Oh well - I've already got a palette of blog goodies lined up for this month anyway, so let that time fly by then, eh?
To kick off this special Blogging season, I'm going to hark back to the late winter of 2015, when I told the tale of TR, my '98 Explorer Sport coupe-wagon. Within said tale, I made mention of "Old Blue 4," which was the 1989 Chevy Suburban my brother kindly sold to me, and left it at that. This is the rest of Old Blue 4's story.
At the time of OB4's acquisition, I was looking for a ride that would be true dual-purpose; a reliable grocery-getter / commuter vehicle, and my first-ever "hobby ride" to have fun souping up and modifying to my wonderfully warped tastes. I'd always liked the 1973-89 "Square 'Burb" design, and OB4's original appearance quietly screamed "Go for it":
Needless to say, OB4 was more "awkwardly gaudy family land-yacht" in his original state than the wild Q-ship I had in mind, but I could easily look past his flaws and see his true potential.
After perhaps two weeks getting thoroughly acquainted with my big wagon, I embarked on the first phase of crafting my vision cautiously by tackling the outer silhouette mods first, whilst researching all things mechanical and electrical for the next several phases. In short order, the vision I had for OB4's external appearance appeared for the first time:
Now that OB4's ridiculous "blang" {"bling" for white trash, natch} was history, I began to get really, REALLY excited about what the end result would be like. Hell, I'd even done the first "custom" touch already, by the simple expedient of retaining both the fore and aft vertical kick-plates from the discarded running boards as ad-hoc mudflaps!! Look closely at the lower rear of the front fender - all that's missing is the simple sheet-metal extension I was going to add all the way around just before painting the buggy. If there was any justice left in the universe, the next few phases should have been a downright blast, given how well my modest first steps turned out.
True to my luck however, there was no justice left in the universe; a scant week later, OB4 became a semi-quadriplegic when his Turbo 700R4 transmission assumed a persistent first-gear vegetative state that was well beyond my means to cure at the time. After a brief, but VERY bitter period of soul-searching, I threw in the towel, and sold off my nifty wheeled project for the proverbial "song".
However, to my unexpectedly great good fortune, when OB4's door closed, the window to TR almost immediately opened up wide - and as they say, the rest is history. I do still miss me 'Burb more than a tad, but I've already moved well on from the outright mourning mess, if nothing else. OB4 was like one of the free samples you can find in the local grocery store on any given day; the sole purpose is to merely whet - not satisfy - a given appetite. My hobby-ride is still out there in the ether somewhere, waiting patiently for me to break a leg tripping over it on search! And so it goes.........
More shortly - the next three rounds of Colortinis are on the House.
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