I'm so ashamed....

[Alpine66]

Haven't turned a wrench on Jeeves in a long time, even though there's plenty to do.

I did take him out for a spin the other day with the top down, and the usual gawks and stares followed him as he went on his merry way, enjoying his time on the road and out of the garage.

His big brother(71 cougar convert) has been getting all my time as I get him ready to sell so haven't had the time to take care of him and do or redo what I'd like to.

Anyone else having problems getting on with your Alpine work/projects?

 

[Ken Ellis]

Just emerged from a 4-year hiatus, caused by various reasons, life and other. Alpine was stalled in an alternator conundrum, which was a re-fit gone awry. Actually, just stalled due to picking one that made way too much power and was a geometry/bracket challenge. Easily solved with some research, and alternate alternator plan (Hitachi), and a few hours' work. The list of other 'still gotta do it' tasks is still there, but none of them are show-stoppers for the rest of the summer.

Acquisition of a smaller motorhome and reqisite mods to it and the car trailer will keep me hoppin' for a few more weeks, then I get to try it all out with a short road/camping trip. Once proven, weekend getaways with either the Alpine or our Mini convertible should be pretty easy.

Hope you find re-motivation and renewed focus once you complete the Cougar fix-n-sell process. 50th anniversary of the Cougar this year, apparently, so there should be good buyer interest.

Being able to take a spin in the Alpine is a good rejuvenating tonic. Consume liberally and often before non-electric, non-self-driving cars are banned from the roadways!

 

[Jimjordan2]

Yes, here I am in year 10 of my 2 year restoration. Actually did finish, but now going back to do things that I either did incorrectly, or couldn't afford at the time, or just wish I would have done it differently. (Probably like most of us.)
Anyway, I was also stuck on my project for about 2 years, and then even though the chrome needed to be redone, decided to just start hanging a part on here or there. Goodness, started to look like a car again, and the interest in finishing it started up again.
Just taking that step and doing something was the spark for me.
Good Luck.

 

[Hillman]

Life has interfered this year. SII hasn't come out of winter storage and the new OD trans is not installed. SV V6 hasn't had any attention in at least a year.

SOON (hopefully).

 

[sd_pace]

going on year three and it seems to just keep going, always finding something new to fix or update... was only suppose to take a year.... damn OCD

 

[Bill Blue]

CDO. There, put things in proper order for you.

Bill

 

[Dan Moore]

For Me its been 9 yrs 3 yes 3 paint jobs!!! Fabing headers rewiring custom interior making fiberglass tonneau and other projects 65 Galaxie , and 2 Nova's plus life AND I"M RETIRED where 's the time go

Dan

 

[Alpine 1789]

AND I"M RETIRED where 's the time go

I feel you pain. A friend of mine said it best: "I don't know how I ever found the time to work!"

 

[DanR]

Excuses! Excuses! Excuses! More excuses each day! Excuses are excuses for excuses

I had them in the past, now have them in the present and will have them in the future. We most all do.

Always said when I retire I'm agonna get'r done.

Now that I'm retired I'm gett'n e'r done!

Restored one Alpine. Built two engines (1725's). Started two other restorations with near all body work done. Designed, built and selling straight back headers for the 2.8 V6 in an Alpine which took more than three years to bring to completion. Designed, built and selling multiple components for the 2.8 V6 conversion. Helped numerous guys with their vehicles. Cut grass, firewood help elderly folks around the area. Help a couple fellow Veterans when they need something. Honeydew naturally has priority.

I know you guys are doing the same, time permitting so don't bad mouth yourselves

 

[Knightowl61]

Murphy's Law applies (plus three times the cost estimate)

 

[Mike Armstrong]

Had my SV for 3yrs before I was able to drive it. Many unexpected setbacks, letdowns and injuries slowed things to a crawl which nearly killed my motivation all together. But, I decided to give myself an ultimatum, either its driveable in 3 months or it's getting sold, running or not. With allot of help from Alpine owners on and off this forum and putting in endless hours every day into the night, I finally drove it almost 3 months later to the day.

Now, I drive it to car shows, around town on Holidays or sometimes just park it on our Main Street while I have a beer while watching folks stop and admire it.

Is there more work to be done on it, ya, probably always will be. Nearly all of the rubber components need to be replaced (I'm half expecting the windshield to fall out, but then again, it adds to the original 'patina' ), if not for air in the tires, springs and leafs there would be no suspension at all since the rubber and shocks are shot, matter of fact the only leaks I have are the drips of old oil coming from the bottom of both front shocks after driving it.

But, for now, I'm done. I'm comfortable just driving it the short distances that have and its been fun. I've carefully stomped on the gas a couple times just to see what she'll do and ya, that stock little V6 is plenty for such a small car

 

[Ken Ellis]

Had an (different) Alpine when I was 16, and had the windshield off for dash work. Still had to go to work, so I drove a couple of days without the windshield. Now that's a hoot. Safety glasses recommended. If something happens, you're toast anyway, but at least you can see it coming.

Kudos on your perseverance.

Chip

 

[Hillman]

Way back in my early 20's, I drove a Spridget/Sprite. Lived in Toronto. Got a lot of freezing rain. I'd come out to the car, chip the windscreen clear and whak my hand on the rear, Ice would fly.

