1.4.2005
I'm going to try to spend at least an hour every night in the garage with the CSL. I'm lucky that I have a tolerant wife, but she also knits most every evening for at least an hour, and sometimes much longer, so my time in the garage is not resented. Today one of the first parts that I ordered from Germany arrived and it was one I've been eagerly anticipating. As you may know, CSLs had special interiors in nearly all black. They had deeply bolstered Scheel seats, and this very trick looking steering wheel.
The great Peter Egan once wrote that one of the most satisfying aspects of buying a "new" old vehicle is the act of removing poorly executed "upgrades" and parts that previous owners may have installed. He uses the example of an old British motorcycle with a Maltese cross adorned sissy bar and how he just had to buy the old bike just for the satisfaction of throwing the offensive accessory in to the garbage can. Peter Egan is a very smart man, and British vehicle fascination notwithstanding, he's got great taste in 2 and 4 wheeled things. He really hit the nail on the head with this observance and I bet most everyone who's ever bought and restored an old car has noticed this feeling. It just feels great removing something that is either poorly installed or kludged and most 30 year old vehicles have at least one or two such pieces.
On my CSL there are several parts that fall in to this category and most of them are in the engine bay. This evening I took the opportunity to remove the completely stupid AC system (non-original and very hastily installed) along with the electric fan that was mounted to the radiator. I'm not offended by an auxiliary fan for additional cooling, but removing the water pump driven fan completely and relying on an electric fan (the wiring and connectors of which were suspect) is not wise in my opinion. I spent an hour or so removing the radiator, the fan, and several AC components and threw most of the pieces in the garbage. Wow that feels good! I may or may not choose to install AC in this car depending on what I can come up with for AC components. Some CSL "City Pack" cars did come with AC, and it's awfully nice to have during the summer, but finding the components may be hard and ultimately cost prohibitive.
I also spent some time noodling around in the cockpit removing carpet and insulation and trim. The interior is going to be one of the first areas of this restoration and I need to get all the old pieces out and the interior itself prepped for restoration.
See you soon!