So I’ve decided to hold off for now on my plans for Mr. Brzęczyszczykiewicz in terms of making him what I want him to be and instead I’m going to enjoy him as he is for the coming year (and perhaps longer).
In a few days I turn 50.
And let’s just say I’m not very healthy and all of my grand illustrious plans for my dream Beetle are really the plans of a thirtyy-something in much better mental and physical health.
Unless I change my personal self, there’s absolutely no way I will be able to have what it takes to restore a vintage car.
I’m not talking just being able to do the physical work (which I honestly can’t in my current state) but the long haul mental effort to do this is lacking. The learning to weld. The learning to do basic metal fab. The learning to auto paint. All of that right now is something a much younger exuberant person could handle but I’m not that person anymore and I don’t know if I can ever truly be that person again. (Or if I even was.)
So I’m going to focus on the things that I can at least think I can accomplish within my current skill set.
As I wrote yesterday, I’m going to focus my work on Murbella and keeping her as stock functionally wonderful as I can. I feel confident in my ability to do most of what needs to be done on maintaining her.
And quite truthfully, I feel confident on getting Żuczek fully running with the new engine and having fun with him throughout the summer and autumn while Murbella is inoperable.
He’s not perfect, but his rust is not going to get significantly worse than what it is.
So he’ll be my own personal Shitbox Beetle for the time being.
Perhaps I’ll be in a different place later this year or next and my thinking will change.
It would just be a major mistake to commit to beginning the project in this state of health and mind.
Who knows, perhaps I’ll come across an already restored 1302 or 1303 that I can buy and enjoy instead of all of the years of work ahead for an unknown final product.
So for the time being… niech żyje Shitbox Żuczek!