Mort's Shorts

Back there in the ‘Hopupland’ section we said ‘We’re Back”. And we are. The ‘we’re back’ buzz can go either way. Dichotomous. Has two edges. If you feel strongly enough about something, some effort, interest or endeavor, and you rely on it to ‘feed’ you ...to provide your fix…well, then, when it lets you down…..that ain’t so purty good. Sometimes we let it down. Same ‘not so purty good’.

About the time I was chokin’ down my failure to get the new book done, I was thrashing to get a car re-engined to go to Texas and, although I got done and left on time,  but for “C.W.” Severa being along for the ride, I’d be lookin’ for work at Bozo’s Wrecking Yard in Santa Rosa, New Mexico, to get bus fare home. Corey and Jon bailed us out of a distributor issue ( a certain local product has failed us THREE times), then the generator issue (switched batteries once and that got us to the home-shop in Houston for another gen they had ‘in stock’ ) and finally the whole fleet of about 15 cars assisted…..and waited… while I did a fuel pump on the hiway between Houston and Austin; I say I, but Danny Burroughs had a jack…and used it….and Randy Gribble and Jim Aust handed me tools an’ stuff and….somebody else put out a ‘preventer’ and somebody else laid out a fire extinguisher (gas and hot pipes, ya know?) an’ they say there’s no I’s in team...hokey but true!

Now, the ol’ Fiver ran home like a frickin’ rental horse back to the barn, tho’, didn’t miss a lick….I held my breath for two frickin’ days.. and even tho’ it worked out OK… all that breakdown shit doesn’t feel so purty good, either. We were loaded up. One wheel off the road. Started out that way..ended up that way. So we took last month off (the web page) and employed the time de-commissioning the car from the trip, fixing what we had done wrong with Hop Up Volume VII, tidied-up the barn, positioned the race car for pre-Bonneville work, and pushed the current project a little. That doesn’t sound like a month off, but it really was.

The relief from one thing availed more time than usual for talk (email) with guys like Uncle Mike in Atwater (shhhhhhhhhhhhh….ain’t that right, Mr.WhiskeyMan?), Ron Limbrick in Canada, Sam Strube in Livermore, and others. We jived ‘bout my car, their car, travel, great roads, great towns, great guys (you). What a cool world we got.

We beat some people outa lunch..and that always feels good.

We spent some time shaping up Hop Up Special Number 2 (it’s in the can and will be AVAILABLE to ship the minute we offer it this summer).

We made some decisions and committments for Hop Up Volume VIII that will guarantee that it will debut at the GNRS in January..right on time.

We got some office help.

And….........oua la! The head cleared up a bit; fog was gone. Weight off shoulders. B.O. An’ then ya know what happened? Yeah, ya do.

The daytime dreamin’ started. And we got the mental thrash goin’ and commenced t’ see ourselves in that banger roadster that Steve Beck invented ...that we’re gonna copy. Maybe he innovated. Yeah. Innovated. But he put it in front of us and .......since we had that B.O. (bein’ optomisitic) again, we started making a list. Gonna put all our parts together, then get us a Brookville body and then decide if it gets paint or not….run a stocker with two pots or build up the Four Port Riley…..with two Winfields…plan another Archie and Jughead Run….(open bangers only)....and…what kinda steering wheel…(probably a Speed and Chrome 17” from Sam Davis)..and should we run a open driveline this time…..and…..a tunnel dash or somethin’ like that rusty Auburn sittin’ over there….and….......aw..we’ll tell ya later…..........

Yeah. We’re back, alright. And the schizorodgreed is still untreated. Yeah, Buddy: maybe I’ll drive that ragged-ass coupe to El Mirage;  punish the bitch;  let it make up for Texas ‘06.

(Looks like he did, and the wreck got him back home again. Ed.)

Did I say, “Yeah, Buddy”?

Hop Up Honor. Stay Honor.

HAVE YOU GONE BACK THERE (