Featured Art & Inspiration Some thoughts on the coming year

Well, here we go again. Another year coming to an end and the start of the next right around the corner. Same premise as in previous years, so post your thoughts, plans, projects, etc. HAMB appropriate content only please. And Merry Christmas ya filthy animals!

 

.....and a Merry Christmas to you as well, Sir.

 

No BIG plans here. Hoping just to make it to a few small events and cruise-ins. Need to make an effort to stay in better touch with friends and what little Family that I have.

 

I resolve to make no more resolutions next year.

 

Well now @chryslerfan55 as being a filthy animal - I resemble that remark I'll have ya know - as far as the future goes - If i wake up the next day it's already a good day - the rest is up to me - i hope to spend more time with family and friends also - I too wish all a Merry Christmas and a safe and better New Year!

 

The last few years I’ve been working on the house and gathering parts so hopefully this coming year I can make use of all the stuff that I have ac***ulated for various projects. I’m wanting to drive the woodie more and start hitting shows and swap meets with my granddaughter, she has been har***ing me for a road trip

 

Just HAPPY to be here. Hoping for a road trip. Or two.

Ben

 

Lots of plans. There will be big push to get my speedster ch***is completed into a rolling/functioning ch***is. Just bought a bunch of stuff to get me there so excited to pick it up next week and get started. Always lots to do around the house in terms of projects. Also will get into better physical/mental shape.

 

Every year I resolve to work less and enjoy myself more, but somehow the opposite always happens. Maybe I should just resolve to make better bad decisions...

 

Thoughts...

 

Needs a Hemi. Hehe.

 

Like everyone else. Hehe.
And I couldn't use the Long Ram intake.
And when is the last time you saw a 440 with a 6x2? Probably never.

 

Hope to get my V8 Corvair on the road but it has the wrong kind of wheels for the board. Also hope to get my 1917 RPU on the road but it can’t be on the board because of the read end. Other than that, hope nobody has to bury me

 

Hope to retire, work around the house, enjoy the coupe more, and start building the T Bucket. Hopefully all of the above before I am planted. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all my HAMB brothers and sisters.

 

I hope to get all the rocker panels solid and welded up on two projects in my garage. Would be nice, and a long time coming.

 

Get the 261 cleaned up for my 56, install the black bench seats I have for it and clean up the rest of the interior and drive the wheels of that sun of a gun !!!

 

My plan for 2026 is to get the 60 Ranchero as close to running as I can, maybe sell or trade the 55 Tbird, blow the money, and drive the 56 F100 as much as time and cir***stance will allow. Oh, and not die.

 

Sell my '51 Merc BIG project and find something I actually have hopes of getting on the road before I'm pushing up daisies.

 

My plans this coming year are more about building some trailers. One will be a camper. Best wishes to all.

 

Find and fix the transmission leak, finish the emergency brake linkage, install the headliner, cab marker lights and roof, get and install gl***, upholster seats, design and fabricate an express bed, make a front bumper out of stainless steel bars, install seatbelts, begin the long, arduous process of ***ling, inspecting, licensing and insuring the '29 AA and maybe drive it to Cruise Night in Belton, MO before the end of 2026. I give myself about a 20 % chance of accomplishing all of that.

 

Merry Christmas to all, I'm looking forward to some cruises and shows.

 

Every year during the month of December, I always use this avatar of my old girl friend from New Orleans, just to say a Merry Hoodlum Christmas, to all of the HAMB Universe!

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Not too long ago, I accomplished something that a lot of us geezers might be contemplating.
I sold all of my vintage cool cars and trucks and now have an empty usable empty driveway.

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I retired when I was 66 back in 2019. So at age 72 currently, I dipped into my hidden liquid stash of cash and got with the program and took care of some the much needed projects around the house.

Had our front porch totally ripped out and redone, and the same for our old worn out fence, got that done and painted.
Killed all of the berry bushes in the front and back yard, and had pavers installed and now no yard work anymore. Also had a 9ft tall by 8ft wide by 15ft long Tuff Shed installed in the back yard, totally insulated and electrified.

So now I have a work bench to bang on stuff and I don't have to shell out $286.00 a month for storage locker which was going up to $320.00 a month!

