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Which means "Evil Twin". Lets see your projects where you change boring into fun or create the fun from scratch.
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PostPosted: Wed May 06, 2015 5:54 pm 
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Joined: Wed Jan 28, 2015 4:17 pm
Posts: 17
At this point in my life and getting married added a new perspective, but cars remained my tinkering. One of my first real jobs was as an adjuster for Allstate Insurance Company. It was pretty miserable in those days as you were suspected of taking bribes from Body Shops, meanwhile trying to not pay any claim at all.
But I experienced a a few things and that helped me tinker. One of the first claims I handled was for a new Datsun 240Z left on the Van Wyck Expressway
heading into JFK because of a snow storm. It disappeared and was assumed to be stolen...It was my first experience where a car could not be replaced at retail value because the demand had the car selling for almost $1000 over retail. First you try to deny the claim for abandoning and failing to safeguard the car. Then you low ball the payment as the car is now used. But since you couldn't find a replacement new or used without paying a premium i had to appeal to the higher ups as this guy wasn't accepting a check. Which leads me into how I became the owner of a 1967 Maserati Mistral.
I was not allowed to buy any Allstate salvage, but the coordinator for the salvage company I was dealing with had his heart set on a salvage 240Z he had at his company. Unfortunately his money was tied up in a disappointing Maserati, which I took off his hands for $2400.00. He said it ran great but had no oil pressure according to the gauge. I was blinded by the Italian Styling, Leather, fuel injection and Borrani wheels...It was a beast to drive as you needed Popeye's arms to steer it and the Hulk's legs to push the clutch. As it turned out the oil pressure was solved with a sending unit, but the Lucas mechanical fuel injection was hopeless after even taking it to Lucas in New Jersey. And after new paint ,leather and restored Chrome Borrani's I sold it to get my 308GT4. Even with lousy fuel injection the Maserati is now worth 4 times more then the Ferrari. Fiat, Alfa, Maserati, Ferrari...I was on the path.

I can now refer to this period as my Body Shop Era, where I learned things beyond my imagination.
Cars could be repaired by replacing the "Clip". You cut the cars windshield pillars and across the floor under the driver's floor and welded on a new half of car. So my new junkyard prizes were purchased with and eye to this new method I discovered. The first was a VW Squareback. After I mastered how the Jetronic Fuel Injection worked and got it running. (it was one of the first electronic system, I know of...) It was cut in half and a new rear clip welded on...

And this clip was my personal best. I wanted a Volvo wagon in the worst way, it was boxy yet stylish. So I bought a 242 (2 door Coupe) and a 245
(Wagon)rear clip. I guessed it was the same contour, and it was. So out there somewhere, because they last a zillion years, is a 245 with a 242 serial number to confuse anyone who ever works on it.
Lesson maybe, but a lot of fun.


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