A Birthday Well Spent

Well, never made it to the diner as suggested below. Got in the car and received a call from my transmission rebuilding friend who had some car parts for me (below): '32 Ford transmission mount/rear bearing retainer, U-joint, and clutch release shaft. Not shown is a part I need to return since its wishbone mounting points are too wide to work for the T or RPU: a '37-'41 genuine Dago dropped axle.

After stopping by to get the parts (and a brief lunch of necessity at the golden wretches), I headed out to Pick-n-Pull on a lark to see if the '37 1-1/2 ton truck that donated its motor to Twice Lucky was still there so I could finish robbing its dash (below, before I absconded with the gauges).
It wasn't, and I was disappointed thinking how many imports would come back across the sea from that Ford steel. You can imagine how elated I was to later learn that some forward-thinking restorer or hot rodder got the whole cab, which made me feel better that I didn't take the dash, so they have that much more with which to work.

Instead, I stumbled upon an International truck (my other old car is my Scout Traveler) from which I refrained stealing its 4-barrel carb and intake and, remarkably, a Scout II! It graciously donated to me its lovely International Orange tailgate, so I can run a tailgate when I take the top off my Traveler. I also made off with the side trim, too. But the tailgate was the best deal at $50! I think repops in fiberglass are around $250 and may or may not include the mounting and latch hardware.

Donor Scout Lamenting the Loss of Its Gate
My Scout Posing With Its New Gate
After all that, I still had time for a family birthday dinner and then off to my local music haunt for a little hillbilly and rockabilly to close out the night before this just-before-midnight post.

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