Post your Greatest Thing that Happened in 2009

My son was born Oct 28th.

 

made it to 50 despite popular opinion!

 

my girl left me, so to get over her i swapped out the 350 in my 55 aka my wife and dropped in a bruising 454! good times, especially when the x tried to race me in her plastic 38 mpg gas mizer toyota. i made her ride look like it was parked when i did the coffin stomp with the accelerator. that was the greatest thing in 09 for me, doing the coffin stomp with a bbc, comparably running 4.88's. yeah, bbc's rule! oh yeah, bought a hard top 55 also.

 

got my hotrod running, enjoyed the summer, but then everything went down hill. Blew the motor and rearend in my hotrod, banged up the body when it fell off the trailer, re-injured my left knee, and been out of work since october, painted my car, and got another motor, only to have it blow up. Dealing with family issues, and never seeing my brother due to college.

Things went to hell in a handbasket quick.

If it wasnt for bad luck, i wouldnt have luck at all.

 

one weekend stands out for me . sept 18 the car i crew for ran a 6.08@218 , got home about 3am . saturday morning on a whim i cleaned up my wagon and entered it in a local car show and won the "just plain cool" award . later that afternoon i went for a ride in a 1929 ford tri-motor airplane.

nothing earth shattering , but for some reason that weekend just sticks out .

 

Racing my son's Max Wedge NSS 64 Dodge with my NSS Hemi 65 Dodge in the first round of a 422 All Stars event at Beaver Springs, in front of a packed house.

He took this geezer out in a close one as we both ran well, and went on to runnerup. I didn't mind losing to him at all. Being able to pass the torch to him.....it was awesome.

 

I'll second that,along with "For B-Bodies Only";now that there's an ol' Sport Fury in the garage,I can be an active participant in both forums. My presence on each has a little more relevance with ownership of a proper car.

I didn't lose any friends;first year in a while that I can say that.

I spent more time working than laid off;that's a great thing.

...and even though I treat it as if it were 13,the 53+ year old bod still has more working parts than non-working parts-for now. It made it through another year.



Happy (upcoming) New Year to all of you out there. Be safe,and if any of you Texans could arrange for YOUR snow to become OUR snow,we'd really appreciate it up here. There's a 1/4 mile oval on my property that has only seen a couple of laps with the snowmobiles this season because of the lack of white gold.

 

Years not over yet. still hoping for something good.

 

We too got our first grandson, 12/3/09! Had to stay a little extra in the hospital, but the best thing is he's perfect now!!!

 

did not get laid off.
got to meet a lot of interesting people with intereresting projects.
finally (what took me so long) discovered that I can make more room by stacking cars (storage lifts).
Rebecca

 

Made the best new friends from the HAMB. Got a KILLER girlfriend, Sherri. My sons are healthy. I got a job (still).

 

I broke my Truck trying to go fast @ the DragStrip...........Well atleast a highlite for me....just means I was trying and not joy-riding.....10.37 was the best after a very difficult mechanical breakage of a spring and summer..finally got the donkey rolling in the end only to break it for good and retire the Truck for good.....but I will tell you I really would like to upgrade it and bring it back out again...must fight the urge.....Littleman....running six-twos with Nitrous Oxide was fun too !!!..I will never forget that..

 

had the opportunity to do a trade with the world famous Povertyflats. One thing led to another and we became friends. As a result, I have met many great folks from the State of Kansas and all over HAMB-land...Abomb, EnginePro5X, Cuzndeke, Travis from Kansas, Mrs. PF, the BIL's Tom and Lawrence, etc.

It isn't every year you get the chance to make a friend that will have your back and you know is surrounded by great folks.

If you don't know him, Paul Kruse is a great guy and quite the character.

Besides all that gushy BS, I managed to stay in business! HAMB friendly cars for sale, folks! www.topnotchvehicles.com

 

After trying to buy/find this 56 gasser built by a guy I went to high school with I got it just in time for my birthday this year........35 years later

 

found out my daughter will make me a grandfather in March

got to spend some time with my son
that I've only seen maybe four times in the nine years he's been in the Air Force

 

It doesn't take long for some small, angry person to spoil a thead.
Let me explain something to Mr. FNG...this is a traditional hot rod and custom site. That's what we talk about here. If you want to talk about the fact that you have other "issues", I'd suggest that you move along and go to a site that deals with "issues' such as yours.