One morning, put my hand thru the back window. On my way to work, saw a billboard "we fix convertabe tops". Stopped. They said "top comes off, great, it'll be fixed and you can pick it up on your way home"

Two weeks later I had a top. Got a lot of funny looks driving top down at about 20F.

 

[Mike Armstrong]

Way back in my early 20's, I drove a Spridget/Sprite. Lived in Toronto. Got a lot of freezing rain. I'd come out to the car, chip the windscreen clear and whak my hand on the rear, Ice would fly.

One morning, put my hand thru the back window. On my way to work, saw a billboard "we fix convertabe tops". Stopped. They said "top comes off, great, it'll be fixed and you can pick it up on your way home"

Two weeks later I had a top. Got a lot of funny looks driving top down at about 20F.

Had 'Bugeye' Sprite just out of High School. That was up in Portland Oregon, often rainy and cold. One thing I remember was it had those plastic sliding curtains for side windows and I couldn't see out the hazy rear convertible top window, that left only the relatively tiny windshield to navigate through. On cold rainy nights with those tiny wipers barely scraping rain off the glass and a barely functioning defogger, I often thought, geez, I could be back in the U.K. during the 60's right now

 

[Alpine66]

Great stories guys, keep them coming.

I appreciate the positive sentiments, as I think we all can relate to the challenges, achievements and setbacks, and staying the course.

 

[MikeH]

Haven't turned a wrench on Jeeves in a long time, even though there's plenty to do.

I did take him out for a spin the other day with the top down, and the usual gawks and stares followed him as he went on his merry way, enjoying his time on the road and out of the garage.

His big brother(71 cougar convert) has been getting all my time as I get him ready to sell so haven't had the time to take care of him and do or redo what I'd like to.

Anyone else having problems getting on with your Alpine work/projects?

My signature block states "slow progress", while it should say no progress. All I've managed to do it collect a ton of parts and pieces, along with other projects. My V8 conversion of the wife's MGB has had its share of starts and stops. Just when I really got motivated, I tore up my right biceps tendon. Then a friend offered to help and things got moving along pretty well. Then he retired and move to Tennessee. Things slowed down again. I think I need to do as others here have done and just start again and that should re-ignite the interest. I think part of my problem is that I have a barn I converted to a shop, but it is nearly 400' from the house, so it's not like I see it sitting in the garage everyday. Heck, I've got a '69 Mach I that I've moved, in pieces, twice over the past 26 years.

 

[DanR]

MikeH, Open those doors and stroll over there several times daily, good for the body and other working parts....

My main shop is atleast the 400 feet from my house. Make that trip many times in the course of most days, then of course I do have a Golf Cart for when I'm in a hurry.

 

[pcmenten]

I am also in the middle of an expanding project. Seemed so simple on paper.

I had impulsively, and against my better judgment, removed the front crossmember to be able to work on it. That actually turned out to be a good thing because I found bent parts, but it did slow down an already slow restoration.

It's not helping that I've moved five times in four years.

Best thing I know to do when I've gotten stalled is to commit to doing just 10 minutes of work on the project. After that, it usually gets some quality time. Most recent work was reinstalling the front crossmember so I could load it onto a trailer for the most recent move.

 

[Alpine66]

My signature block states "slow progress", while it should say no progress. All I've managed to do it collect a ton of parts and pieces, along with other projects. My V8 conversion of the wife's MGB has had its share of starts and stops. Just when I really got motivated, I tore up my right biceps tendon. Then a friend offered to help and things got moving along pretty well. Then he retired and move to Tennessee. Things slowed down again. I think I need to do as others here have done and just start again and that should re-ignite the interest. I think part of my problem is that I have a barn I converted to a shop, but it is nearly 400' from the house, so it's not like I see it sitting in the garage everyday. Heck, I've got a '69 Mach I that I've moved, in pieces, twice over the past 26 years.

I'll help you out by taking that mach1 off your hands....

 

[Cactusmasher]

So ashamed..........

A few years back I got burned out a little...OK, a lot. Just got tired of all the physical labor. Seemed like every other weekend was a Sunbeam related car show or a swap meet looking for parts, buying and selling Sunbeam cars and parts on Ebay and the rest of the time disassembling Sunbeams and cleaning parts. Over 35 years of 19 Sunbeams (16 Alpines and 3 Tigers). I totally restored 3 factory correct Alpines and built 2 V6 Alpines. Several early series cars were shipped back to England for refurbishing by UK Sunbeamers. The rest got dismantled for parts because they were too smashed up to be economically restored or so full of rust that a restoration would be cost prohibitive. Many trips out of state to fetch whole cars or buy hardtops. I enjoyed all of it until I couldn't enjoy it much any more. My cure for the Sunbeam blues was to resolve to put one part on each day or restore one part each day. It's sort of like eating an elephant by yourself. You can do it but it's going to take a while. My heart is still with Sunbeams but the old body just can't do much with one nowadays. I say to you guys procrastinating, one part a day is all it takes to finish it and you need to finish it before you can't do it anymore (OK you wise guys, you know what I meant). Jim the Cactusmasher