Let me tell you all about the quality of some of the people who are HAMBers. As some of you might know, I blew up my coupes T-5 in the beginning of last month. I made a couple call to friends to ask them to keep an eye out for another one. The first person to respond was our own Danimal, from Michigan. He offered to run down the road and see if his local parts guy had anything. A day or so later he called, proudly proclaiming that he had my new T-5. He called a fellow HAMBer to confirm the T-5 that he was looking at was what I wanted and it appeared it was Danimal and I discussed what he was looking at, the price and a decision was made. Danimal bought the T-5 and said that hed bring it to the Dayton Meet & Greet; he was headed down here in an attempt to become the HAMB Relay Jedi as he was picking up stuff for like four different guys AND his own kids. I would pick it up and square up with him then. Things were definitely looking up. On that day of the M&G, my lovely wife and I ventured out to Quaker Steak and Lube to meet a bunch of fellow HAMBers and one special one. We ate, met some real good people, got to see Squiggy, (always a Dayton highlight!) and met up with Danimal,(and Court too!). After lunch, we went out, moved the T-5 to my car, helped move an obnoxiously big and heavy motor/trans from another HAMBers trailer to Danimals truck, paid him and left. Late that night, on a whim, I went to the garage to check out my new purchase. I noticed something odd; the bolt pattern at the bell housing-to-trans case was odd. I compared the T-5 to the old Saginaw that is still laying in my garage. To my horror, it didnt match, WTF?! It turns out that the bolt pattern was what looks like a Ford pattern. After several HAMB searches and PMs to resident T-5 guru Flat Ernie, this was confirmed. Sunday afternoon I called Danimal and his response was the same, WTF?! He said hed contact his parts guy where he got the T-5 and get back with me. Sure enough, Monday morning I got a call from Danimal and he said that his parts guy said the same thing, WTF?! He didnt know about these couple years that the T-5 offered in S10s were a Ford bolt pattern. He even offered to refund my money or exchange the T-5 as he was expecting a Camaro in to the yard in a couple days. I told Danimal to take him up on his offer and hold out for the Camaro. If that falls through, Ill take the refund and keep looking. In the mean time, I had to get my now unusable T-5 back to Danimal in Michigan. Well, to my surprise, he had this worked out. It seems that he knew another HAMBer was headed down here in a day or so and had me call kustombuilder. Mike was coming down to my immediate area for a big auction. Talk about dumb luck! Since my new work schedule didnt allow me to meet him anywhere, we made arrangements for me to leave the T-5 at HulaZombies new joint where Mike could pick it up. And thats what Mike did. Thanks to Bill, (HulaZombie) and Mike, (kustombuilder), my old T-5 was now back in Danimals hand within four days. Sadly, after waiting a couple more days, it turns out that the Camaro that was expected at the parts yard turned out to be an auto trans, bummer. So Danimal sent me my money back. Here it was, two weeks later and I was sure I was destined to seek out my own T-5 and on Tuesday I get an e-mail from Danimal. He sends me a link to a Detroit craigslist ad for a guy who was selling a Camaro V8 T-5!!! I called the guy, twice in two days and got no call back. So by Saturday, I figured it was done. I was wrong. Saturday afternoon the guy from Detroit calls me and tells me all about the T-5 he has. I heard enough to know that I want it. During the conversation, I asked him about the mileage and he admitted to not knowing. I also asked him about a shifter and again, he admitted that he might not have it. These two facts must have gotten the better of him, because he dropped the price on the spot by $100! I told him Id have Danimal call him either Saturday or Sunday. Sunday comes and the guy with the T-5 must really be wanting it gone, because he called me asking when my friend, (Danimal) was going to call. Not wanting to miss this, I called Danimal, he calls the seller, sets up a day and time for the pick-up and calls me back to let me know whats going on. Danimal is to pick it up on Tuesday. So now were back to how were going to get a transmission to Dayton, AGAIN! Once again, Danimal come through. Hes got a coworker who has a meeting to attend in Moraine and hes willing to bring the T-5 down to HulaZombies joint!!! Un-effin-believable!!! So the T-5 will be here sometime Friday. I had just started a new job that has me working from 7:30-11:30am, daily. Im thinking this is perfect. Then I realize that I had a satellite guy scheduled at my house at noon on Friday. So now the trans has to wait until Saturday; and even then, my increasingly lovely wife was going to pick it up as I had to work all day today. When I got home tonight, I was SOOOOO happy to hear my wife said that I had a transmission in HER trunk that needed to be moved. Hey Bill, Jen loved your comment about the cookies! That made her day. I know this is long, but its a GREAT example of what kind of people you can meet here on the HAMB. I really felt a need to thank these guys publicly. Danimal is the best friend, ever! Who knew that when I sold him my 48 Chevy three years ago, wed be such good friends? He made it his lifes mission to get me a transmission and we all know he didnt have to. How do you Thank someone for something like this? If after this he did officially achieve the status of HAMB Relay Jedi, no one ever will. Kustombuilder and HulaZombie are also great guys. They too did more than one would expect. Thanks guys, really. Do yourself a favor and visit HulaZombies joint everytime you come to the Dayton area DaddyKatz, 3250 Kettering Blvd, Dayton, Ohio 45439 - 937-296-0347 You wont be sorry!!! Flat Ernie, youre an undeniable wealth of info. Thanks for you time. And Scott, who isnt a HAMBer but has what it takes. Hes Danimals co-worker and a guy who according to Danimal is too laid back for his own good. Ok, Im done slobberin I got a transmission to install and slicks to roast!!!
Here is the link...http://www.daddykatzkustomkulture.com/ Vance,glad to here you found a trans., its great to have friends. Now go get it installed, so you can drive the coupe to the next M&G.
Chris, I'll be installing it it TODAY if you or anyone else wants to stop by. You and anyone who was the M&G have my number. All are invited. How's that saying go, many hands make for light work.
The Jalopy Journal