 

my son was born.

 

Got to DJ the Justice League Of Car Clubs charity event again in 2009.

 

'09 was a very good year for us.

After years of renting, we bought a 100+ year old house on a couple acres in the country. Very funky but very cool ... we love it!





Unfortunately it only had a ramshackle dirt floor shed, so all my tools, equipment and projects have been taking a beating.
My sweetie took care of that. Here's my Christmas present going up.
24' X 30' ... not the Taj Mahal by any means, but sure looks like it after being under the proverbial shade tree for several years!



Anyway, wishing everyone an early Happy New Year. Hope 2010 is a good one for all of you.

 

Best is I am still empolyed, and work is getting busy(AUTOMOTIVE), second , I got an opertunity to be a contestant on MOTOR CITY MOTORS, and got to work with a great bunch of guys, and re-kindled my interest in Cars & bikes again....had to bargan with the wife to move the shop out to the house tho....cows had to go to make room for the machine toolsThe concrete should be poured after frost is out ,and redy to rock by july hopefully....Shawn

 

I spent about 250 days in the hospital last year.
But I thank God it was only because I work there.

 

Thanks to the HAMBers, I spent several weeks on the road (taking advantage of being unemployed!), making new friends at several great events. Because of that, my writing career took a good turn and I'm busier than ever with that. It's been a great lesson in trusting that things will work out how they're meant to, if I stay out of the way and let it happen naturally. I had to do the legwork, but lots of good hearted HAMBers made it happen. Thank you all so much!!!
Scotty

 

I had 16 yrs of back child support payed to me $$$$$$ and was able to buy my ride and redo my house.(oh was she pissed when I hit her inheritance!) LOL!

 

GOT TO MEET THIS GUY!!!!!!

{he is actually very tall..i was standing on one of my kids!!!!
AND HE THINKS IM SEXY!!!!!

i have many things to be thankful for! my wonderful family, great brothers in our car club, tons of wonderful people here on the HAMB! but gettin to finally meet my buddy jeffro norwell was great!

 

Still have a job. I finally got my LSR sidecar done and racing. AND it set three records at El Mirage. Thats what I call a good year.

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Along with my daughter BREEDER asked that I be added to his friends list
Hell yah I now feel accepted here on the H.A.M.B.

 

wow...you need to get out more!!!!!

 

This year was full of all kinds of great stuff. In no particular order:

-after 27 yrs of doing the same job and being self employed, I thought it would be good to look for a new job with some benefits and decent pay. As dumb luck would have it....I did find that job...should have done it 10 yrs ago !!

-welcomed a new niece to the family

-our youngest son was sworn-in as a police officer

-and probably lastly, my wife of 26 yrs talked me out of selling the '32. It is my long time dream car that I have only had for 1 1/2 yrs. I was just in a funk and really had no enthusiasm for it or the '33. She showed me the light and got me fired up again. We went to a few shows this fall and now its up on jack stands awaiting some much needed updates. Its good to be back working in the garage with a new outlook.

Many, many things to be grateful for..

 

Let's see..In march I turned 50 (not a bad thing), In april finished my El Camino,went to several kool events, like lead sled spectacular in Salina and the Greaserrama in KC, had our 25th wedding anny, spent some time with my 85 year old father, and EVERYONE in the family stayed healthy! The only draw back to the year was that I did get laid off work but we made it through Christmas without using a credit card,we still have some money in the bank,the bills are paid and unemployment checks every weds. Hopefully 2010 I land another good job and start on a more HAMB friendly ride!

 

All 4 old cars self-propelled- none are completely done by any means, but to have all of them back in my garage and running is remarkable. Looking forward to putting a few miles on them as soon as the weather permits. Best wishes to everyone here on the hamb for a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year.