Not Fast, just "Less Slow"

Well, the first place I took my engine parts to had a fire less than a week later. The fire was on a Friday and he called me the following Monday to come pick up my stuff. I asked for a recommendation on another shop. He gave me a couple names and I checked them out on my day off later in the week.

I did not feel good about the first place I visited. It was pretty messy and it looked like they didn't have any business. The other place was 50 miles away so I jumped on the turnpike to check them out. Right away I liked this guy a LOT. He's in his 70's and has been doing this since 1962. He said his sons had /6's growing up and he told the proverbial story about how they were going to junk a car so they put a brick on a Valiant gas pedal and stood around waiting for it to blow up. It never did.

I asked for a tour and his son took me around while the ol' man ate lunch. (his house is right beside the shop) All his equipment seemed to be Sunnen and there were miscellaneous blocks, cranks and cranks everywhere so I got a chance to check out his work. He does cars, diesels, tractors, motorcycles, snowmobiles, Harleys, just about anything new or old. He knew about the fire and the owner of the burned shop. I felt really good about this guy so I told him I'd get my stuff to him in a few days.

On the way home, I stopped at the burned out shop and the owner had just finished talking with an insurance adjuster. Besides the loss of equipment and tools, there were 3 or so customer's car that were total losses. sadly, the firemen did as much damage as the flames. The interior was pitch black because the electricity had been turned off but here's a picture of my 225 and parts covered in soot. That's my block, crank, rods/pistons, valve cover and oil pan in there somewhere. The late 30's GM coupe was his personal car that he worked on in his spare time. I told him I'd be back to get my junk in a few days but he was friends with the owner of my "new" shop and called him and before I knew it, new guy agreed to send a truck over to pick up everything. I waited around and helped load my block and parts into the back of the truck just to be sure they got everything.