Been thinkin'... Caution!… long post
It all started with one Patrol, the ’67 Soft Top, the plan was to get it running as a family… That’s where the thread name “Family Patrol” started back in July 2013. Then I soon discovered the parts situation. You know you are in trouble with the parts guy at the Nissan dealer is stumped and “What vehicle did you say? Hmmm, haven’t heard of that one”
Then I found a package deal for TWO more Patrols – Grabbed the for parts, but it turned out that one was even closer to running than our first.
Here they are arriving at the house from their previous home in the little town of Washington California
Then I stumbled on a steal for a fourth Patrol!
Barritt and I drove to Magalia in the hills above Paradise to check it out
My plans morphed as the fleet grew… Three kids, three running patrols! Yea! Perfect! Easy enough. I mean, how hard can it be?
The kids helped removing and reinstalling the engine
We focused on Aerogirl – the ’67 hardtop from the second batch of patrols. After almost exactly one year of work, we took Aerogirl for the first drive on August 3, 2014… Literally 10 years ago last week. The kids were still small. A trip to the gas station then a trip to 31 flavors ice cream! They LOVED IT and not just because ice cream was involved!
Always an adventure!
For the next four years, we drove the Patrol to all sorts of local places – To ice cream (over and over), to Folsom Lake, to the store, to the drive in! Joe even got to drive it once he had his license. Three years and two months after its first drive, Joe was driving it when the brakes failed, and he bonked a tree. Luckily, he was on our residential street at a fairly low speed… He wasn’t hurt, the tree was fine, but the Patrol took a pretty big hit. Zero brakes will do that to you! And, by zero, I mean ZERO! Gotta love single circuit brake systems…
Still having visions of three, or at least two, running Patrols, I decided to not only repair the crash damage, but to rebuild Aerogirl completely from the ground up. And the big project got bigger…
I've been working on restoring and getting Aerogirl back on the road since it crashed in 2018... nearly six years ago. The kids are basically grown… Two are long out of the house and the youngest is off to college in September!
They are oh so much bigger now!
At the rate I am going -- trying to fit working on the Patrol in between work and family -- it's gonna take at least another 6 years before I'll ever get to drive it again... if even that soon! Then there are still the other two Patrols and my dream of three running Patrols!
The progress over the six years since the crash? I've:
• Stripped Aerogirl down completely
• Had the frame blasted and powder coated
• Got a replacement radiator support
• Had the body panels all blasted and primed
• Made a new front bumper (it’s even powder coated!)
• Had the rear axle rebuilt
• Had the F&R axle springs rebuilt
• Did a disk brake conversion (OMG that was a ton of work… although I have to admit that is the kind of challenge I like)
• Built a custom aluminum fuel tank (same size and placement as the original Patrol tank) -- with an in-tank electric fuel pump (again, the type of work I enjoy!)
• Recently I prepped the rebuilt, numbers correct engine and installed it into the frame
• I’ve even pulled the Marks out of the crate it flew over from Australia in and did the first test fit of the Marks to the engine... Still more work to do
Honestly, I think the two biggest roadblocks against progress are the actual lack of space and massive project scope!
It takes a ton of space to keep three Patrols on the driveway, not to mention that extra frame that serial number matches one of the rebuilt engines. Aerogirl's seats are tucked away occupying precious shelf space in the garage, new rear-side window rubber in a box on the shelf below that, Aerogirl's glass is tucked under my desk, there are boxes, and boxes, and boxes of patrol parts including some NOS stuff in the garage and on racking in the carport! It's amazing just how much space a disassembled Patrol takes up! More often than not, I have to move a ton of stuff just to do the smallest of tasks on the Patrol... when it comes to the Aerogirl project, it's often easier to just let that ounce of motivation be swallowed up by the pounds of work simply to get started!
My realistic expected future slow progress means that at my current rate, Aerogirl never gets done… well, not in my lifetime anyway! This means that I am at the proverbial crossroads – Keep Going… or Bail?
Perhaps there is something between those two extremes – let’s say I am at a three-way crossroads:
1. Do I keep nickel and diming it until I am too old to work on it any longer?
2. Do I make a package deal and sell it all off and then fade away into the sunset? (Someone would have to show up with a REALLY BIG truck to get it all!
3. Or make space & simplify to make progress easier?
I really don’t like Option 1… Option 2 just makes me sad. But option three may have legs!
I think if I were to free up substantial working space and simplify my project goals, I think the rate of progress on Aerogirl would go way up -- meaning, that middle option could work!
I had visions of getting three Patrols up and running. In an-armchair-quarterback-hind-sight-obviousness, I clearly bit off way more than I can chew. BUT, what if I part with the two extra Patrols and focus on one? (that would yield a huge chunk of work space and simplify the project!). I could even send the spare rebuilt engine off to adventures without me. I mean, I’ve never had plans for a dual-engine Patrol… Plus, while having visions of my Patrol Fleet, I have accumulated spares galore… When I needed one engine rebuilt, I got two rebuilt. When I needed one clutch and pressure plate set… I got two sets rebuilt. I needed one parking brake… Sending those out into the world will free up tons of space here and maybe help keep another few Patrols on the road!
I miss driving the Patrol and the adventures with Em and the kids...
Happy Tuesday all!
j
