I’m here!

Posted on May 7, 2010 by Denny

Thank GOD today’s flight was uneventful – even on time. To say that Monday’s flight to San Antonio for my business conference SUCKED COMPLETELY would be a total understatement. But today was good. It was relaxing.

So my golf clubs arrived at my cousin’s house unharmed early in the evening yesterday. The plan keeps falling into place – I could golf all the way home if I want. Me? I arrived to my cousin’s house early in the evening today. Doug picked me up at the airport. It was great to see him and talk to him. We were so busy talking about “stuff” that we missed a turn off and had to wing his Toyota Pickup around to right ourselves. I forgot that u-turns are not only legal in Florida, but necessary!

We got to the house, and I was immediately brought back to the late nineties – the last time I was here with my future wife, actually! I remember, Aunt Lotte and Uncle Pete both giving me their resounding approval of her – and implored me to get married. It took another 6-or-so years to get down to that, but I did – finally!

So I walked into the house ahead of Doug Sr, and called out “Hey Cuz!” and out walked my cousin Mary. She hasn’t changed at all – she still has that beaming smile that is only Mary’s. After hugs and some catch-up, we walked into the garage, and there it was – My Uncle’s Mustang – the center piece of all that matters this very moment. My thoughts spun out of control as my minds eye recalled my Uncle, my Aunt, my cousins, all his family that I don’t see nearly enough. With cleared thoughts, I had a look and my hopes were confirmed – the car is in great shape.

I took this myself

On the ride over, I asked for some more detail about what had been done to the car, and Doug told me that it was my cousin Phil, Uncle Pete’s son, who had done all of the work on the car over the years. He filled me in on some of what Phil had done before Uncle Pete passed away. Engine work, body work, interior work – he did it all and kept the car running and respectable. Phil is and always has been a huge-hearted man and as Doug told me what Phil did to keep his Dad’s car on the road and in such good shape, I wasn’t surprised.

I started to feel some guilt about what I was doing. Taking the car from the garage it’s sat in ostensibly since my Uncle passed away is a disruption to what has likely become a familiar setting. I thought that maybe keeping the car in the family might be of comfort, albeit cold comfort; that bringing it to a luster long since faded will heal any wound; that the very thought of the Mustang restored will invoke reflection about his Dad like it has for me.

I am doing this for all of us. For my Dad, for Phil, Doug Jr., Mary, Doug Sr, and all of the grandchildren and great-grandchildren. I am doing it for Aunt Lotte (who’s car it really was initially) and I am doing it for Uncle Pete. My heart and my emotion tell me that what I am doing is right – like it needs to be done. I don’t know why, but I am here today, touching the car for the first time in over a decade and it all feels right. Today I am here and I am just going to keep putting one foot in front of the other with the hopes that what I am doing is right.

U-HAUL Rented! Moving forward….

Posted on April 22, 2010 by Denny

I was thinking about the trip today – a lot. I reserved the U-HAUL truck and trailer, so the arrangements to get the car to Jersey are almost complete! This triggered a surge of anticipation which then was reduced to some short-lived anxiety. I am OK with the whole “going to San Antonio on business and then flying to Florida to stay a night or two with the cousins” thing – and I am OK with driving the truck with the trailer in tow. Been there, done that, and it really isn’t as hard as it might seem.

But it’s my Uncle’s Mustang that will be on the trailer.

My Uncle’s Mustang – the car that I have been wondering about for over a decade now. It’s the car whose restoration I have always dreamt about and now, in a matter of a few weeks, is approaching reality. I asked the question “what could possibly go wrong?” and my overactive, mildly affected ADD thought process obliged with at least a half dozen scenarios:

The tie downs break and the car rolls off of the trailer.
The tie downs break and the car rolls off of the trailer while I am driving down 95.
The car is stolen from the trailer in plain sight in front of the LaQuinta du jour.
The trailer becomes unhitched while I am driving down 95 in Georgia and I don’t realize it until I park at a random Cracker Barrel in South Carolina.
Someone steals the U-HAUL – trailer, Mustang and all, from the Cracker Barrel parking lot while I am eating my scrambled eggs, bacon, and grits.

I have a wandering imagination and I know this about myself. Thusly, I also know that it is not time to worry about this stuff yet, if at all. Leave the anxiety for when the car is actually buckled to the back of the U-HAUL – and even then, just keep moving forward one step at a time. That, the mantra of this whole project – keep moving forward, put one foot in front of the other.

