Renegade Issue 28

8-9 / 100

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WOW, what a time I am having! Sitting and drinking coffee
while winter is still hanging around always gets my mind to
thinking. Who would have ever guessed that at age 42 I
would be on not just one calendar for 2015, but THREE!!!!
It was never my intention, per se, to be on calendars but
the more I can show off my toys and hard work, the better!
Maybe I can motivate others out there in this big and confus-
ing world to let them know that being a gearhead truly is an
awesome way of life. I’m not sure if the stars are aligning, I
am living my life the way GOD intended or if it is all just cir-
cumstantial, but life is GOOD!
It still boggles my mind at all of the awesome goals I have
completed in the last few years. Some goals I have com-
pleted were actually dreams that I never thought would come
true, like owning a 1973 Rallye Challenger and being able
to send it to my bodyman to paint purple. I have wanted a
Challenger for over 20 years. I kept the dream alive secretly
but never once mentioned out loud that I wanted to own a
Mopar. Only when I decided to let go of my first Corvette,
the one I owned almost 14 years, and bought while making
minimum wage, did I start thinking seriously about crossing
it off my list.
While still in my twenties, I made the goal to own a Corvette
before I turned 30. I ended up with three of them before I
turned 29. With the same kind of excitement, I made the
goal to own a Mopar before I turned 41. I finalized that goal
within two days of my August birthday. Sometimes I live on
the edge!
When I used to think about selling my beloved 78 Z-28 that I
owned for 22 years, tears would run down my face uninten-
tionally. It was never a question to be brought up, if I would
ever sell the car and most certainly wasn’t something that
I would ever do. But I did! I saw the chance to buy the 73
Chall with a 440 big-block, Flowmasters with all new brake
and suspension work and I have never looked back. I some-
times feel bad that I don’t feel bad for selling my baby “Mean
Streak”, but I feel that it had to leave in order for me to move
on. An old man who came down one night in the pouring
rain, drinking a beer out of a paper bag with his hands shak-
ing, bought my beast. We never even let him drive it, just
gave him the ride of a lifetime and he put the money down
and took it home.
After winning the Garage Girls Ultimate Biker Makeover last
year, I was contacted by a company called Motorcycle House
) that makes and sells jackets,
gloves, bags, etc. They wanted to know if they could send
me products that I could KEEP in exchange for a review on
my blog ( ). After doing
a little bit of research to make sure it wasn’t some practical
joke, I said “Hell yes!” They have sent me several items, and
even sent Gabe a jacket. I have started “working” with them
and have sent several people their way to review products
including our very own Scharf!
Being as poor and frugal as we are, we are ALWAYS up for
receiving anything free of charge. At our income to debt ra-
tio, we cannot specifically just support American made, eat
all organic or a multitude of other things that some “politically 9
correct” people think we all should be able to do. We now
make less than $20,000 a year, so our income is only going
down, instead of up. We have cut almost every corner there
is so there is not much more fat to trim off. I still only spend
$100 a month for groceries for both of us to eat. We don’t buy
meat, sugar, white flour, soda or any other crap. I make our
toothpaste, all of our cleaning products and reuse trash bags.
I can now make one trash bag last for months!
I don’t wear perfume, use conditioner or have to buy lotion.
I don’t own a blow dryer or curl my hair. I am thankful that I
don’t have a shoe or purse addiction. I have one black leather
backpack that I carry all the time and I have no use for shoes,
unless they are steel toe boots. I am not addicted to clothes
and the ones I do buy I get super cheap in thrift stores. My
addiction to cars and bikes is expensive but if done correctly
can then be turned into other things at my discretion.
In an effort to save more money we have had to change our
lifestyle. We installed a hot water timer back in 2009 and only
heat water for four hours a day. Since we heat the water in the
morning, everything we do that requires hot water has to be
done early before the
tank runs cold again.
