From My First Car to the Kitchen Table

I want to say thank you to my parents for my first car. Back in 1983 (Yeah, I know I am old.) We went from Odessa to Midland to pick up my first car, an old Plymouth. We loaded it on a trailer. After we loaded the car, we started loading things like doors, bumpers, etc. It was a basket case. It took us more than a year to turn it into a viable (and quite beautiful) vehicle. It took another year of driving and repairing to get the major bugs worked out. I already loved things with wheels, but that car cemented the relationship and taught me a great deal.

This weekend it was cold here. Very cold! And I have had lots of cabin fever lately. So I decided to find something to work on inside. The bicycle battery pack was a natural choice. And I have thoroughly enjoyed researching and building it.

 

So, thank you Mom and Dad for that piece of junk car that taught me the value of building it yourself. If you'd bought me or helped me to buy a middle of the road used but dependable car with things like a cruise control and an air conditioner, I would probably never know the joy of seeing a bunch of parts come together as a whole and functioning thing, and I have a hard time imagining a life without that.

 

If you would like to build your own similar pack, here is a VERY helpful link from a mad-scientist-electric-vehicle-genius Canadian who goes by DoctorBass:

 

http://www.endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=28285&hilit=makita+building

 

And if you'd like a place to learn more about the value of young people learning to work with their hands, this is an excellent read:

 

Shop Class as Soul Craft

 

May your hands know the joys of making old things into new things, and may you have a friend like Grizz (who brought me a box of batteries and who is generally just a great friend to have around.)