Chapter 29

Day Twenty-nine - Monday

Sue and I woke at the same time, just before six. We played, and showered, teasing each other before dressing in jeans and regular T-shirts, before going to my trailer to start coffee. Sue thought biscuits would be good this morning so she whipped up a batch of Bisquick and put them in the oven.

As soon as the coffee was done, I turned on the patio light drawing our crew like mosquitoes to light. Some bouncy, some dragging, some dressed saucily, some plain.

Glenda was commenting on the bikers that came yesterday when my phone began ringing. I went inside to answer and to hear Gene, begging us to please make him another frame as soon as possible. I asked him if one of the new stainless steel ones would work and he said it would be fine but to make him a regular steel one as soon as possible too. I told him I could deliver the two eighteen percent stainless frames this morning and his immediate reaction was "Great, when can you get them here?"

I told Sue what the deal was and that I was going to have a biscuit then take off to buy a trailer and haul the two frames down to Gene. She said she wanted to go with me so I asked Glenda and Ruth if they would clean up for us.

At the shop, I had an idea. I went out to the big truck and checked my supplies. I made a list for later but was satisfied that we had enough of everything. I took the cover off the big truck and pulled it around to hook up the trailer we had bought on the way to the shop. The trailer light socket was the same as on the pickup and the big work truck. I pulled in front of the shop so Sue and I could get the finished frames up on the trailer.

It was a struggle but we did it. I parked the pickup and told Sue we would leave it. I took down the blue print we had been using and we drove down to Gene's in the heavy morning traffic.

I backed the trailer up to the door we had worked at previously and went in to find Gene. He was in the garage stripping a wreck. I told him I had a delivery for him and that excited the heck out of everyone there.

Every guy in the shop came out to carry the two frames in. Gene and the crew chiefs were pouring over the two frames. They took one over to a huge scale and weighed it murmuring that it was about thirty pounds lighter than the other frames.

I followed them over to a frame straightening rack. Instead of pulling to straighten, they squashed, twisted, then squashed some more. When they were done they set upon the frame with squares to calculate all the angles. They all nodded, happy that the frame was passing the stress test.

They hauled the frame into the garage where they were parting out the wreck. While several guys still pulled parts off the wreck, several guys went right to work, installing paneling and interior equipment. While one guy was running a wiring harness two guys were soldering connections. They were really moving.

I went to Gene and asked him if he had steel for another frame. He said, sure, never less than five to six cars worth were always on hand. I said if he wanted, Sue and I would build him a standard steel tubing frame real quick today.

"If you two need to work late to get it done, no problem. We're going to be here most of the night ourselves," Gene said directing one his men to bring us a set of steel tubing and plates.

Sue and I disconnected the trailer, repositioned the truck and set up the table. We changed into our coveralls. By the time we had everything ready, including batteries in the charger for the grinders and drills, the tubing was there.

We began measuring and cutting, and bending. We had it down now and were able to do all of it in just a fraction over an hour, even with double checking before and confirming after we cut and bent.

I set up both wire feed arc welders on the truck. Sue and I hustled through measuring and tacking all three sections. The re-measuring at this point took a lot of time but we were still done by eleven. I gave Sue the rear section to weld and I started on the front.

At noon, Gene came back and invited us to eat with them. He had a huge layout on four card tables of everything you could want for a sandwich including multiple kinds of bread.

Sue and I made up some sandwiches, eating them with the crews. We only took about fifteen minutes as we wanted to see how fast we could do this one so we were back to work in less than a half hour.

We were through welding the cage in place by two before we re-measured everything again confirming lengths and angles and started grinding and cleaning. I had Sue begin on the front while I worked on the back confirming and inspecting her welds. She was getting faster and she was getting damn good. Her welds were getting tighter and as good or better than most welders were.

About three-thirty I started drilling holes while Sue finished up the polishing of the cage. At four thirty we stood back and looked at the completed frame. We were tempted to let it be but we went back for one last re-measure and inspection. Everything was accurate so I went to get Gene.

He couldn't believe it. He said he was going to review his surveillance tapes and make a composite for his guys to watch how fast people can work. I told him when he had a tape to make us a copy so we could watch it to find out whether we could do it faster.

I made up the invoice for the two stainless steel experimental frames with us providing the materials then an invoice for the frame we just produced. I carried them to Gene, asking him for a copy of his sales tax exemption form.

He smiled and said, "Glad you asked for that as I was afraid you were winging it and trying to avoid reporting. If you could, send me your federal I.D. for our records too."

I went out to the truck where I had the numbers on a sheet of paper and brought them back to Gene. He wrote out the check for seventeen thousand six hundred dollars and said, "I should tip you guys again but I don't want to spoil you. Maybe you two could come with us to a race as part of the crew. You would love it."

"That might be nice, we'll talk about it. You don't need to tip us, we thank you for the business. Let me know when you need us."

Gene looked at us a minute then wrote a telephone number on a piece of paper with a name, "Give this guy a call, he was complaining about the slow delivery he was having for frames. You might be able to help him. I hope he doesn't monopolize your time, I'm still going to need you."

I smiled at him saying, "You're first, always. Just ask, we'll deliver."

We cleaned up our equipment and the shop putting everything away including our blueprint. We hooked up the trailer and drove to the storage place to park the trailer and the truck. I went to the office to see if I could get a place next to the truck for the trailer. The guy was happy to rent me more space.

Abe was busily painting panels hung up in my workspace saying he needed more space to do everything. I walked back up to the office and asked if he could give us the next space over and have lighting and power installed for us like the spaces we already had. He said no problem, he would move the people who were in the space and get it done by Wednesday. When I told Abe what I had done he was surprised.

"You really rented another space, just because I was complaining?" Abe asked.

"You bet, can't make my money maker unhappy. With our activity, we can afford it and probably need it. I was thinking of trying to find at least one good welder to work exclusively here at the shop. We might even need another space."

Abe then motioned toward the generator setting in his space with new tires and the frame and towing tongue freshly painted, "This one's done except for putting the panels back on when they dry. It was a mess from lack of care but I don't think it has ten total hours on it. Inside, it's like brand new. It just needed routine maintenance, cleaning up and replacing the dry rotted tires. This one is probably worth a grand more than the one you just sold. Think your guy would go for it? It will look like brand new and not even a wave in the sheet metal."

"I'll try, if I get it, I'll give you most of it, as I would never know to ask for more," I said sincerely.

"Just pay me like you always do. The commission I'm making is better than any salary I've ever had and that's what I'm here for, to teach you," Abe said proudly.