Spring 2019
We are trying some new things here at 356Restore. As of January 1, 2019, Jim Kellogg retired. He moved the shop over to me, BJ Kellogg, for the daily operation. Jim is now in charge of the parts department. All this means is that he is in the shop two or
three times a day now. He is enjoying retirement, reading many books and planning his next fishing trip. I on the other hand have been trying to learn Excel spread sheet and basic accounting. I am also trying out a new newsletter format. I am not sure that I like it. I am looking for the original 356 Restore newsletter header but between swapping out old and new computers it may have gone away.
Spring Cleaning
There is a social media storm from Marie Kondo’s book “The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up, The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing”. The part that is getting the most spotlight is where Marie picks up an object, looks at it and asks, “Does this bring you joy?” If the answer is no then discard the item. This is a process that I went thru when we moved into a new house last year. I picked up many things during the move and asked, “Does this bring me joy?” Packing up the garage was the task that I was given since Jennifer was not going to let me touch the kitchen, bedrooms or closets. I started with taking down all the posters on the garage wall and putting them in tubes. Many of them were from RMVR vintage car races and other Porsche events that we had attended. Next was the tool chest. I made notes of tools that were broken or missing. Then the stuff like the garden tools, bikes and toys. I figured out that it had been many years since we had cleaned out the garage. The trash cans were filling up fast. When we moved into the new house the process was reversed. The tool chests that I thought were going on the left side made more sense going on the right. Posters that were front and center on the wall were left in the tubes while art work that friends that had given me, were put up. I was no longer set in my way and it was fun trying out and doing new things in the garage.
The pictures in the newsletter are from the Rennsport VI at WeatherTech Raceway at Laguna Seca. We have attended hundreds of car shows. Seeing all the cars with the social aspect is fun. Our youngest daughter Sammie is a huge car nut, she has quite the Matchbox car collection. We have been going to local car shows here in Denver that are not Porsche or 356 related. Who knew that there was such a thing? Something new and different for us. I have been able to take my 1977 Chevy Monte Carlo, blue with a black interior, and show it. That is another story for another newsletter. Something new for Rennsport VI was the Porsche tractor race. Out of all the events that happened that weekend this tractor race was amazing. The gun went off and the drivers raced to their tractors jumped on and took off. Some took the racing line thru the corners some took the dirt. Everyone had a great time. I was still talking about it when Scot Pettit stopped by soon after the event and said, “You know if we put slicks on Jim’s 1962 Junior tractor and fix it up, I bet we could enter it in the next race”. All we must do is figure out how to get the diesel tractor to run and repair and restore a bunch of parts and maybe paint it. There are at least three drivers that would love to race the tractor at Rennsport VII. How hard could that be since we have never done it before? It sounds like a plan to me.
What’s the Plan?
We still have the lights on. We have two customer’s cars here in the shop that we are working on. One needs a new battery box floor and a floor pan the other needs a complete restoration since it was parked since 1974. We have two more cars that we hope to get to in the spring and summer. Tony Peak, an amazing technician who has worked on everything with wheels and an engine has been working part time. He has been putting together all the project cars that we have that hopefully can be sold soon. We have three Coupes right now in different levels of completion that hopefully will be sold. I am working on the welding in of floor pans on the customers cars. And Jim is working on the parts. So, it is a bit busy here with everything that is going on. We will be loading more information and pictures on our 356Restore Facebook page. We have a bunch of car shows that we are going to be at. The Racecar is going to be up and running for some vintage racing. And hopefully we will be trying something new.
Grandpa News
This last paragraph of the newsletter has always been the most popular item that we have had the most comments on. Jim wrote about his granddaughters Alexandra and Samantha and what has been going on with them. I think we will keep it in the newsletter. Alexandra is now 13 and Samantha is now 8. They both are looking forward to Spring Break in Phoenix Arizona for fun in the sun.