So everything is still falling into place – moving right along – Just one more step, then one more, one more….

Tie Downs, Dreams, Discipline and the Driver

Posted on April 22, 2010 by Denny

I sent a box of heavy duty tie downs to Doug and Mary today. I bought them at the Swap Meet from Cherokee Tie Down out of Gaffney, SC. They look to be strong and they definitely were heavy. 4 tie downs and 4 axle straps rang up at about 21 lbs. I am going to use those instead of the bright-orange-expensive-as-shit ones that U-HAUL will likely have for sale or rent.

I can’t wait to get the car. I am at the point now where I am even dreaming about it. One dream took place in the 70’s and the car was pristine. I have never seen the car pristine or shiny like new that I can remember and that is why I love dreams. Uncle Pete took great care of the car, but I don’t remember it being shiny. Maybe I was dreaming about Uncle Pete’s Mustang with the sky blue paint job that the ’66 at the show was sporting (see the picture in the previous post).

Doug Sr. sent me this pic of what the car looked like in 1968 – along with my Cousin Mary :-). You can get a sense of the color of the car – click the picture to enlarge:

This photo was taken around 1968

Tied down. That’s what I feel like right now. Work, responsibility, mediocrity, blah blah blah blah. I am itching to get down there, get the car up here and start the restoration. It’s taking all the discipline I can muster to spend the whole day actually working on work – and not working on the blog, researching Mustang stuff, thinking about all of the things I need to do to prepare, etc.

Calm. Patience. Discipline.

But it’s getting close and the level of excitement is building.

So today, I was talking to my friend Matt and the thought arose that since I’m likely not going to rent an RV for $5000 – I might spend about 1% of that to send my golf clubs down ahead of me. I could stop at a course on the way home and drive something other than the U-HAUL, right?

Two weeks from today. 14 days. Damn, I can’t wait.

My Wife’s Reaction

Posted on April 13, 2010 by Denny

My Wife. She is supportive – and nervous and doesn’t want me to write about her in this blog. I’ll honor that – but I am compelled to put her reaction on the blog because her concerns are all legit.

I have never been the concerning type. Shit happens. If I fail or do not complete something, I move on to the next thing no big deal. I am also not the discerning type and I think that is what makes her nervous. This project could potentially cost a significant amount of our hard earned coin. Admittedly, my thing is that when I find things I like to do – it’s often lots of them at the same time – and I only do them for as long as I am interested in them. This has been my M.O. forever – and some might say it’s ADD – and believe me when I say it’s as annoying to me as it is to her if not more.

Things that I have started and not finished:

Remember the scale model from my earliest blog? Not finished.
Most books that I have “read” – not finished.
The book that I am writing? Not finished.
Countless projects on the house? Well – some have been finished. Many in fact, but there are many that are not – probably because I was completely sidetracked and distracted by the projects that I finished.
School – hey, I did graduate for shit’s sake!

So God bless her – with all of her support, she basically asks “If we’re gonna put this money into this, are you going to follow this project through?”

I’ll say it again – I hope so, but I am nervous, too. Sometimes I think about how perfectly things have fallen into place with this project and say – “something’s gotta go wrong” and maybe I will get bored? I am gonna keep this going as long as I can – but right now I am committed to finishing this project. I am motivated. I mean, it’s My Uncle’s Mustang!! I have been thinking about this car for DECADES and I’ve been wanting to get my hands on the car to fix it up since Uncle Pete passed away! This is a dream come true, right? Right. This is a dream. A dream that at any cost I am going to fulfill – and I am blessed to have My Wife’s support. That’s not to say that this won’t cause conflict between us – it might – probably will, but I think only if I let the project go or spend too much money without telling her.

So where are we with this? I have her blessing. We have a budget to get the car here and I am going to pull all stops to ease the financial burden – even go to the extent of asking for sponsorships – but I will not ask for money from friends or family. Just moral support – and My Wife is providing that and much much more.

Golf and “Pete’s Golf Etiquette” in August, 1989….

Posted on April 3, 2010 by Denny

The late 80’s early 90’s was a time of self discovery for me. I was newly clean from the fog of drug abuse which enabled me to experience life without the numbing grip that drugs had on me. My life no longer revolved around the “use of drugs and the finding the ways and means to get more.”

