MAKING PROGRESS… of sorts (Part 172e)
I let Lynda’s phone ring
about a dozen times before giving up. It wasn’t quite 6pm and I knew if
she stayed just a little late she’d be in traffic the whole way home so
chalked it up to that. Neil was headed back into the office as I was
headed out. I’d told him I needed to get with Cliffy as he’d be the
‘contact person’ as far as getting all the parts for the motor together.
It’s at this point I’ve got to interject the fact that I knew little to
nothing about the Chevrolet, “big block” 427 cubic inch engine. So,
when Neil told me it would take some time to “put all the pieces
together” I didn’t know what he meant. The previous Fall Alan and I had
taken our 428 ci Ford engine apart and put it back together in a matter
of a couple of nights. It was here that I got my first lesson on the
“big block” Chevy engine. If this were a blog about engines I’d be able
to write at least three posts on what it was like but I’ll give you the
short version (say “Thank you…”)
Neil wasn’t fully up to speed on
them as the car he was involved with used a “small block” 327 ci Chevy
engine. Parts for them were available everywhere parts were sold and not
just from a Chevy dealer. However… and it was a BIG, however, General
Motors kept pretty close control of all aspects of the 427 ci engine. It
was introduced in 1966 and was only available in certain model
Chevrolet cars and trucks. GM also was into auto racing and made the
engine available to a limited number of teams. That meant that parts for
it were not available at all dealerships. In 1967 GM made the motor
more available and with certain high performance options. Racers who had
money were able to get them. By the end of the racing season that year
after market manufacturers got involved and the ‘gold rush was on’ to
build the biggest, baddest motor that could be built. Engine blocks were
also more available with racers staking out junk yards to get the
motors out of wrecked Chevy’s. In 1968 most of the faster race cars were
sporting the 427 Chevy engine. But, GM was still in control and had
limited the parts for them to be handled by what they called “High
Performance Dealerships”, the ones who were selling the high performance
cars with the factory installed “big block” engines. Smaller
dealerships like the one Lynda’s father-in-law owned didn’t carry the
parts for them and they had to be special ordered or, if they were lucky
could find a “High Performance Dealership” with parts on hand. If
you’re confused, don’t worry about it. I put that in to give some
background on the trials and tribulations Cliffy, I and the team were
about to go through. So, after Neil quickly went over the above with me I
had an idea of what he’d meant by “putting all the pieces together”
meant. He told me to tell Cliffy to get a complete parts list for the
engine (right down to the smallest of clips and clamps) so that as they
became available he’d have an idea where he was in the process. I stood
there wondering if I hadn’t created a bigger problem than we already
had… and I hadn’t told Cliffy that we’d need the money he had on hand to
get started. From the “high” of picturing us back racing I’d dropped
back to a low of wondering if we could collect all the pieces we’d need
what with their scarcity.
Since I was already in the town where
Lynda lived I decided to drive by her house on the chance that she’d
arrived home. She was but as I pulled into the driveway I saw an older
woman walking up to her door. I’d already pulled in when I saw her and
felt it wouldn’t look too good if I just went and backed out… so I
stopped and got out. The woman was her mother who’d come to spend the
week. It was kind of awkward because I couldn’t do or say what I’d
wanted to. To get out of a bad situation I made some reference to the
brokerage office and that I’d get back to her after reading the
materials Stan (her boss) had given me. I was able to give her a ‘thumbs
up’ to let her know I’d had a positive meeting with Neil before getting
back in my car and driving off.
My supper ended up being eaten
at a McDonalds that had just opened in that village. While eating I
tried to figure out just how long it would take to track down all the
various pieces we’d need to put the motor together and when we might be
on the racetrack again. Being that it was after 6pm I was sure Cliffy
would be home so got some change and went to the pay phone (remember
them?). He was eating supper and seemed a bit annoyed that I’d called at
that moment. I didn’t want to be too upbeat with the news so moderated
my excitement by saying something like “It looks like we’re going racing
again…” and then waited for a reaction. Instead of a big “Hooray!” I
got a dull sounding “How?”. In looking back on it all these many years
later I can understand why he wasn’t jumping up and down and screaming
with joy. In his career he’d been promised any number of sponsorships
and the few that came through were always less than what had been
discussed. He was thinking “Here we go again…”. I told him what I’d been
able to get from Neil and he kind of snorted. Not wanting his reaction
to control the situation I interrupted him telling we’d be able to buy
all the parts at the dealerships cost. That slowed his negativity down a
notch or two. He knew what the mark-ups were on parts from a dealership
so that was a plus. I knew I had to let him know we’d need more money
but even though I was carrying the thought in my mind that I’d cover it
told him the rest of us would need to come up with about $500. I
actually heard him sigh and, knowing him as well as I did, thought it
might’ve been the end of the conversation… but it wasn’t. I’d run out of
coins and I could hear Beth yelling at him in the background so told
him I’d see him the next night. He said OK and that he’d call the other
members of the team to be there as well. Just as the phone was about to
go dead I told him to get a complete parts list for the Chevy 427 ci
motor.
Elle was still passive when I got home. It wasn’t like her
at all. When she was mad she’d let me know about it. I knew I deserved
at least a little of her wrath but all I was getting was indifference. I
asked where the kids were and she pointed to the basement. She’d been
lying on the sofa but without the TV on. Not that she was a TV fanatic
but she did like to watch the news. I asked if she was OK and, as I
expected, she answered that she was. I backed off my questions and
headed to the basement to play with the kids. Once there I asked the two
older girls if they thought their mother was OK. Anne piped up that she
was fine but Jean shook her head. I asked why and she said she didn’t
know but she “wasn’t being mommy”. That got me to thinking about her
pregnancy. She was about four months into it and other than a little
bigger waist line no one wold have known by looking at her. She’d not
had any morning sickness and the only thing the two of us had noticed
was that her incontinence was worse. The only thing I felt I could do
was to keep a closer eye on her.
To be continued…
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