR2 ('89?) and tried to get me to talk him out of buying it, but instead I said, 'You like it? Get it!' And that was the second car with a standard transmission that I tried driving. This time, I had a more patient teacher, but bigger hills. It ended with a couple cars lining up behind me at a stop sign at the top of a small hill. After stalling a couple times, I threw on the parking brake, got out of the car and he had to drive us home.

Good thing this Barracuda is an automatic, or I would probably have ignored it like everyone else has lately.

I don't mean to keep writing 'reminiscence' blogs, but it seems they always turn that way...at least until work actually starts.

(The sun is shining...that's a start, I guess?)

That's life on the East Coast

Well, my plans for the car this week were once again thwarted. The shortest snow storm ever was enough to make working on the car impossible.
The storm only dropped 2-4 inches, but it was heavy and wet and it all came down at once. I was lucky enough to leave work about 45 minutes early so that my Cavalier didn't end up on the side of the road or wrapped around a pole somewhere. Surprisingly, people were actually driving cautiously...we were able to get up around 24 MPH on some sheltered sections of road. The most annoying part of storms out here is that they seem to not bother doing any cleaning of the roads until the snow has stopped. Now, this would be logical if everyone was also ordered off the roads any time it is snowing, but that's not how it works. Everyone is still driving home, or to work, or just feeling like a snow storm is the prefect time to shop. So the roads are covered in wet snowy slush and there is zero visibility as it is the kind of snow that, no matter which direction you are driving, it is snowing at you and swirling all around you, and it appears that you are constantly attempting hyper-drive or warp-speed. As I said, luckily people were driving cautiously, instead of the usual 'I have 4-wheel drive...get out of my way so I can drive 60mph down a side street'. Not the point...

Dad had a doctor's appointment yesterday that I was going to drive him to since Steph's car was supposed to be getting worked on. But, because of the snow, her friend was not picking up her car so she was available for dad after all. Since, by then roads had all been cleared, I decided to go hang out (and play Rock Band) for a bit, even though we could not work on the car. Again.
I knew I wanted to fix the tarp though so we went over early. I was hoping to get some better pictures, but she was covered in snow. Heavy wet snow that I cleaned off as best as I could before putting the tarp back on. Again. The tarp was buried in the snow, of course. This time I brought bungees and secured the tarp so that, I hope, it won't blow off again.
Trying to maneuver around the car I realized I also need to clean up the piles of wood and other random debris surrounding the car. I just want to get started. I've started doing my neglected home improvement projects to get me through, but now I'm just itching to try something new. I mean, drywall/painting/floors...I've done that already!

As a side note: I told my dad about the car being built in Hamtramck. He said, 'I know.' Which is a typical response from my dad. But then he also told me that his dad's dad (who died of TB when he was 33!) worked at the Dodge Main plant. AND when his dad's mother re-married, he new dad (my (step-) great-grandfather who lived to be 92!) also worked there. As if that wasn't enough...I never even knew my great-grandmother had been married twice!!

I'm so surprised

Steph and I had made plans to do some car stuff this week. Minor things...cleaning, fixing the tarp, removing the battery. So, of course, we are getting a snow storm Wednesday. The planned meeting is Thursday, as Dad has a doctors appointment a we both have the day off, so maybe we will get lucky and the snow will turn to rain and we won't just be left with a car covered in snow...again.

Hoping to get some better pictures, but I would really like to get some shots without snow!

Here's hopin'!

Waiting for Spring: part 2

It gets closer, but it's hard to look forward through the snow. I'm encouraged by the fact that it snows, but only a little at a time these days. And it seems to be melting at a pretty swift pace. So, although it's still just around 20-25 degrees these days, with a flurry here and there, I am still keeping my hopes high that once spring is here...work can start. No waiting for mounds of snow to melt...just waiting for a nice day.

I wanted to get out to Dad's this week while I was 'blessed' with yet another 3-day work week, but caught that cold I have been avoiding all winter and having been feeling crappy. There's also Dad's compromised immune system and me going over with a cold wouldn't be a loving daughterly-type thing to do. Of course, I probably make him out to be more frail than he actually is, but that's me...the great exaggerator.

Possibly this next week I can get out there. The list?

1. clean the interior...carpets, dash, seat. Steph says she's done some cleaning, but I'd bet that was a year ago.

2. remove the battery. A friend of mine AND a friend of Steph's both said to do it. So we'll do it.

3. maybe try to get better answers from Dad concerning insurance, title, and registration. The car has plates and a registration that expired last March, yet no one can actually remember getting plates for the car. It's a mystery I am determined to straighten out ASAP.

4. fix the tarp. Including the addition of bungees to keep it on the car during the windy days.

5. scope out the layout of trees and such for the placement of a series of tarps for rainy workdays.

A short list and certainly things that can be done in almost any temperature. A few things to keep me busy until the day I have a reason to sit in this chair!

Not quite sure of it's purpose, but it has a little tray for tools and it's on wheels so I assume it's for rolling around the 'shop'...

Oh, and we'll have to check out the shed and basement to see which tools our brother left for us when he picked up 'his' tools.

Amazing

The internet is going to be my new best friend, I think. There is so much information it's silly.

I promise this blog isn't about how it's so cold here that I can barely keep it warm enough to have functioning fingers in order to type out a blog post. And I promise not to go on and on about how the intense cold is making it even more impossible to get started on the 'Cuda.

Unfortunately, I can only post about what I've read or heard lately.

And once again, this one is courtesy Mopar Motorhead's latest post.

I had seen a few sites for Valiant-Barracuda clubs online. That was when I first learned about their history as kin. But, the first club I saw had a membership fee that I couldn't really see paying at my experience level. I mean, I sort of pushed myself at my sister and father saying, 'let's do something with that car!' With my inexperience and lack of automotive knowledge, I'm flying by the seat of my pants with this...with virtually no cash...and need all the FREE help I can find at this stage. Thankfully, there is a ton of info online, and I have access to great knowledgeable friends...and I'm counting on my dad, since he's done this before.

But, I was curious (of course) to see if the club that was referenced in his latest blog was the one I had stumbled across earlier. And it wasn't. This one's free...surprisingly. I will likely join once my hands are covered in motor oil and I have a dirty rag hanging from my back pocket (yes, this is my image of a successful mechanic). But for now, I poked around and have already found an interesting tidbit.

There is a link to decipher your car's VIN. So I was curious. I had no idea that number held so much information!

The very interesting thing I learned? Well, it's probably only interesting to me, but I feel it takes me one more step toward feeling this car is more than just a project. I am beginning to feel like this car has come into my life for a larger purpose than a simple bonding project for my sister and I. I already feel closer to my dad and we haven't even started the work, yet!

Anyway, part of the VIN number will tell where the car was made. Ours is a 2. Which means the assembly plant of our precious was 'Dodge Main, Hamtramck, MI'!

As I stated in my very first post...my fathers family is Polish...100%. His parents 'came over on the boat' as children. I never spoke to my grandparents parents because I did not speak Polish. But I have memories of going to Hamtramck to see my great-grandparents as a very small child. It was, and judging by their website, remains a fairly Polish town.

Is it strange that I feel a closer bond with this car because it was born in the town were my great-grandparents lived? Maybe, but maybe not so much.

oh, and in case you were wondering...Mitch Ryder was born in Hamtramck. Later, while living in Detroit, he played street ball with my parents!

Perhaps our 'Cuda IS the 'devil with the blue dress on'??