03.28.08
Getting the Car Home
Friday, March 28, 2008
Today, the Bradley got towed home. I started out driving over to Gail’s with a spare tire from Carolyn’s old Volkswagen. We each signed a copy of the DMV Bill of Sale. Gail also signed over the Title Certificate to me. She gave me the 2008 Registration Certificate (expires 4/30/08), her original Registration Certificate (from April 30, 1993), a photostatic copy of Ed Begley Jr.’s Certificate of Title from California and an original Validated Registration Card belonging to Ed Begley Jr. (issued 06/07/91). Gail mentioned that she had never met Ed Begley, Jr. but that Neil (a co-worker from the Desert Resaerch Institute) had, because he was the one who trailered the car back to Las Vegas. Somewhere in her files, she said, she also had a copy of a picture of Ed with his car.
Gail also gave me a folder with some documentation on the electric conversion. These included:
• General Electric Battery Discharge Indicator
• Lestronic Battery Charger Instructions
• Originals of the Operator’s Manual
• Originals of the three Electric Conversion Manuals
• A copy of a 2-page article in Kit Car Magazine
She also gave me 4 (probably shot) gas struts for the gull-wing doors and two (totally shot) tires that were mounted on the original Bradley wheels. The wheels may be salvageable. I need to bead blast them and repolish them.
Once the paperwork was done, we jacked up the front left side of the car and pulled the bad wheel/tire. We then bolted on the tire that I had brought along from Carolyn’s VW and discovered that the lug bolts for the Bradley wheels were too long for a stock VW rim. After fretting about it for a bit, we just bolted on the wheel that I brought, knowing that it was going to be wobbly for the short trip on and off the tow truck. Surprisingly, the front right wheel was bolted on in a similar fashion – that is to say, not fit to drive. One has to wonder how long it was in that condition.
We aired up the 4 tires (the three old ones held) and the tow truck driver arrived – right on time. He loaded up the car without a hitch after we backed it down off of Gail’s driveway. The emergency brake and the pedal brake both worked. Gail posed for a picture in front of the car and, after that, I gave Gail a hug and headed off down the road, tow truck in trail. It took about 45 minutes in cross-town traffic to get the car home, but we did so safely and unloaded the car onto the pad in the back yard.
I spent the rest of the afternoon filing the paperwork that Gail had given me in the binder. The project is now ready for disassembly.