During the summer of 1989 I was about 22 years old and in the middle of a dual coast vacation to Florida and California that I was taking by myself. The plan was to go to Sea World and Disney in Florida and California in about 16 days. The first leg was in Florida and after Disney and Sea World I drove down to Cape Coral to stay with my Uncle Pete and Aunt Lotte. I rented The drive from Orlando to Cape Coral was longer than I thought it would be, and as I arrived at Uncle Pete’s house, he was waiting for me in the driveway standing next to his sky-blue ’66 Ford Mustang.

I loved that car – I remember riding in it when I was a kid and I remember the AC unit hanging from the dashboard. He used to talk about the car with the same pride he would about his autographed Eddie Giacomin goalie stick. I am not sure why I liked it so much – maybe it was because he loved it so much.

I had learned to play golf earlier that summer – and was all too aware of his love for the game. I thought it would be great if we could pass the time together during a round of golf, and I was elated when he had agreed to play a round of golf with me. What I didn’t know was that he hadn’t played since his last heart attack some months (maybe even a year) before. This shocked me and I was nervous that it might not be good for him to play, but he dismissed that. He couldn’t wait for me to get there and swore he would be fine – but one thing had me a bit concerned. I knew that one of his multiple heart attacks occurred on the golf course during what was surely a particularly frustrating round for him. His toned response to my concern “convinced” me not to express it again. We were going to play golf. And we were going to drive to the course in the Mustang!

Yeah, I would love to say that we drove the Mustang to the golf course that day – but we didn’t. Not sure why, but he wanted to take my Aunt Lotte’s Dodge – I think maybe a late 80s Dodge Spirit? I was a bit disappointed but in the end I was just excited to get there and play some golf.

We got to the golf course, and he loaned me some golf balls and I helped him with his bag out of the car. We got into the pro shop and the guy behind the counter was especially happy to see my Uncle. Uncle Pete introduced me to the fella, and the two exchanged quips about how badly Uncle Pete thought he would play after such a long time away from the game. I rented clubs, we got a cart, paired up with a couple of guys we didn’t know to make a foursome and we were on our way. During that day’s round, he taught me “Pete’s Golf Etiquette – Don’t step in a putting “line” on the green, always, and I mean ALWAYS replace divots, don’t move ahead of someones lie in the fairway, play ready golf – get close to your ball if it’s NOT ahead of someone’s shot in the fairway,” etc. All of these things are second nature to me now.

I especially don’t stand in someones putting line.

The first time I stomped on one of the other guys lines on the green, Uncle Pete politely told me not to do it. I was lucky because he was tempered the second, third and fourth time I did it, and then finally the fifth or so time, Uncle Pete knelt down to mark his ball and with his tell-tale half-pissed half-amused grin said, “Son, if you step in the guys line again after me telling you ten times today not to, I’m not doin anything when he kicks you in the ass.”

I looked at the guy who’s line I stepped in apologetically and he smiled and said, “Don’t worry about it, but if you do it again, I’ll kick you in the ass.” They all laughed and I didn’t know if I should laugh or not. Uncle Pete one-putted that hole.

As a matter of fact, Uncle Pete shot an 86 or something like that. I hadn’t played with anyone who shot less than a 90 ever since I had started to play, and Uncle Pete was my hero that day. He was shocked himself, “I didn’t think I’d play that well, either,” and added, “I’m glad we got to play.” I can’t find the scorecard – but I probably shot a 125 or something.

In hindsight, I was amazed with the patience my Uncle showed that day – much more a characteristic of my Dad than it was of my sometimes hot-headed Uncle. I hit about 40 strokes more than him that day, and he could have been a lot less tolerant, for sure. Another influential moment. I can’t imagine that Uncle Pete was that patient on the course all of the time. I see him as more the type of guy that gets pissed at slow play, etiquette illiterates, when he plays “poorly,” etc. But I didn’t see much of that at all – and I think a lot of my patience on the course today (yeah, most of the time) I learned from my Uncle that day.

Another cool aspect of this experience spending that much time with him alone, for the first and only time in my life, I got to see the brotherly similarities between Dad and Uncle Pete – from the way he called me “Son” to the way he expressed himself if he got frustrated – the mannerisms, the half swears – “godda…” and “ahh, your sister’s…” I don’t remember all of the specifics, but a few times as he was speaking, I felt like I was listening to my Dad.

