510,072,000 km²?......baaaa! That's nothin'!

 In 2009, a man by the name of Jose Martinez was trapped on a ride at Disneyland. Being disabled he was unable to extricate himself from the "goodbye room" on the ride and endured over 30 minutes of the song "It's a small world after all". Ever since last week I too have had the song rolling around in my head, but unlike Mr. Martinez I don't mind!
You see a few weeks ago I got a message on the blog from a gent in Montana, saying "Greetings! I owned your bus for fourteen years, and know a fair amount about its history...". Needless to say my interest was piqued. Turns out what I thought I knew of Fillmore's past wasn't quite the real history.
None the less I had a few emails back and forth with "Robert" and then a wonderful phone conversation. Although we both had slightly different end looks for 'our' clipper we share the common passion/desire to see it done up right. During our talk I learned of the clippers history, and some of the history of the company that Fillmore was originally manufactured for the Intermountain Transport Co. When we finally said our good byes Robert had generously offered to share his collection of history pertaining to Fillmore.

Tuesday it all showed up....

And what a collection it is.

A reproduction of the original company logo

An original return ticket from Butte to the ACM Co. smelter

Oh oh, this might cause some issues with the in laws, and 50% of my quartet for that matter. I guess I'll have to discount their share of the fuel.
There are pictures of Fillmore back in the early 90's , a period license plate from the fleet, bus route brochures and many many other treasures.

Last but definitely not least, Robert had a middle section of bumper, not originally from Fillmore himself but from a clipper. Test fit looks really promising, there are a few bends and dings in it but I'm hoping to find a blacksmith that might help me out with rectifying that.
I have on a few occasions had small world experiences, meeting a high school classmate on the streets of Amsterdam, showing up at a house party in a different country only to find neighbors of friends, and now getting in touch with another person with an obvious emotional attachment to something that I hold dear, all because of consulting "the oracle" - Dr. Google....ladies and gentlemen the earth is over 510,072,000 km²...but it truly is a small world after all.

Moving slower than Molasses in January

 How many times have you said this? I can't even think of how many times for me, but the past week I have said it over and over. Between my newly acquired bum back and the persistent cool temps. I haven't been getting much progress. Don't get me wrong it's not for a lack of trying or even doing! But the trying is modified tasks and the doing seems slooooooooowwwww.
Slow as molasses in January.....but how slow is that really?

Dr Google tells us that : "It was a balmy 43 degrees Fahrenheit (6 degrees Celsius) in Boston when the Great Molasses Flood happened on Wednesday, January 15, 1919 .  On that day, the low-lying section of Commercial Street between Copps Hill and North End Park was flooded by the contents of  a 58-foot tank that had contained no less than 2.5 million gallons of molasses .  The container stood just behind the Boston and Worcester freight terminal. 
When the tank split wide open at around 12:30 p.m. that day, a 30-foot tidal wave of molasses tore the steel supports off the nearby elevated train structure.  In the end, it was determined that the molasses of the Great Molasses Flood ran at between 25 and 30 mph (40 to 48 kph)."

So I suppose I stand corrected....I have been moving SLOWER than molasses in January.
  By Manitoba standards for this winter -23C is nothin', but for us as of late it seems cold. Especially when you are trying to squeeze your bare hands into a super tight space to evaluate the block heater.

 I know Fillmore has a mind of his own and can be stubborn but even in this temp. after being plugged in I should be able to get him turned over.

 Notta! 

I tried the old farmers trick of plugging in the block heater, then putting a metal pipe against the block close to the heater and listening for a "hiss".

Notta!

Chris gave me ther advice of putting the ohms meter on it to see if I was getting a reading...

Notta!

 After wrestling with removing the power chord, I was hoping it was fried.....nope
Just for good measure I got a new chord and installed it.....still nothing. Looks like I'm going to have to drain some of the fluid and replace the block heater itself. (NOT looking forward to that!)

 In the meantime I continue on with modifying the wheel well and placement of the passenger chair. First thing first was to heat up the inside to a comfortable temp. Thank the good lord for construction blast heaters!

After scouring a junk yard or two, I found nothing close to what I wanted for the seat base, so I ordered one. Cost me a few $$ but I have to make sure my lovely co- pilot will be comfy on those long road trips! Making progress.....just slow...about as slow as Molasses in...never mind!

Opening a hornets nest

Most of the time you use that phrase, it's figurative but this time it was literal. Work on Fillmore has been slow the last two weeks, mainly because I did a real number on my back. I'm not exactly sure what the issue is but bending and twisting are not good. So my activities have been severely hampered. In the last week things have been improving with regular physio/acupuncture and exercises. Finally my back has been good enough to very carefully work.

Keeping myself in a good body position, I was able to continue to remove the roof vents and evaluate what danger lies beneath. And there was some danger beneath. Thankfully they were from days of yore and it was -16C so there were no wasps hanging out in the nests.

Next on the to-do list was bite the bullet and commit to the placement of the passenger chair. I knew that in order to do that I would have to really open the hornets nest and modify the wheel well. Consulting with some photos of other jobs from other Flxy owners I decided where I wanted the chair, how far over I would need to be and then....

Cut away! I had to allow for the air ride base, the riser and then the rotation of the chair if the passenger wanted to spin the seat around to face the crowd. The only bad part is after all the metal cutting, the sweet smell of the new wood is a bit tainted!

Test fit after mods looks good!

Now that I like the position, now I have to recreate the wheel well!!