It’s been a while since my last post. My workaday work picked up somewhat and time for the Sprint became harder to come by. It doesn’t help at all that it’s now getting dark around 5.

In any case, I’ll start with the good news: the Sprint is now parked in my driveway, i.e., at home and not in a warehouse in San Leandro. I wish I could say I drove it home myself but the truth is that I had to use my AAA card again. (I have two of my four yearly-allotted tows left. I don’t remember the last year I didn’t need and use all four tows. Bring a Trailer? Nah.)

Tow truck #1. I requested a flatbed but this guy showed up. While I was waiting for him I reinstalled the passenger side door panel. He tried to fit the Sprint onto his lifter thing and it was too narrow (which is to say, too old and too far removed from a Honda Accord). Four hours later, a flatbed finished the job.

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If you have ever replaced the shoes on a three-shoe system such as Alfa decided to produce on its interim 101 / 1600 cars, I feel your pain. Changing out brake shoes isn’t nearly as much fun as it sounds, and to most intelligent people it sounds like a pain in the arsenal. You are alternately fighting with springs, visibility, and the general slipperiness of things that are supposed to be slippery in operation, but which you wish were oh-so-grippy on installation.

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It took more bus trips than I care to take in a given two-day period, but between yesterday and today the TI went from a painted shell to a full-blown car with carpets, door panels, door seals, permanently installed seats, seat belts…. Even with the hours I had to spend on the bus, I decided a few days ago that it was more efficient to farm out these jobs than to try to do them myself, and I’m glad for this decision. Jesus Angulo took care of the big things (installing the carpets and door seals), small things (repairing the headliner where it was coming apart), and a half-dozen other pieces that needed an upholsterer’s expertise.

He also finished the Sprint seats, which look good but will still need some mechanical attention. I’m somewhat amazed by how basic (and flimsy) these seats are, considering the engineering that went into pretty much every other part of the car.

Here’s a shot of the more or less finished job.

This is about as bi-chromatic as a car gets. Carpet is a Wilton wool kit from World Upholstery. It's nice, if a little prone to shedding. I probably should have gotten the dark grey but this shade still works.

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My car scene right now is a little like an act on the Ed Sullivan show, where a guy spins a dozen or so plates at once and everyone is amazed. Of course that guy has talent whereas I have a combination of trial-and-error know-how, persistence, and a few spare dollars to throw at problems that are either too boring or too time consuming for me to address.

To wit… The TI got painted (yay!) and I am reasonably happy with the results. I have to remind myself that the price was right. There is a lot of orange peel and the coverage isnt’ perfect, but I’m sure a good wet sand and polish will do wonders for it.

Outside the body shop, the day after it was painted.

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