Build Thread My 1986 T-top Build - Lasting Memories

You wouldn't believe how clean that paint job came out, there are maybe five or six nibs of dirt. SMH.

I have to work tomorrow, so I'm not sure it'll be this weekend or next.

Yeah, things went to hell.

If work hadn't taken the downturn over the last year I would have kept Doby. As it stands, I can't afford two fox bodies needing as much as they do. I had to choose one. The coupe is my choice, though I like the red paint better. In retrospect I might have chosen a different color for the blue car. The kona will be nice though.

In spite of the financial difficulties I've had, I still thank God that all my bills are paid.

The worst for me is the loss of Doby, which isn't the end of the world. I learned a lot through the work I've done to her.

Tomorrow, Doby goes back to Stillwater. This project has come to an end. I'm a little sad. I've been rereading this thread though and I want take an opportunity to thank all of you for your friendship through this. Doby was something I did with influences from all of you and y'all helped make it fun for me.

The creative side of Doby was fairly much over though. It was a matter of reassembly of known parts at this stage.

My brother will put it all together and i will get to see and drive her when it's done.

On my part, I will smoke those new 315's that my brother puts on the car until they are bald.

Now, on to the blue car.

I needed to make at least one more post to this thread.

My brother sent me a text this morning saying he needed to talk to me. This was an unusual manner for my brother to talk to me, so I told him I could call between coats on a Jeep I was painting at the time.

He texted back to wait about an hour, since it was close to lunchtime I told him I would call back at about 11:15. I then asked if everything was ok, not really giving thought to it. He texted back that he would tell me after his doctor's appointment.

So, with a bit of trepidation I finished up the Jeep and went to lunch. I thought, "this better be good or i'm going to kill him".

It wasn't good, it wasn't good at all.

Through the end of this thread I have spoken somewhat negatively about him. I guess I haven't said enough of what a good brother he was.

This may not sound so great to y'all, but he lived with my grandparents back in the early seventies in Iowa City. When the rest of the kids and I would go up there to visit Grandma and Grandpa, I would inevitably be told that I had to share a bed with my oldest brother. My other brother and I hated this because larry would demand that we would give him a back rub or he would fart on us. While this may not sound like such a big deal to the average fella out there in greater America, you would have to understand that God himself had gifted my brother with an amazing and terrible talent for flatulence. It wasn't just volume either, it was the lingering cloud that probably was the basis for several Stephen King novels. If we would refuse the back rub, the horror would come, and he would laugh and laugh. This is one of those funny in retrospect memories.

My first job in a bodyshop back in '76 was because he got me a job being the clean up boy at the Honda dealership he worked at. I admired him greatly, he was practically a superhero to me. I would tell people that Larry was my brother as though I just told them that Thor was my brother.

When I was sixteen I ran away from home because of a brutal father. I made it on my own till the last couple months before graduation and was preparing to head off to the army. He and his wife took me in so I could focus on graduating high school and get my head right to be a soldier.

In '79 Larry was 29, I remember thinking how terribly old that was. Perspective is everything.....

Before I went off to basic training back in June of '80, it was Larry and his wife that threw the goodbye party for me.
That was my first totally drunk experience, lol. I still remember telling Larry's wife that she sure could be a btch, but I loved her anyhow.

I could go on about my memories here and there just like y'all could about your brothers.

I'm on this forum because of him, in a way. He was the original (and current) owner.

I had obviously become upset with him during the finality of this thread, I believe y'all understand why.

I WAS angry with him, but today he told me he just found out he has esophageal cancer.

One if my sisters died about ten years ago from the exact same cancer. She found out about fourty-five days before she died that she had the cancer. My sister was the sweetest thing on the earth and I miss her still.

I know this cancer, I know that Doby doesn't matter. I love my brother.

Oddly enough, I'll try to help him build Doby before he isn't able. Though I'm not so sure we'll have the time to make her a running mustang before the cancer plays out. I will not be showing the progress anymore, this will be my personal fox memory. Just my brother and me.