May 2016 Newsletter

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We’ve Moved
Finally! The Kelloggs and 356Restore are in their new home. It took six months to close on the property and eighteen months for the remodel. We went with a Mediterranean design and it turned out great. Barb did all the interior design and it is also great.
The new address is 8310 N. Sunburst Tr., just east of our previous home at 8356 N Sunburst Tr. So we have lost the 356 in our address (which was a fluke) but our new home is a basement and one living level with a second guest and exercise/storage level. The previous home which we lived in for twenty five years was a basement and four levels. Living on one level will be more convenient as we get older. The move in date kept changing leading to anxiety on our part. Everything was boxed and ready to move and all we were waiting on was the railings for the balconies. “At the powder paints” said the railing guy. One week went by then another. After a third week we told the contractor this was ridiculous. The railings had been fit previously so let’s pull them from the painter and get on with it. So we pulled the railings and they were installed and the next day we had the final inspection and permission to move in.
As the railings were being installed we noticed they had not been completed. So the powder painting story was a fib, but the quality of the railing work is excellent so we have mixed emotions about the delay.
So, with the OK to move in on a Friday, Cowboy Moving and Storage showed up the following Tuesday and we spent that night in our new home. The movers also needed Wednesday to get everything moved over. So we were living with boxes for a few weeks and now we are settled.
Fortunately, Jim was able to move all the Porsche 356 parts to the new basement shop prior to move in so all we needed was the cars. Larry Becker of Larry’s Towing moved seven of our 356s. Three are in the basement; two are in the upper fab shop and two in the new two car garage until we can sell a few. We also have one at the painters. One at the mechanics and left one which we have sold at the old address as we have a little work to do on it before it is delivered to the new owners. Plus having a Signal Red 356 in the garage while the house is for sale may close the deal.
With Barb arranging the new home, Jim concentrated on getting the old home ready for sale. The basement shop took the most work as all the walls had to be painted and we planned to put new vinyl flooring over the beat up black and white square floor tiles. We ended up pulling up all the floor tiles to make for a smoother new flooring. The floor guy wanted the shop sink removed so Jim removed it forgetting that once a week at 2am the water softener back flushed into that sink. So water in the old basement and a delay on the new flooring. Prior to this flood, the septic tank at the new home backed up; fortunately just water from the clothes washer. The only loss was a few issues of Excellence magazine. But the backup resulted in digging up the septic which was completely full as it had never (?) been cleaned. With it pumped we were left with a big hole right on the path to the basement where we wanted to move the 356s. So we filled in the hole and will have to dig later to discover why the tank didn’t drain to the leaching field.
So with cars in the new shop BJ could get back to work on the Shop ’64 Coupe called “808”. BJ found a Colorado license plate on the Internet for ten bucks. It says 808 OKC. While this C Coupe is not yet OK, it will be.
The weather had delayed completion of the front portico and landscaping but they are now underway and we should be completed in a few months.

PCA
If you remember we bought a White ’61 Coupe which BJ named Casper. The family of the elderly owner didn’t want him to drive it anymore. The son in law is a PCA guy and had visited our old shop when we did the deal. He also organized this years Rocky Mountain PCA’s Gimmick Rallye stops. We had thirty three Porsches visit the shop including one 356. The gimmick took about five minutes so folks waiting got to tour the shop. We were quite pleased with the feed back “Awesome” and “Blown Away” were favorite comments. We were one of the five stops on the rallye and the stops we staggered. The gimmick was to reach into a cloth bag and identify six objects. But there were 3 similar objects for each choice. For example, find the 13mm combination wrench but there were also a 12mm and 14mm in the bag. Or find the pine scented auto air freshener and there were two other exactly alike but different scents. The participants seemed to enjoy the gimmick and two couples got five of six objects correct. Jim tried the gimmick after the participants left and got three of six; yes he got the 13mm wrench.
So the plan is to get 8356 N. Sunburst Tr. on the market, continue to settle in and get back to restoring 356s.
Another owner got taken on a 356 purchase. He brought the 356 by our new shop after media blasting. It is probably one of the worst for required metal work. He was told it had an engine but there was just two case halves. Of course he didn’t do a PPI and paid $37,000 for what we would consider a $5,000 major project.

Grandpa News
Alex and Sam are also getting moved into the new house, toys are being arranged upstairs and wifi pass codes are being obtained. Sam and Alex both have summer camps in June then a trip back to Minnesota in July to visit the Minnesota grandparents. It is going to be a busy summer.

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