"How God Shined Down on Earth on the Sabbath to Create
an NOS Fender for
One of His Children in Time of Need"
Paul Colbert (for those that do not know already) has been collecting NOS parts
for his 1963 T34 Coupe for the past 20 years. Slowly patiently finding the best
of the best parts, spending ungodly sums of money & time to find everything.
What could he need that he didn't already have you ask?
After completing the rolling pan restoration,
engine restoration, and collecting all the necessary parts, Paul decided this
year to tackle the bodywork & painting. Never one to do things "half-assed",
Paul towed his 1963 T34 500 miles from Lake Tahoe to Southern California to
have it chemically dipped to remove all rust,
bondo, and other nasties. After the dipping it was discovered that Paul's T34
had a rather nasty right rear fender.
Now Paul has collected just about every NOS sheetmetal piece known to mankind,
but the one he needed right now was the right rear fender. After asking the
T34 list, contacting everyone he knew, and short of begging Lars in Germany
to pack one & send it down (for super-big-bucks), he made arrangements with
Martin Serrano to buy his 1964 T34 parts car (stripped, but with one good right
rear fender). Paul decided to drive down to Southern California (again) for
the VW Classic weekend to take the T34 body down to the ISP West repair shop
to begin the metal work process.
Two or three hours after Paul sent Martin the check, Lee gets an email from
a guy that says he's got an NOS T34 fender for sale ... and it's the right rear!
Are you kidding?!!! Over the past 15 years there have been maybe 4-5 NOS T34
fenders for sale, and now in Paul's time of need the right one shows up? Lee
immediately sends Paul the image & contact but it's too late, as the seller
already found a buyer in England that agreed to buy it! Noooooooooooooo !!!
Early Saturday morning Paul brought his T34 tow bar and truck the 500 miles
south and picked up the 1964 rolling shell that Martin had left for him. Ten
minutes after hooking it up Paul looks in his rear view mirror and sees the
left rear T34 tire rolling past him, narrowly missing an Asian guy, jumping
the curb, rolling over a bush, and resting beside a wall! Of course the T34
is now generating a flurry of sparks and to top it all off ... a Police cruiser
has its lights on and Paul's busted! No title, errant tire, Martin's not home,
and Paul's from out of state! Twenty minutes of discussion about Paul's T34
project leaves the cop shaking his head in disbelief ...
Paul retrieves his wheel and then proceeds to see why it came off in the first
place ... one single lug nut! Quick check of the other three tires reveals no
more than three on each tire! He carefully nurses the T34 back to Martin's.
Now what?!!! Paul heads back to his dad's home in Ventura (I believe) to rethink
the whole process.
He checks his email and finds a note from the guy selling that NOS fender! The guys says that the English buyer fell thru and wants to know if Paul is still interested! [Waters beginning to part ...] Paul offers to buy the fender but the guy only wants the WHOLE PARTS CAR T34 that Paul just bought from Martin, and he wants Paul to tow it up to the high desert (200 miles away) to drop it off!
Ever the optimist, Paul tows the 1964 T34 up, drops it off and then makes it
to the Toy & Literature Show, badly in need of a cold one! He's driven 900
miles in two days so far! He tells us his incredible adventure ... and we all
listen in disbelief!
Sunday at the VW Classic arrives within hours and Paul meets the seller to retrieve
his prize ... an NOS right rear fender in excellent condition! Ten minutes later
I snap that photo of his tight grip on the edges of that fender.
Now you can tell your kids that you have PROOF that miracles happen, because
you know the benefactor of a recent miracle personally!
LEE
