But the tii eventually became a viable daily-driving entity, and that was my cue to resume work on the Greyhound-or was it? Maybe not. While casually perusing the "Other Makes-A through M" heading of eBay, my attention was distracted by a most wondrous classic: a Glas 1300 GT. Built in the '60s, this brainchild of Hans Glas (of Goggomobile fame) featured a handsome coupe body styled by Frua and a unique 1.3-liter overhead cam engine. There are less than a thousand out there today, of which maybe half are roadgoing examples. Think of it! Actually, think impossible parts situation, think perpetual money pit. But I had to have it, so I bought it. It was cheap. I went bounding on to the next irresistible bargain: an Alfa Giulia Sprint GT.
This one was a 1966 basket case, but the Bertone unit body was in salvageable shape, and it came with a ton of parts. I had one back in the early '70s, and if they're not the best-looking coupe Bertone ever designed, they're close. So I bid, bought and dragged. It was becoming second nature by now.
Finally, at this last bit of unthinking pursuit, I must have reached the end of my mental choke-chain, because I stepped back, looked at my pile of "good stuff" and wondered, "Who the hell did this?" My 1,900-sq-ft basement was full of parts, my yard was full of cars, and I was doing a pretty fair job of filling my kid's yard with derelicts, too.
It was time to reacquaint myself with Job 1: The construction of a Track Monster, one Junkyard Greyhound. So where were we anyway?
We were at one of the hard parts, the reconstitution of a frayed-at-the-edges BMW unit body, best I can remember before everything went dark. And that is the rationalization for my extended digression from the Job-at-Hand. Fabrication and welding of body panels is mentally and physically taxing. I have to put myself into artist/designer mode to imagine which parts to leave and when and where to cut, then do the manual labor to cut, shape, fit and weld the new panels. All that stuff is hard. Clicking the "bid" button is easy. "Sit," "stay" and "fetch" are hard; chasing the squirrels is easy.
Our philosophy here is the same as that guiding us in the motor purchase: Simple is Good. I won't reinvent any wheels literally or figuratively when it comes to gluing the Greyhound to the tarmac. In this context, the procedure loses all its complexity. I just find somebody who has experience in putting this model BMW on the track and borrow from them in setting up my car.