Renowned Scotts Valley car restorer Leland Dahill is finished with a 20-year-old project. But after putting in close to $10,000 in labor, he’s giving the result away.
The cherry red 1957 Chevy Bel Air started as a paying job back in early 1990s. After the paint and bodywork were done, the owner had problems getting some of the original exterior and interior parts, so he shelved the project. Then he moved to Reno. Twenty years went by in a blink.
But age and illness often change one’s priorities. Long-term projects become short-term projects. Many just perish.
Dahill ran into the Chevy’s owner this past summer while he was visiting Reno and, when he asked how the Chevy was doing, found out it was in limbo. Nothing more had been done to the car in 20 years.
Seeing the owner’s poor health, Dahill resolved to finish the job and let the car be enjoyed while owner was still alive.
The paint was in relatively good shape, and after extensive buffing, it looks great. Dahill tuned the original 265 V-8 engine, and it runs fine. The interior was restored to a pristine, like-new condition. Everything else was checked out and adjusted, and the car will be driven and handed over this weekend to its 74-year-old owner. Nice job, Leland.
Clean buses on Highway 17
Here’s another humane project: Ride a bus whenever possible. A brand-new Highway 17 Express bus — a New Flyer LF-R, with a 280 horsepower Cummins Compressed Natural Gas clean-burning fuel engine — replaces 50 or so individually driven vehicles, significantly reducing carbon footprint on the environment.
Five of these buses were acquired for $2.5 million through a Santa Clara Measure A grant. The buses have onboard Wi-Fi, very comfy seats and a sleep-inducing soft ride quality. Being sleep-deprived most of my life, I’d definitely use one daily if my schedule and routing weren’t as volatile as they are. Mario Espinoza, a veteran Santa Cruz Metro driver, is behind the wheel in the photo.
Drunks in the cab
And then there’s me, as Johnny-on-the-spot humanist again: Half an hour or so past the Saturday night bar rush, driving my Yellow Cab, I was looking for downtown stragglers. I went by Clouds, the Red Room, Cypress Lounge, left on Center Street and back toward Laurel when a guy appeared, running from an alley, stumbling and flagging me with one hand while pulling his pants up with the other.
Was he practicing streak on a deserted street? I tried to relax him, because he looked really stressed.
“Dude,” he said. “A random, good-lookin’ chick took me to her nearby apartment from the bar. We’re in the middle of a nasty when her roommates walk in and immediately say: ‘Statutory rape! She’s in no shape for consent because she’s so drunk! We’re calling 911!’
“So,” said my fare, “I grabbed my pants and ran out, and thank God, there you were. So step on it!”
My first thought (which is frequently recurring in similar situations): “Soooo glad I’m not 20-something anymore, for millions of reasons.” And “how did I manage to survive those haphazard years?”
And then: “If girl’s roommates are right and I turn this guy in, he’ll be tagged as a sexual offender for the rest of his life.”
But: “Wait a second, this guy’s nowhere near being sober, either. Who’s the offender, him or her? She apparently took him to her house, so are they mutual statutory rapists? And so he’d probably end up innocent in the court of law after spending a small fortune on lawyers (if he could afford ’em).”
A cab ride to the East Side is only about 20 bucks, so I took him safely home.
Let me know if you think I did the wrong thing.
EV too costly for me
And lastly, I gave up on the idea of buying an electric vehicle. I can’t afford the $40,000-plus price tag, plus my unpredictable driving patterns prohibit it. What if I ran out of juice while covering one of the somewhat frequent Bonny Doon fires? There are no charging terminals in the redwoods.
So for about one-twentieth of the price, I bought a 400cc freeway-legal cruising scooter. It gets about 60 miles per gallon, can go up to 95 mph and is fun to ride. It will take a while to get back in the groove, though. The last time I rode a motorcycle was 45 years ago.
Please give me some leeway when you see me wobbling out there on the freeway. Please? Thank you.
Lucjan Szewczyk, the Press-Banner’s photographer, is a part-time cab driver who commutes to Scotts Valley from San Jose. Contact him at lu****@pr*********.com.
