The Resurrection of Vixen

Quote of the Week:
"With the past and the future precisely divided... Am I at that moment?
I haven't decided... I haven't decided... " -Phish

Sooo... Things are at a good point. The Vixen starts and runs... The wiring, gauges and relays all seem fine. The fans work okay. The clutch... uhhh... clutches. Overall, I'm ahead of where I thought I'd be at this point.

Well, that's not exactly true. To be honest, I have purposely -not- thought about where I should be at any point, nor when she will be done. If I begin to set timelines, I begin to get impatient. I am allowing an indefinite amount of time on purpose. In fact, I even have a sign on the front of the car; big block letters reading "THANK YOU FOR NOT ASKING WHEN IT WILL BE DONE". That hasn't stopped anyone so far, though, and every time someone asks I get a little twinge of impatience and frustration up my spine. It's not their fault, though, it's mine. I am pretty impatient by nature, so I do what I have to do to get through all this.

Should I be done now? I don't think so. I have about 750 work-hours into the car so far... which is a lot, to be sure. How long did it take them to assemble these originally? Less than a day, I'm sure. I'm taking a bit longer. I set little goals; small steps. The radiator is in. Cool! The vacuum hoses are connected. Great! The antenna goes up and down. Fantastic! Small steps... small steps.

But then every once in a while you look behind you and realized you've come a long way from where you started. You also realize you are closer to your destination than you had thought. That can be a bit scary. Maybe it's realizing that all you've known to this point is the journey, and you know nothing about the destination. Maybe it's something else. I've felt it before.

The night before I bought my '58 Plymouth, I could hardly sleep. All I could think of was, "I'm actually going to own a '58 Plymouth!". It was a long night. The next day, after bringing the car home, I went to bed thinking, "My Lord, I actually bought a '58 Plymouth. What the he** was I thinking???" It was another long night.

Some things just take a little while to get used to, I suppose. I imagine a part of my nervousness is the fact that every time I get used to the state of the car, I realize it has changed. This car actually -runs-, for goodness sake. Just when did -that- happen? Now, I'm not too far away from actually having the Vixen move under her own power. The thought alone is a bit overwhelming. Overwhelming, but good. It's a sense of pride and accomplishment. I'm doing what can't be done, and saving a car that can't be saved. It's exciting, and I like to share that excitement with all of you, who also love the marque.

To me, one of the most exciting things I will do this summer is to go to the Cleveland 2000 show. I had planned from the beginning to attend, with the car if possible. And it looks as if it will be possible to bring the car, albeit on a trailer. I believe that the car in her present state may be an unusal and interesting look at the DeLorean from a purely functional perspective. However, not everyone feels that way. I've encountered a few owners whom I might venture to call 'purists'. Some seem to be actually offended by a less-than-perfect D. Maybe they feel an uncompleted car may lessen the value of their investments? (Personally, I would think that it would actually -raise- the value of their car in comparison.) Or maybe they have the feeling that (as I received in one email) my car "dilutes the status of the marque" in her present state. That's a tad insulting if you ask me, as I would think that it would -increase- the marque's status, if someone would go through so much effort to restore one!

But I'll leave it up to the list to decide. I have created an eGroups poll with that question. If you have feelings either way, I invite you to please vote and let me know how you feel! http://www.egroups.com/polls/dmcnews

Editors note: The vote was overwhelmingly in favor of seeing the Vixen in her present state -- there were no negative repsonses whatsoever.

With that said, I'll head out to the garage and work on my rear brakes. I never thought it would take 7 months to rebuild my rear calipers, but... more on that later. =)

Costs for Week 27:

Date	Purchase	Store	Price
	No purchases	Week 27 Total	$0

		Running Total	$11,215.11

Year One:
Week 1	Week 8	Week 15	Week 22	Week 29	Week 36	Week 43	Week 50
Week 2	Week 9	Week 16	Week 23	Week 30	Week 37	Week 44	Week 51
Week 3	Week 10	Week 17	Week 24	Week 31	Week 38	Week 45	Week 52
Week 4	Week 11	Week 18	Week 25	Week 32	Week 39	Week 46	-
Week 5	Week 12	Week 19	Week 26	Week 33	Week 40	Week 47	-
Week 6	Week 13	Week 20	Week 27	Week 34	Week 41	Week 48	-
Week 7	Week 14	Week 21	Week 28	Week 35	Week 42	Week 49	-
Year Two:
Week 53	Week 60	Week 67	Week 74	Week 81	Week 88	Week 95	Week 102
Week 54	Week 61	Week 68	Week 75	Week 82	Week 89	Week 96	Week 103
Week 55	Week 62	Week 69	Week 76	Week 83	Week 90	Week 97	Week 104
Week 56	Week 63	Week 70	Week 77	Week 84	Week 91	Week 98	-
Week 57	Week 64	Week 71	Week 78	Week 85	Week 92	Week 99	-
Week 58	Week 65	Week 72	Week 79	Week 86	Week 93	Week 100	-
Week 59	Week 66	Week 73	Week 80	Week 87	Week 94	Week 101	-
Year Three:
Week 105	Week 112	Week 119	Week 126	Week 133	Week 140	Week 147	Week 154
Week 106	Week 113	Week 120	Week 127	Week 134	Week 141	Week 148	Week 155
Week 107	Week 114	Week 121	Week 128	Week 135	Week 142	Week 149	Week 156
Week 108	Week 115	Week 122	Week 129	Week 136	Week 143	Week 150	-
Week 109	Week 116	Week 123	Week 130	Week 137	Week 144	Week 151	-
Week 110	Week 117	Week 124	Week 131	Week 138	Week 145	Week 152	-
Week 111	Week 118	Week 125	Week 132	Week 139	Week 146	Week 153	-
Year Four:
Week 157	Week 164	Week 171	Week 178	Week 185	Week 192	Week 199	Week 206
Week 158	Week 165	Week 172	Week 179	Week 186	Week 193	Week 200	Week 207
Week 159	Week 166	Week 173	Week 180	Week 187	Week 194	Week 201	Week 208
Week 160	Week 167	Week 174	Week 181	Week 188	Week 195	Week 202	-
Week 161	Week 168	Week 175	Week 182	Week 189	Week 196	Week 203	-
Week 162	Week 169	Week 176	Week 183	Week 190	Week 197	Week 204	-
Week 163	Week 170	Week 177	Week 184	Week 191	Week 198	Week 205	-
Year Five:
Week 209	Week 216	Week 223	Week 230	Week 237	Week 244
Week 210	Week 217	Week 224	Week 231	Week 238
Week 211	Week 218	Week 225	Week 232	Week 239
Week 212	Week 219	Week 226	Week 233	Week 240
Week 213	Week 220	Week 227	Week 234	Week 241
Week 214	Week 221	Week 228	Week 235	Week 242
Week 215	Week 222	Week 229	Week 236	Week 243

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