Spiel

JUNE 2017 WWW.PNWR.ORG 53 continued on next page What lay ahead of me then, was the home stretch that involved assembling all the parts that had been acquired—old and new, upgrade parts, hot-rod parts, parts from later models, parts from old VWs, custom made parts, all the re-plated bits, and the powder- coated bits. This truly was the most enjoyable phase of the restoration and I intended to enjoy it! No rushing about; every part was carefully assembled with every possible attention to detail, a process I relished for a whole year. Until, at last, it was no longer a rust bucket, but a brand new Porsche. Then the magic moment finally came – I started the car for the first time in six years. What an incredible day! The clouds parted, the sun shone, and doves were fluttering about. I could hear a chorus of angels. Hallelujah. So I sat in the car, feathering the throttle and listening to it roar. My wife rushed out after hearing the beast roar to life and flashed the a thumbs up. I was grinning ear-to-ear, happier than anything. Then, her eyes widen and she yelled, "What is that leaking under the car?" My heart stopped. In a nano-second I shut off the car and leap out to find what appeared to be at least five quarts of liquid gold on the floor! What happened? I had forgotten to install the OC61. Yup, the oil filter. Not only was there oil all over the floor, there was oil all over the clean motor – covering the new tins, the carbs, fan shroud, freshly painted engine bay, and dripping down the newly ceramic- coated headers and the new DANSK Sport muffler - you get the ugly picture. I felt like such an idiot! Over the next several hours, I feverishly used every rag I could find in the house to sop up all the oil as best as I could - disassembled everything, sopping up even more oil and gently using a combination of 'oil eater' and water to remove all the oil residue. I spent hours sweating and working like a maniac to clean up the horrible mess I had created. Later, my wife came back out to remind me that I needed to take a break and have some lunch. Feeling defeated, I laid down the hose, exhausted, drenched with sweat, disgusted at myself, and went in to the house. We sat down to eat, but suddenly, we heard the noise of running water coming from outside. My daughter turned to me and said, "Dad, I think that's coming from the garage." I experienced my heart stopping for the second time in

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