You know how sometimes things just never go your way? It happens to all of us at some point or another (at least I assume it does for others besides me). Fortunately, when I do find myself in a situation of sorts-a personal drought, if you will-I know that in due time, the winds of destiny will shift, and before I realize it, I'm in the middle of a winning streak. Call it fate or what have you, but I'm pretty certain that karma has plenty to do with it.
Recently, I was riding out a fairly long stretch of bad luck. And though I'm sure I was to blame for some of it, in the grand scheme of things, I came to believe that it was nothing more than a losing battle. To clarify for those of you scratching your head wondering what exactly it is I'm talking about, simply put, I was not having any luck getting a new truck project off the ground. Though I had a fancy title in my name for a '56 Chevy 3100 (which is the one and only thing I did accomplish), the space and time I'd devoted for the build were basically all for naught.
In the beginning, many a sleepless night was spent dreaming of how the truck would come together, how it'd look in the end, and most of all, how I'd look in it once it was finally on the road. But sadly, dreaming would be as far as I'd get on the project-I was never able to physically get the truck to my house in the first place, but on top of that, a number of potential avenues I planned to venture down (mainly drivetrain and missing parts leads) soon fizzled out. And so too did my enthusiasm, which would ultimately be the final nail that sealed the coffin shut on this endeavor.
Once I'd admitted to myself that this just wasn't going to happen-moreover, accepting that fact-lady luck began flashing her high beams on me. For one, the previous owner of the '56 was more than eager to take the pink slip off my hands (kind of fitting since he still had the actual truck!). But just before that occurred, I accidentally stumbled across the gem I introduced to you all back in December-my '39 Chevy. Acquiring that old relic, and actually bringing it home, no less, completely made up for all the negatives leading up to that point.
I don't know if it was the simple fact that, unlike the '56, I actually had the truck to move forward with, or if it was karma throwing snowballs at me, but the '39 just started to come together without hesitation. I went from going an entire year (or more) with nothing but daydreams and a piece of paper to show for, to now having to schedule my workdays "around" the truck's buildup. Yeah, it's coming together that quick! I'm quite fortunate in that Sal Solorzano from Total Cost Involved wanted to expand their classic truck line to cover the pre-'47-era Chevy trucks when I inquired about suspension parts; I literally walked into a "free" engine; and somehow, miscellaneous bits and pieces that I thought impossible to find, well, they turned up almost out of the blue. Hopefully I won't jinx myself by saying all of this (I just tapped my knuckles on the desk in case and am typing with one hand ... the other's got its fingers crossed!), but I'm pretty amazed at how things have panned out so far.