After a couple of back and forth emails, I have the owner of KINGS RESTORATION in Whitestown, IN, coming out to look at my car.
He asked me what my budget was before offering to come out.
Truth is I have no idea
With that, I told him I understood the cost of paint and body was way more than the current value and likely way more than the value when its done.
I told him I understood 5 figures was likely if not apparent.
He responded, "So you do understand" and agreed to come out.
I'm totally on edge about the discussion, this car is a part of my identity as much as my last name. The guy said at any rate it would be 2 or 3 years before he would be able to work on it.
I was reminded of my trip to Denver to the "Great American Beer Festival" this past October.
I didn't know a lot of the brewer names so I came up with a simple plan for my tastings.... look for the long lines; theory being those lines were long for a reason.
Hopefully the message is something I can handle. I know I could go buy a pretty sweet car for the cost but it just wouldn't be the same.
20 years of waiting for this conversation to take place.
In other news, my Dad and I had an actual hours long conversation for the first time in what seemed like forever, since my mom was diagnosed with FTD.
Her outlook remains bleak as she has been admitted to hospital last week which is likely forever As a result my dad has a new chance to live his life which has been good for us kids.
We got to talking in depth about the guy coming out to look at my ride.
He was excited about the prospect of my car being restored.
I told him with the guy making an inital claim about it being 2 or 3 years it would allow even more time to save and decide on final mechanical upgrades specifically an OD transmission from Extreme.
He said, "yeah, I've been meaning to talk to you about that, I would like to help with the transmission"
I was like "thanks Dad, I appreciate it but I'm not cutting corners with the transmission and its going to end up being quite an expense".
He said, "yeah, I've heard you say 3-4K". He told me it was important to him and he thought Papaw would like to buy something for my Pony.
(My Papaw passed away earlier this year and left my dad some dough). He said, "listen to this body man, listen to what he says and what he doesn't say, come up with a plan on how you are going to pay for the paint and body, if you pull the trigger we will get your transmission ordered)
SO THAT HAS ME FLOORED
Depending on the message from the paint and body guy, I may be giving Lonnie a call on Monday!
Hopefully, I have some good news Sunday evening.
Pray for my Mom.
Wish me luck with the paint and body message.
-Corey