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So the only plans for the coming new year is simply this, work on projects out in the tuff shed, continue to go to swap-meets and NOT drag home big stuff that takes up a lot of room, continue to go to car shows and cool events with with my Nikon camera and continue to capture cool rides with the camera and post them here on the HAMB, and continue to contribute to the (FAS) Friday Art Show.

Plus I will be going up to Mount Vernon a lot more to hang out with my friend Matt @Hitchhiker who has the new shop that will be the new home of Seattle Speed Shop.
The drill press that you see on my work bench was a gift from Matt, so thank you very much!

Enjoy from Dennis.

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These added pictures will give you a very good idea of just how invasive and a pain in the *** these dammed berry bushes can be and they are dammed hard to totally kill.

I had my fun with all of these great machines, and happy to say that the cool little Kalamazoo burden carrier / crane truck, is now the proud possession of my HAMB friend, Matt @Hitchhiker who is going to totally modify it to be a very kick *** rig that will a part of his shop, Seattle Speed Shop!

Enjoy the pictures of what the back yard and the drive way used to be.
@corncobcoupe has nothing on me when it comes to the love of the ODD DUCKS!

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I retire as of Dec. 31, so I plan on repowering my 50 Shoebox.
Of co**** the little woman will have a honey-do list, so that will fill in any down time that
presents itself.
I also plan to drive the wheels off of my o/t car when all this white **** melts in Spring.
Merry Xmas & Happy New Years from the great white north.

 

For the last couple of years my wife and I have wanted to take my 49 pickup out to western SD to properly finish a 2 week trip that got cut short several years ago. We have not made it back out there yet.
2024 got side tracked with the failing health of my mother and her ultimate p***ing.
2025 got side tracked with several major home repairs.
Maybe 2026?
All my hot rod projects are now pretty much hot rod maintenance projects. I've done enough major automotive projects to last my life time. Croozen with my wife of 50 years (in May 2026), and enjoying the truck is the major goal for 2026, a trip back to SD would be a nice bonus.

 

Plans for 2026 include staying healthy at 81 and trying to downsize and sell my 48 woodie wagon and 30 A Coupe. That will leave me with 10 cars to enjoy. Blessed wishes to all my HAMB friends for the new year. MantuaJohn

 

For the first time that i think i can confidently say, i want to drive my last 7'ish yr project 1937 Buick coupe to the Ty-Rods Old Timer's Reunion in September. I should be starting up the engine for the first time in the next week or so, barring any unforeseen big issues, then i can focus on paint and brakes and everything else. It might not have an interior or anything really other than a bench seat up front. The show is about 50-60miles away from me each way, so not a full-on road trip, but thats my goal. Its one of my favorite shows of the year, and it should be obtainable.


Some homemade speed parts

 

A friend of mine had a patina'd barn-find 1936 Buick coupe tucked in his own barn some years ago. I used to enjoy sitting in it just for the aroma of the leather interior and look at that beautiful Art Deco dashboard. That bench seat was like sitting on a sofa, very comfortable!

 

This is in the paint shop. I hope to have it home mid Jan and on the road come May. It's going to be a lot of work.

 

Hoping that my 2026 includes time with friends, lots of miles on my 51 shoebox, getting some much needed work done on the 56 Fairlane to where I can get back to stacking miles on it, lots of miles on my 54 FL, getting my OT Chevelle back on the road, and maybe even getting started on the 40 Merc. Kind of at a transition time with all the kids getting their own lives to where my wife and I can get back to doing things together again.

 

I want get get my Mo-Jo back.

I was on the Fairlane hot and heavy. I have balance issues due to a head injury. Sometimes I get sick.
I was hot and heavy underneath that Fairlane.

You know how it goes. Every time you open that garage, the smell, the feeling…OK, let’s get down to business.

Then I had to replace a suspension arm on my daily. A simple job. I got about half of the way done and started to get sick. I bulldogged through and got it done but I was sick for three days afterwards.
Since then…..
I lost interest.
October I had surgery on my left ear, it’s been a long recovery. It still has not properly closed.
For while I did not if I would ever drive again. I’m driving but it has been slow.

OK……
I’m getting better.
The Fairlane……
It’s going to have to have a 5 bolt 289. The 68 302 although I have it, It’s not the way I want to go.
My 51 Coupe….
It needs little nick-back stuff…..
26 T…..
That one is an adventure. It needs new wheel spokes and a starter.

Money is tight….
I just got to hold on.
Better days are coming.
In the mean time, it’s time to clean the garage.