You ever have one of those “Oh no, what have I done” moments?
     I had one a few weeks ago as I stood outside the gate of a Princeton, BC wrecking yard while an almost completely thrashed ’63 Rambler 4-door was loaded onto a rented U-Haul trailer. That’s it in the photo at right. Not pretty. Useful, yes, but barely.
     It occurred to me as I prepared a bed of tires for the Rambler’s ass to rest on — yeah, no rear end — I had finally lost the screw that was loosened when I bought the first Rambler over three years ago.
    As regular readers already know, the ’63 Rambler wagon I never wanted to purchase in the first place was hiding firewall rust issues requiring some fairly extensive metal work. Since I’m not a tin smith, it seemed having solid stock patch panels would be easier than fabricating swaths of sheet metal.
   So, back in February, when I received a subscription renewal cheque with a wrecking yard business card paper clipped to it, the seeds were planted. Seems this subscriber had a few cars he was about to send to the crusher and one of them was a 1963 Rambler 4-door. He wanted $250 and I was curious. After all, I could use a better grille and a few spare parts and if it was solid in crucial areas $250 was a good deal. As you can see from the picture (well, maybe you can see it better on page 66) the grille was gored, windshield shattered and the car had been stripped of its driveline, including rear end. The owner assured me, however, that the car had a solid firewall, floors and even good fenders.
    

      When I broached the topic of buying a parts cars my normally spendthrift advisor panel — mainly buddies Kevin and Dan — urged me not to do it. This should have been a sign that I was straying a little too close to the Cuckoo’s Nest. I mean, these guys tell me to buy everything so something was up.
     Still, I couldn’t get the parts car out of my head and as the departure day for our Canadian Blitz summer tour approached, I panicked. The car was supposed to be with us on the tour, not as a driver, but something we could roll out at shows and let people snicker at. But I wanted the major holes fixed first. So, I rented the trailer, called my “unemployed” buddy Wayne and off we went to Princeton. Oh, did I mention we did this on the Friday before the May long weekend. Very clever.
    With swarms of Mounted Police patrolling Hwy 3 to Princeton, we somehow managed to avoid getting a ticket, despite the fact that the new-to-us ’05 Dodge Ram turbo diesel always seemed to want to stretch its legs.
     Well, back to the parts car. After some careful examination, the 4-door Rambler was deemed worthy of the $250. (Remember, I’m one step closer to a straight jacket by this point).
     Now that it’s home, I’ve discovered that not only is the sheet metal good in all the right places, but the heater core and kick panel foam gaskets are in great, reusable condition. It also has a cool Rambler Canada plaque on the dash that the U.S. built wagon didn’t come with.
     Did I just write the word “cool” and Rambler in the same sentence? See I really am losing it.

     As I mentioned, the publishing of this magazine was my last act before I departed for the first leg of our Canadian Blitz summer show schedule. By the time you read this my lovely wife Patty and I have already attended the Peach City Beach Cruise in Penticton, BC and the ONDR Fast Blast to the Past event at Grand Bend Motorplex. After that we’ll be at the Atlantic Nationals in Moncton, NB. Then it’s off to a few shows in Southern, ON, possibly the Syracuse Nationals, then the Red Deer Super Run at the end of July. At this point we’ll either head back home or stop at in Kamloops and Vernon for shows the second weekend of August.
     Last issue’s Parting Shots were of a business outside Saskatoon that had tons of Model A, Model T and even Deuce parts and more. If it piqued your interest, give Bert and John at 306-651-1449 or 306-384-0813 or email Kaltag@shaw.ca.