Story by Yuriy Manchik and Jeff Marsh – Images by Yuriy Manchik
Most of the work done to it was after the wedding once things settled down a bit and I could tinker with it. Felt good to go into the garage, turn on some music, and tackle a problem with the car.
And after a few minutes, hours or days, have a solution and feel so good knowing you did that. Most of it was cosmetic because after 40+ years it wasn’t looking too great. Took out the interior, redid the carpet, re upholstered the seats, lots of cleaning and replacing of random broken/worn out parts. The last big project was updating the front subframe and suspension. Handles beautifully after some new springs/shocks and wheels/tires.
At this point I don’t think I’ll ever sell Heidi and eventually want to do a big restoration because it’s starting to get some areas of rust that need to be addressed soon. And now that it’s almost 50 years old, could use a fresh coat of paint. But I forget about all that once I strap in, start her up and go through the gears down Beach Drive on Alki. 10 years with one car isn’t much but in the future when my son is driving and I’m in passenger seat, I can share the stories that Heidi and I have experienced together.
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