I do not know why I started this site. I recall the first pages went up when I was restoring 686, my second Schweizer 1-26 and my first sailplane restoration. 525 came later after Dave Piotrowski bought it and continued to upgrade that glider with all sorts of impressive enhancements and clever additions.
Then the Nimbus 3 came along and I documented the refinishing of that glider on these pages, followed by a complete overhaul of a wrecked 1-26, serial number 038. After 30 years of soaring (since I was 16), I quit flying gliders, it was just getting too risky for me – having never had any kind of incident, I figured it was just a matter of time before I made some minor error that killed me.
Boats have always been a big part of our life, having sailed a Wayfarer that we bought in Wroxham, England for four years while we lived in Brussels. After selling the gliders, we bought another sailboat, a Ranger 20, then another Wayfarer and finally the Monk. After building a PaperJet 14 and rebuilding the Monk, I sold the Monk to a couple in Nanaimo, B.C. We purchased an 18′ Catboat, a Marshall Sanderling that we named TabbyCat and then sold to a family on Bainbridge Island in the summer of 2020 when we decided we have no time for sailing when I’m racing all summer long.
My wife Renee and I have a rescued cat named Goody and a rescued Newfie mixed with Golden Retriever named Zeke.
After selling the Citroen, the gliders and the boat, I bought three 1971/72 Honda SL 350’s and restored them, learned to ride a motorcycle and got my endorsement in August 2013. After selling those bikes to collectors in the midwest and Utah, I acquired another dream – a 1995 Lotus Esprit S4 in British Racing Green which I sold in November 2018.
Next project was the 1973 TR6 – complete frame-off overhaul resulting in a spiffy little roadster that’s fun to drive. I sold it spring of 2018 to a guy in Ohio.
I decided I needed a formula car and bought a Formula Vee from Dave Schrady in Monterey, CA. I drove that car for two years. learning how to race an open wheel momentum car. In 2016 I built a new Formula Vee from bare lengths of steel tubing, fabricated a new carbon fiber and Kevlar body for it and won the Conference championship that year and in 2019.
In July, 2015, I bought the Acme of Foolishness that I drove 2880 miles from Lancaster, PA home to Bonney Lake, WA. Ran great, got 6.27 mpg and is now the ultimate race track support vehicle with no less than four air conditioners and eleven heaters. It’s a 42,000 lb. all-steel beast that cost $272,000 new in 1982. I bought it for $16,000 with a full tank of fuel (300 gallons!). We’ve been constantly upgrading the Wanderlodge with solar panels, two large Victron inverters, interior work and exterior paint. In 2020 it got all new tires (eight of them!) and all new brakes. It runs beautifully! Sold in March 2021 to a nice family in Michigan who continue to curate the old bird.
In 2019, having sold the Lotus, the FV and the TR6, I restored a Snowcat that I found on Craigslist.
I sold the Snowcat to an enthusiast in Idaho, then bought a Formula Mazda in the spring of 2020 to continue my formula car racing education.
In the Fall of 2021, I flew Delaware to buy a 1985 PT36 Bluebird Wanderlodge that I had my eye on. Five feet shorter than my previous Wanderlodge with more power, a 350 HP 2 stroke Detroit and a transmission retarder as well as Jake brakes make this the ultimate Wanderlodge in my mind.
In their Summer of 2023 I struck a deal with Coley Tipton to trade the Formula Mazda for his Van Diemen RF79 Club Ford. It has an Ivey 1600 cc Kent Crossflow 4 cylinder engine mated to a 4 speed Hewland dogbox. The RF79 is one of the fastest and nicest handling Club Fords made, so I’m planning to enjoy driving this car well into my retirement.
In October 2023, we bought a Snow-Trac, named Frankie because it’s kind of a Frankencat with a two-band track and a big wheel, plus power disc brakes.. Now we’re restoring it and getting it ready for snow.
Overhauling the Citroen engine
Here I’m sitting in a brand new Boeing 787-8
Racing the RF79 at Pacific Raceways in October 2023.