I dry all of our clothes
on the clothesline that
we put up a few years
ago. In trying to save $30 a month on the electric bill, I ended
up spending $300 going to the chiropractor. Doesn’t that fig-
ure? The chiropractor kept telling me that it looked like I fell
in a hole and only later did I realize that I dug the damn hole!
Between the clothesline and the hot water timer, it has made
our electric bill much smaller. Since we live with so few elec-
tronics, there is not much of a threat of “phantom energy use”.
We have a “normal” coffee pot and a toaster oven whose on/
off button broke two years ago so now when we need to use
it, we have to plug it in; otherwise it would be on all the time.
We have rugs covering the holes in the kitchen floor, the toilet
doesn’t sit correctly since the floor is rotted out and sometimes
I think I might fall through to the basement while showering!
The ceilings have unsightly stains due to water damage, the
carpet has been down since 1975 and there are holes where
mice have chewed their way out of the walls.
In order to accumulate some more cash for my builds, I have
been selling a lot of my possessions lately. At the end of 2013
I went through my house and offed a ton of stuff and ended
up with an extra $3000. Just when I thought I didn’t have any -
thing else, BOOM, I have sold almost $2000 worth of goods
in the last few months. I have offered up everything from an
aluminum driveshaft to cam and lifters left over from my days
of racing to extra bandannas.
I have sold off almost all of my clothes, got rid of all of my
facial and hair products that were still lingering around and
liquidated tons of unnecessary stuff from my kitchen. Most of
the junk was acquired while couponing so I had no real money
invested in any of it. It is amazing how much useless stuff you
have that you don’t even think about. Can you believe I had
a clock and a trash can in every room? I also had $600 worth
of 1940’s vintage furniture in my bedroom holding $5.00 worth
of socks. What was I thinking? I threw them on Craigslist and
not only got my money back but I made a cool profit of $100.
Hello Knucklehead parts!
My Panhead is blown apart right now waiting for the tins to
come home and be put back together for final assembly. I
have been riding it in raw form, with no rear fender and no air
cleaner but have decided to follow my original plans and go
ahead and have it painted. I’m hoping it will be together so
that we can make “Just Kickers” at the end of May in Davis,
Oklahoma again this year. Gabe is building a 1946 UL big
twin flathead chopper in the living room that is also on dead-
line to make it to the event.
My Charger is waiting for warmer weather so that it can get
it’s stripes and vinyl top put on and my Jammer frame still
hasn’t come back goosenecked but has got to be getting
close. Everything I have has turned into a project, except
for my 81 Ironhead which I have decided to sell so that I can
finish building the Knuckle. Who wouldn’t sell an Ironhead to
finish a Knuckle, right?
Frugality is the only way I have found for me to have
these things. Even
though I graduated
high school with hon-
ors, a $10 purse was
all that I received as
a graduation gift! While other kids were getting cars given
to them and their insurance paid, I had to buy my own items,
including such things as toilet paper and deodorant. I went
to college on full scholarships and worked two jobs while put-
ting all of my extra money into my savings account. It was
that savings account and thriftiness that allowed me to buy
two Camaros and a motorcycle.
While my friends were eating out every day, I was getting
ribbed for carrying my lunch in a reusable sack which I got
for free. While they were out buying magazines, I was go-
ing to the library and reading them. When they were buying
earrings, I was buying car parts. When they were going to
the river, I was putting a spoiler on my Camaro or looking for
parts in the local salvage yards.
While married to my first husband, I was forced to sell my
motorcycle to buy him an expensive birthday present. I got
another motorcycle and one day while at work, he sold it.
Needless to say that after a few events like this, I filed for
divorce. I typed up my own papers and got divorced for only
$50! He was also trying to “force” me to have kids, and I
instead went and got my tubes tied, free of charge.
I have experienced a lot of shit in my life but perhaps the fan
is now starting to blow clean. Maybe I can finally say “It’s my
time now!”
“It’s My Time Now!”