Well Bugsy III is now safely tucked away in my garage and VIN slip successfully obtained. We had a series of misadventures delayed us close to 3 1/2 hours. Tim, my help for this project showed up at 7:20 and we were off in 14 degree weather for a 70 mile trip from Dayton to Chillicothe, OH. We met Dick Snyder who has been the keeper for this BE for the past 15 years at the Ross County Airport around 9:00 AM, and proceed to get tow vehicle ready to connect to his fabulous aluminum race car trailer. Bag of keys is pulled out and we proceed to go through every key to find the DrawBar Pin lock key. We search through multiple sets of keys to no avail.
Now remember we are clad in multiple layers and parkas with lots of packets and places to hide things. Temps at this point maybe 20 and sunny but wind is blowing, snow on the ground and it's cold. Dick heads back to his house to look again for the key while we climb back into my Suburban and crank up the heater. He returns 45 minutes later & no key. Decide to change ball to my draw bar as trailer needs a 2 5/16" ball. No way can we undo the ball nut with tools on hand. Not enough leverage and grip. Decide to go to Tractor Supply 20 minutes away for new draw bar and ball. They've got ball but unfortunately draw bar, heavy duty type will cost me almost $100. Looking at draw bar in the store, Dick puts hands in parka pocket, and remember we've all got 12 layers of clothing on and I hear from behind me, "Hey what's this?" And he's holding the key for the draw bar pin lock in his hand. It was on a separate ring that had fallen to the bottom of his pocket. 20 minutes later back at hangar, problems with strap winch but with some creative engineering we get Bugsy on the trailer and off to BMV. As this car has Indiana Plates on it in order to get title in OH the VIN needs to be validated. Either by Title Place or by State Police or local Car Dealer.
It's now 12:30, we discovered Title Bureau closed at 12:00 crap. Spend 20 minutes finding a car dealer in town who will validate VIN today while we have car on trailer. Arrive at dealership and find the guy is busy and we lose another hour waiting for paperwork and a $3.50 fee to be paid to the dealership. But I have the important slip of paper in my pocket so a title can be obtained.
We are finally on our way. Trip uneventful to our small cottage at Rocky Fork Lake about 45 minutes away. My driveway and lane has 6+ inches old snow to negotiate but we finally get trailer in Driveway and aligned w garage. Let down ramps and roll Bugsy III into his new home. We are at this point 3 1/2 hours behind planned schedule, cold, wet, and all of us have ****** off wives at home. I planned to swap out bonnets yesterday but at that point said that will be a project for another day. Attached are pics some of you have already seen but was too tired to take more pics yesterday. Back home at 5:45. A long day but glad we got it done.
A couple of things I noticed. This car must have been Auto-Xd heavily. Apart form the tow bar, front wheels on this BE are not Spridget wheels but something from maybe a US Car? Wheels stick out maybe 1 1/2 " more than stock wheels and have spring clips to hold on hubcaps. So all of you old Auto-X guys was there some sort of trick setup to widen the front track? Fortunately there are two BE Wheels tucked behind the rear seat. Those front wheels will be the first thing to go.
Also while under the car to hook up straps to rear axle, hmmm why is there an electric fuel pump back there? Take another look at the engine, hey that's a 1098 not a 948 under the hood. A good thing. don't know if engine will turn over or not but an upgrade in power was done before this car was last registered in 1980.
Bonnet is pretty solid, that's why I got this car. I will be swapping Bonnet from Bugsy II for this Bonnet. There is rust on the lower valence but no rust thru and back of bonnet lowers are solid, no repair patch panel will be needed. Bugsy II bonnet is repairable and reusable this one is better to start with. I will sell Bugsy II's bonnet with Bugsy III. Note These pics were taken some weeks ago not yesterday.
I did not have time to inspect the car yesterday. Will be time another day. Plan is to upgrade Bugsy II parts and then sell Bugsy III to fund restoration of Bugsy II. The white car will require some work to Spring mounts and floors I know but rest of the tub is a good project start. Car is very dirty as this one has been parked for 34 years but is indeed restorable. It will be up for sale in late Spring after I have a chance to evaluate what I can use. I will be including a 948 that turns over and was running when removed from Bugsy II along with a rebuilt smoothcase tranny, bonnet from Bugsy II along with a good dash from Bugsy II which has all instruments, switches need to be updated to correct to period correct. Price will be reasonable.
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