Mexican 1000 - the trip begins

We loaded up the fj40 and our Subaru and headed to San Diego. Jamul to be more specific. South east jamul, just north of Tecate Mexico to be even more specific. On the way we picked up our co driver, a few groceries and lunch. The 180plus mile trip went by quickly but it did get a little cold at times. The old land cruiser did great and easily cruised on the freeways at 65mph, it'll be nice to see it off road.

Inspiration - and head out the door

 my dad

one of the bronco's I will be racing against.

Crunch Time

It's coming down to race time and there's still plenty to do.  Mainly packing, kids, me and tools.  The last couple days have been crazy with getting all the little stuff done.  Like...

window nets,...

notes to my folks...

and t-shirts.

Lights!

5 days until the race - let's crank out some t-shirts

In the middle of my frenzy to get everything done I decided I needed to update the car's t-shirt.  The design turned out nice enough that now I have to do it.

inspiration - old trophy top

I found this little jeep the last time I was at my folks.  It was a trophy top from one of the old races.  The Mint 400 or one of the Barstow races.  It had broken off years ago and had been kicking around  outside.  The trophy, dad's films and much of the racing memorabilia burned it the Harris fire.  It was nice to see that this little jeep had survived.

Lights and GPS

The GPS is hooked up and the waypoints for the race are loaded. 

I've also got the lights mounted but am waiting for some switches and relays.  I went with some vintage NOS KC Daylighters, and even with their age, they are really bright.  The race is "supposed" to take place during the day, so, I hope I don't need to use them.

There's still a bit to be done.  Mainly narrowing down what we need to bring and where is can be fitted.  I should also change the oil and check all the other fluids.

Graphics and 9 days to go!

My gallery Susanne Vielmetter Los Angeles Projects has been a huge help with this race car project.  Supporting me on USA Artists, Letting me have a garage sale in the gallery and generally putting up with my rather scattershot approach to my career.  They've definitely earned the title Sponsor.

Doing the graphics was my challenge.  I didn't want vinyl lettering - it looks way too contemporary.  My initial thought was to do a stencil but that didn't work.

Then I thought I'd use a sign painting brush and run a little border around it.  Basically, it was really sloppy and a very bad choice of colors.

So I sanded it down and used the shadow of the stencil as a starting point.  It came together and I actually learned a bit.  For example that Cooper Black font is pretty easy to do on the side of a car.  The paint wants to run down and that feeds the blobby lower part of the letter.

It's not perfect and could use a little help but it feels like something from on of the early races.

-thanks Susanne!

Inspiration - old photos

Kenny Younghusband my dad's co-driver and best friend

George Plimpton

me

Drawn to Television

11 days until the race.

New Old Roof

I needed a sheet metal roof for car 23/28 and was just about to head out to the metal supply shop, when I looked up.  In the rafters of my garage was a hood. 

Not just any hood.  This one was from the first car 23.  A "race" car which never ran, was eventually cut into pieces and made into art.

I had struggled with the hood for a while and attempted several mediocre paintings on it.

I turns out the hood fit over the drivers compartment almost perfectly.

I bent it a little, ground off some bits, gave it a coat of paint and bolted it on.

 It's great and maybe redeems the original car 23.  It also feels like the spirit of the old races.  Just use what's available and make it work.