Luella's 50th year , Going to Motor Muster

Luella is 50 this year . My autistic obsession, splinter skill partner my 1962 Pontiac is due to be invited to attend the 2012 Motor Muster Car Show.  Motor Muster is the crem de le creme of car shows for un restored cars. Motor Muster  has the strictest car show standards and if you win the most prestigious of honors. The cars must remain as original as possible. Points are given for original paint, parts and upholstery. The closer the car is to new and original the more points it earns here.  Most cars show do not thrive on being so original. The car must present and run like 1962 in this case.  The only modern  updates allowed are radial tires and seat belts. 

Luella will fit the bill as original 1962 for sure. I lost track of the coats of wax I have given her over the years. It has to be over 200 by now. In fact her paint is so thin these days I no longer wax her as the primer is now polished. (thankfully her red paint and primer blend)  Yes, there are spots down to the bare metal.

Luella is all original but for the frame that rusted in two. It was a noted design flaw of 62 Pontiac's. Not many people bothered to fix the problem like I did. The body hung in dad's garage for 8 years as I worked on the impossible.  Luella also has hand made 389 motor , I had to re make  the valve train by hand so I had to redesign the rocker arms  which broke all to often as their oil passages plugged up.

Finally her renowned Slim Jim Transmisson is still on board and still works. That is a statement of its own right. The Slim Jim is a crude cross between an automatic and a manual and its flaws were wild. It had  wind up springs on the fly wheel, internal torque converter which overheated and  helped cook the transmisson . If you gave her too much gas at the wrong time the transmisson few to pieces.   

Only someone Autistic could and would  ever dream of Fixing this heap. I can assure you I was laughed at so many times as I toured the United States getting parts for a 'stupid repair' restoration.  If you have seen Rain Man the movie you know the character did great things with math numbers and phone directories I did the same thing with a Pontiac. However I was lucky enough to finish the autism puzzle and come out normal. Autism is just the long hand version  of human thought.

   Luella 2012 

Rich Shull on the blog Pre Rain Man Autism