Golf with my Uncle was one of the most treasured times of my life – what I refer to as a Life Moment. As I recall more, I will write them….

The Project: My Uncle’s Mustang

Posted on March 24, 2010 by Denny

Today I spoke to my cousin Mary and her husband Doug. First – it was great to speak to them. I can’t remember the last time I did – and it was nice to just talk and catch up on a few things. My Aunt Lottie passed away a few years back and the house was left to Mary and Doug. They live there now, and the Mustang still sits in the garage in the same place that it was perhaps since Aunt Lottie passed. The car belongs to Doug Jr. who lives up in Rhode Island. He has intended to bring it up there and restore it himself, but for the last 12 or so years, it has been sitting in the dry garage in Cape Coral, FL. To my delight, Doug and Mary described its current condition a bit – it doesn’t run, the tires are completely flat, and it’s currently used as a “work bench” in the garage…. I am smiling as I type all of this because it warms my heart to know that it is exactly where it should be – in the hands of the family. I am trying to get pictures from them 🙂

So I put the proposal out there – that is, let me come down there and pick up the Mustang and bring it up to New Jersey so I can restore it here.

I could barely contain my excitement when she and Doug seemed more than open – actually quite willing – to let me do this. There is one tenet that I mentioned – I am adamant about doing this and then returning the finished car to either them or Doug Jr. It was always Uncle Pete’s hope and intent to leave the car to Doug, and that is where it should go in the end.

I pray for this to be a journey. I may know what to expect as far as the physical resto of the Mustang is concerned – and I have no illusions of getting any spiritual or emotional revelations from this project – but I have three main hopes – that this project will remove me from the mucky swill that I mentioned in my previous post, that I can see the project through to the end, and that I will grow from the experience.

So – where it stands now is that either Mary or Doug Jr. will call me within a fortnight, and when they do, I will post what happens. You might ask what happens if Doug Jr. wants to do this himself or if he just says no? I asked the same question, and we’ll cross that bridge when it comes. Let’s just hope that he says yes.

The Idea: Pete, Danny and the Pony

Posted on March 24, 2010 by Denny

There are many influential people in my life – Family, friends, musicians, authors, poets. The greatest influence is my father, Danny – his values, beliefs, sports teams, his creative lust, etc. – I follow my Dad in nearly every respect. My Dad will tell you I take after his brother, Pete. That could be why I feel an affinity toward my Uncle and consider him an influence, also. I didn’t know Uncle Pete well like other influences, but he remains, even 11 years after his death, one of the most influential people in my life.

So I got the idea for this blog not too long ago. I have been sitting in a creative swill for as long as I can remember now, looking to being creative in work and with my house among other things to pull myself out of the muck. Work? Well – I had hope there, but that didn’t do it. Big surprise, huh? The house? I love my house. I have owned it alone and with my wife for almost 13 years now. I have remodeled it, and enjoyed doing it for the most part – but it wasn’t until after I bought a plastic scale model of a ’66 Mustang Fastback that I thought of something that really grabbed me.

My interest in Mustangs began with my Uncle Pete’s sky blue Pony Edition model and continued with my Uncle Jimmy’s from what I can remember of his. When my sister Christy bought a beautiful white convertible GT in 1994, I had to have one myself – and I did by 1996. A red convertible GT – a car I love, and one that I still proudly own.

So I often asked my Dad, “what ever happened to Uncle Pete’s Mustang?” He never really knew and didn’t want to ask for some reason. My cousin Mary’s son and Uncle Pete’s Grandson, Doug (Dougie when he was like 5) inherited the car. So did Doug restore it? It was in rough shape the last time I saw it – interior rips, a buckled fender, some rust I think. Not to mention the unknowns like the shock towers, the floor boards – all of the usual Mustang aging glitches. Did he actually take it? Did they sell it?

So back to the scale model – I was thinking, “ok, I need to find out what happened to Uncle Pete’s Mustang.”

I don’t care much for Facebook – but my cousin Mary (Pete’s daughter) and I are “friends” on Facebook, and I wrote her to ask what happened to the Mustang. I was afraid of the answer, but guess what?

The Mustang is still in Florida. So I am now hoping to find out if she and her son Doug (and Doug Sr. for that matter) will help me with my new “project”…..

More to come!