Page 42 - KCRPCA Jan Feb 2018

42
Jan / Feb 2018
I thought. Weeks went by and I hap- pened on the exact car again on eBay. I thought it had been sold. It had a “buy it now” price. I made it through the night, tossing and turning about the car. Talked to my wife over coffee and she helped me make the decision to contact the owner and check it out. Well that’s not totally accurate; she really got tired of me whining like a little girl and nally said I could do it, but be careful.
I waited until 9:00 am west coast time and made my call. I was pleasantly sur- prised to talk to a wonderful man, who had a restoration business and also a parts supply company. He was origi- nally from Finland and had been in the US since the early 80s. He took the time to go through every single item that had been done during the two-year resto- ration and it was exactly as he had de- scribed it in the listing. He told me of
his deep concern to do things correctly and properly and to make the car as ac- curate to the model as possible. I not only said yes, but hell yes.
The rest of the story is a matter of faith and trust. I must have talked to him a dozen times after I sent a deposit to hold the car. He took the time and did every- thing that I asked, including having the local Orange County Sheriff’s depart- ment do a vin number exam and ll out the paperwork for the inspection. So, what was I getting? I believed I was go- ing to get a complete professional res- toration that I could trust to be the car that I had been searching for. You must realize that California, especially South- ern California, has all of the many spe- cialty shops that can provide the correct gauge restoration, the correct interiors, chrome, etc. Given that I was expect- ing a totally professional job, I would be