Roll Caged

Mitch did an awesome job with the cage - more than the rules require, and also mounted the race seat that Brian found. It was portrayed as coming from Elliott Sadler's Winston Cup car. This added racing provenance to the car - to bad it doesn't leave room for Eric's legs.

Off to the Fab Shop

The Escort is at CMP Fabrication in Waterford. Mitch is going to more than double the value of the vehicle adding a roll cage to the interior. Mr Vogler, of course, arrived in natty country club wear to help chain the car down to the trailer.

Gutting - Part Three

Captain Vogler, removing the sun roof. The fascinating thing is that no matter how many parts we remove from the car, it still runs. We continue to cross our fingers and re-start it after removing anything significant.

Gutting - Part Two

Lots coming out, including the door panels, seat belts, and headlines. We held our breath while removing the air bags.

Gutting - Part One

Adeline gets a head start one evening, removing the rear seats, trunk, quarter panels, and the yuckey carpet.

Bringing Home the Catch

Eric found that the car not only required a jump start, it also required a jump to run at all. Eric's battery cables were not long enough to allow his car to follow behind - still hooked to the Escort, so we headed off for an alternate battery. Realizing that we could not just spend money on a new one, we borrowed one from Mercedes truck, hoping that she might be willing to sell it cheap. We drove it home. The bearded lady was right - somthing had died in the car, and only left its fur behind.

A Day at the Auction

Unfortunately, Mr. Vogler can't attend the auction, as his wife is making him go to some PGA Golf thing. Our first target was a Mazda MX6. Bidding was spirited, as it went past $500 (out of range). As we walked further down the row of cars, we happened past a green Escort with "runs" chalked on the windshield. All four tires held air, so we bid on it. We offered both the opening and closing bids (each$400) and bought it. Eric and I were estatic. We notified Mr. Vogler by text message.

While Eric went to the porta-john, a lady with a beard told me "that car is death". I related this chance encounter with Eric on his return. We wondered why she didn't tell us this before we bid on it.