I have no shortage of winter projects
Being retired is wonderful. I work as hard as I ever did, but I only do things that I enjoy. Well, mostly. Toilets and woodstoves still need cleaning 🙂
I’ve just taken on a big new project that you’re going to want to see photos of. Before that starts this afternoon, though, I want to show you what’s been going on the past couple of days.
My project to get my collection digitized will be continuing for years. One of the boxes on the floor behind my desk is full of documents that have been organized and are ready to scan. The other is documents that have been scanned, and are of high enough quality that they’re going back on eBay (where pretty much all of them came from).
The breakfast table right now is my sorting table. The vast majority of that material will be scanned and then will go in the recycling bin. I’ll tell you about the manual in the front in a minute…
This is my work station, where I spend several hours every day this time of year. The scanner, an Epson V370 Photo, is getting a lot of use, but will be getting upgraded in the not-too-distant future, as I now need one that can handle large negatives. The big SAD light is on for 20 minutes a day now. With clear skies getting to be more and more rare as the climate changes, dealing with Seasonal Affective Disorder becomes more and more important to me. That means vitamins and the light, and getting out as much as is reasonable.
The other big project involves driving into Whitehorse. While I was in my comfortable car yesterday, these guys were hard at work at the entrance to my subdivision, making sure that my communications work. Brrr!
It’s been staying fairly mild still, but there are some days like yesterday when the Alaska Highway is just ugly.
The project lives here, at the Yukon Transportation Museum. Luckily, it lives inside.
This early-1950s Austin A-40 pickup is my project. I’ve offered to finish the restoration of it, to be ready for the Canada Day 2017 parade.
It’s a pretty cool little rig. It’s solid, but has been banged around a lot. The mechanical work has been mostly done, but the electrical and body work need a lot of hours.
It’s not going to be a show car, and for financial reasons, the interior may not see much more than a cleanup.
What a cute little motor! I’m hoping that there’s nothing to do with it other than fix a bad leak from the oil filter that was reported.
In the back room, there’s an Austin A-40 panel body as well as spare body and mechanical parts for A-40s.
The truck has been on display at the museum, in a partly-restored state. This sign was part of that display. In the 1950s, you could buy a long list of vehicles in Whitehorse, including Ford, Monarch, Chevrolet, GM, International, Chrysler, Renault, Morris, and Austin. The Austin dealership, Tourist Services, was a real “Yukon” business, offering not only cars but a service station, a grocery and meat store, a restaurant, a campground and even a cocktail lounge!
An Austin arriving at Skagway in the early 1950s, bound for the Whitehorse dealership.
Yesterday was my first long visit with the Austin. I wanted to pick up the manual, and have a thorough look at it so I can develop a work plan for it.
On the way home, I made a quick stop to pick up my mail, and was soon poring through the Austin manual.
I was going to be back to the museum this morning to start work on the Austin, but a call came in yesterday that takes priority for a couple of days. I’ll let you know about that tomorrow, and you’re going to want to see the photos! 🙂
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