A Major Setback ....

Well, things took a turn for the worse about a week ago. Last Sunday I woke up with about a third of the vision area in my right eye black. After some calls to doctors, etc., we met the on call doctor at Eye Associates of New Mexico at their facility. Following examination of my eye he determined that I had a detached and torn retina. He called the retina specialist. She confirmed his diagnosis and scheduled me for retina surgery that evening. She repaired my retina with a laser and put a gas bubble in my eye. Everything's going well, but I'm not allowed to go above 7,500 feet, so we're stuck in Albuquerque for a few weeks.

Also, the trailer I ordered for hauling the Model T has been delayed, so it's uncertain whether or not it will arrive in time for the Wichita County Fair. Ronney has offered to pick up the trailer and the Model T and tow them to Leoti, but it depends on how things go time-wise. We'll have to wait and see.

The Model T is all complete and ready for the fair, but I had dismantled the coil box on Saturday to put new wood and insulators in to see if I could prevent it from arcing. I didn't get it all back together, so the coil box is in pieces. If everything else works out, it shouldn't take very long to put it back together.

So, that's the current status. We'll have to wait and see how things work out.

More to follow .....

(Mostly) Done !!!

Today I finished the last of the major jobs -- the bed. The endgate and front board are all finished and assembled, and the metal trim on top of the sideboards and the front board is installed. There may have been metal trim on the endgate, too, but I don't have that, so it will go without for now. Here's a picture of the whole truck as it looks now.

And here's a front view.

This is a closeup of the bed.


And the end of one of the cross rods, which also shows the trim on the top edge of the sideboard. I still have to trim the ends off of some of the bolts that are too long and then touch up with black paint. Most of the touch up is to the bolt ends and screws that didn't get painted. There are a few chipped area on the body to touch up, too, but they're pretty much areas that will just get worn off again.

It's really rewarding to see it this complete. It has been a long, long project, but seeing the end result makes it definitely worth it.

The next hurdle is to see if the trailer to haul it in gets here in time. As it stands now, it's scheduled to be complete July 17th, and will hopefully be in Aztec for me to pick up the 20th or 21st.