Projects Put parts away years ago and now can not find them

I remember when these funny memory-loss stories were about other people.

 

Happens to me quite often. Put something away in a specific place so it won't get lost-then can't find it. Or give away a part then have to go buy one again. Also it helps to find the item lost by buying a new one--it will instantly reappear. I lost a complete NOS 40 std grill for a few months. It somehow moved itself in the attic behind some Christmas decorations-found it when taking decorations down for the holidays.

 

I bought one of those big red tool chests from Harbor Freight. Instead of tools I dedicated the top 2 large drawers for small parts for work in progress. I still lose large things so I started a small spiral notebook and wrote "where Is It?" on the cover, so I can note the places I store things. I'll probably lose that book...

 

I keep finding stuff I forgot I had. In the past year. 2 Sets of new sbc pistons, bearing kits, a 750 holley dominator, a box of quadrajets.
I used to build a lot of engines so those parts make sense. Don't remember what the plan for the dominator was, must been a good deal.

 

Absolutely! I constantly am finding brand new tools I must have bought at some time but have no memory of it. Actually it is pretty fun, like getting a surprise present.

 

Like my extra Hurst handle in a few posts up... not a clue where it came from. I did lose the white Hurst ball somehow. In my top tool box, I keep a box of cleaned up hardware from disassembling my Ford. In the top drawer, any little piece that is important goes there.

On the Ford project alone I must have 20 hours of looking for lost new parts in the past 2 years. And some of this is big, like a rebuilt alternator or a radiator.

 

Happened to me before. I've bought things more than once, only to find it buried on a shelf. I did a mass cleaning few years ago. Sold a bunch of stuff on line and craigslist. All that did was create room to start the cycle all over again.

 

Seems like this has been a regular occurrence since turning 50 5 years ago. If I really need to find it quick, I start cleaning the shop until I find it. Have found duplicate items a few times doing this. It helps to not loan tools or let many people into the shop. I painted a band of green paint on all my wooden handled tools, jack stands,etc. That seems to help too.

 

Not gonna admit how many times I have looked for a particular part or tool that the visual image I had of it in my brain didn't match with what it actually was when I found it.....

 

Ya, I can relate to all of these situations, I turn 70 next month, now what the hell was my point? Oh ya, I just remembered I left my beer on the work bench, I think.

 

I think I was expecting them to be as shiny as they were when I stuck them up in the rafters but they fooled me.

 

I misplaced one of the finished door garnish moldings for my Model A. I looked everywhere for weeks, more than once. Drove my wife near crazy with the pondering. Eventually, my mother-in-law suggested I look in one of the kid's rooms (she left home for college 15 years ag0-comes home 3x a year). Well, that was the dumbest idea of them all. There it was-snuggled down among her Smurf collection on a bookshelf. I still haven't figured that one out.

I should point out that my M-i-l is 91 and hasn't been upstairs on our house maybe more than once in 5 years. But, she is clever.

 

I hide my own Easter eggs.

 

Hell I can't remember what this post is about !

 

I'll have stuff on a shelf for years and know exactly where it is then I will go through a stage of cleaning up and putting things in a safe place so I wouldn't lose it. I can never find it again.

 

I do that too.

 

I'll see a tool that I think is handy and buy one. When I go to put it in my tool box I find one already in the spot I wanted to put it.

 

I read an article that said that the memory is the second thing to go and I can't remember what it said the first to go is.

 

Finders fluid! If I drank that stuff, I'd lose myself!

Wait, maybe that's what that stuff is for?

Glad you found your caps.

 

I had totally lost the my NOS trunk emblem (in avatar) and NOS parking light bezel, with the box, to my Ford. Not that I needed to use either one right away, but I wanted to show them off. I swore they were in a 10" square post office box. Ripped the garage and house apart. Finally did a grid search of my work bench, looked in EVERY box. They were in with some paint supplies that I had moved out of the house. And I had peeked in that box about 20 times. They were hidden by a stack of paint strainers.

 

P A R T S hello.... try whole car should say cars (2) two yes 2,
rented an old mans back yard garage in San Diego 8 bucks a mo, paid him 50 bucks
in advance for 6 mo's and then we moved and i F O R G O T where the heCK
it was (and or his name) nice ol gent ,that i rented a back alley garage from.
*was it 6 blocks away or only 5 or was it over by uncle bobs house ah fooey*
NOW the WORST part.... both San Diego running 55 Chevy 2door 6cyl stick cars sedans...
Oh well i had over a 100 of them anyway(over SEVERAL years 55 56 -n- 57's) ...lol

 

This is with anything

 

I found the missing parts now if I could only find the car.

 

"I have a great memory, it's just short."
First Model A I built ,I went out and bought all the door hardware before I even had the body together. Got the body done, and went out and bought it all AGAIN (300 bucks +/-).
Found the original stuff about 6 months later, so I bought ANOTHER car so I wouldn't feel like an idiot ( didn't work)
Now I try to stay more organized!
( where the hell are my glasses??)

 

I have this recurring dream that I lose cars. Probably comes from the days where I had 9 cars at one time. Like I know I have this nice '64 Galaxie, just can't find it....

 

...what were we just talkin about?

 

I removed the address numbers from my house 20 years and threw them in a box. I intended to purchase new, hip address numbers, but never did. I decided to look for the OE numbers and, shockingly, found them. Since the house is a mid-century house, I want to keep it matching-numbers.

 

And never find them?

 

Exactly

 

I got that from a guy at work that calls beer his aiming fluid when bowling so after drinking a couple and finding the parts I now call it finding fluid or what ever the situation calls for.