Our Inspiration

Ok so we have a POS Peugeot but that doesn't mean that every Peugeot is a POS, does it? Ok so far that's been true of every one I've seen in person here in the states, but elsewhere in the world I've heard rumors that there are actually new Peugeots which run well and are shiny and everything! And get this people actually race them and spend a few more than the $500 we're spending in the process!

Well it turns out that several Peugeots 908s actually participated in the real 24 Hours of Le Mans this year. Not only that but they almost won! Perhaps this is a good omen? The Pug guys had to settle for second place behind the winning Audi but they beat a lot of great cars including Porsches, Corvettes and the other Audis. Not too bad for a company that saw fit to abandon the States over 15 years ago, huh? We're hoping that some of this almost-winning tradition will rub off on our car!

Pug of the litter

We had a productive day of labor on the car last Saturday. We swapped some wiring from the black car into the red car and the ignition problem that had manifested itself during my test flogging went away. We also stripped away most of the civilizing bits of the interior. Ron and Bret are the co-discoverers of 'Lake Peugeot' underneath the rear seat. There were two full sized bath towels under the seat presumably to reduce the irritating sloshing noise of free standing water. I think we removed 70 lbs. from the curb weight just by binning the towels. The leak that produced the pool that necessitated the installation of cotton breakwater was caused by cracks and tears in the sheet metal incurred by a tremendous rear end impact. I'm actually surprised it survived the crash. The frame was so bent that the floor under the front seats was rippled. I'm glad we're installing a roll cage if for no other reason than to reduce the chance of the car being torn in half by 14 hours of brutalization.

We also began discussing planting a new (used) engine into the black car and fielding both Pugs. Now we just need to find one for dirt cheap. The black car has a much straighter body but mechanically it's quite the hoopty.

We had a guest mechanic on duty. She's certainly not afraid of getting her hands dirty. Especially when fine tuning a French muffler bearing.

What does it mean?

So at the work party yesterday, my brain took a little hiatus (it does that from time to time) and I discovered something.

When you take our current 7-monkey team, and put their initials in the right order, you can take Brent, Alan, Ron, Doug, Scott, Bret, Sean.... and make it say

Bard's BS.

It's gotta mean something, right?!

A typical email thread

One problem with filling your team with smart asses, is that they tend to digress into ... being smart asses. Today for example, a straight email went out reminding the Monkeys of the work party tomorrow, which, for once, will have 6 out of our 7 teammates in attendance, though possibly not all at the same time.

Doug replies, confirming the start time, which was somehow left off today's email.

Sean: Yes, 10:30 or 11 will be fine. It's not like an Amway business party, so you don't have to show up exactly on time. ;-)

Bret jumps in: What if we bring 3 friends...
Then *they* bring 3 friends...
And then *they* bring 3 friends...
.
.
.
Then after a short period of time:
Sean's house will be annexed by France, we'll all have more junker Pugs than we know what to do with, and everyone's weird cousin who does Amway will be insanely jealous.

Sean: Remember to bring your passports and work visas. You'll have to clear customs at the driveway and you'll have to endure a body cavity search before you return to US territory. Fortunately US customs that will handle that issue. The French Protectorate of Sean and Brianne's House has no interest at all in your body cavities or their contents.

Sean Green, Governor FPSBH.



See what I have to put up with here?