Breaking News - Sept 10
“Cancer Takes a Back Seat”
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Article reprinted with permission from Seattle Times writer Nicole Brodeur
*Mustangs NW Editor’s Note—Although the following story is not about Mustangs—I believe it epitomizes who we should be as human beings and what we should be about as a car club!
Jerry Dahl first spotted the 1933
Just months before, in March 2009, Dahl, 63, had been diagnosed with kidney cancer. After surgery, he was cancer free. He had a new lease on life. Why not a new car project? In October, though, the cancer was back, and Dahl's trips to buy parts at Dreamers Rods & Pickups Northwest in
Two weeks ago, Leckner got a call from Dahl's family: It's bad. Jerry has weeks to live. Can you get the car road-ready and bring it over for one last look? Leckner not only got the car close to finished, he did it in just 10 days — on his own time, sometimes until 2 in the morning.
Last Friday, he told Dahl's wife, Stephanie, that he would be at the house by 3:15 that afternoon. With friends. The noise came around the corner first, and then there was Leckner, behind the wheel of the Hudson, followed by a dozen other hot rods driven by members of The Thursday Night Garage Association, a local car club that shared Dahl's passion — and understood his pain. It took four men to carry Dahl out in his wheelchair and set him down in front of the house. When they did, the men who had come to see him — strangers, all — clapped long and loud.
"Dad's a quiet crier, but you could see the tears," said Kerry Dahl, 32. She and her sister, Tracy, 29, ran back inside and collected "every beer we could find" for the car-club members, who stayed for about an hour. They found that three of them went to
"I couldn't believe it," Kerry Dahl said of the day. "It was one of the first times in I don't know how long when Dad knew what was going on." I visited Jerry Dahl the other day. Not so good. But he's still grateful. "Nice group of fellows," he said of the car-club members. "Made my week."
It could also do something for the rest of us: Remind us that even when things seem wrong or broken, there are people like Leckner, who know the right thing, and then do it. "Jamey is my hero," Kerry Dahl said. "How many people in the world take time out of their busy lives like this? "He's only known my dad a few months, but he made some of my dad's last days very memorable ones," she said. "We didn't know what to do to thank him." So they called this newspaper. And when I called Leckner at his shop the other day, it was clear he didn't know what the big deal was. "It was something that anybody should do," Leckner said. "It was nothing. It was nothing I wouldn't do 10 times again." It took a bit of prodding, but Leckner admitted that he had "dropped everything" to work on Dahl's
Those were a lot of hours in the shop. Late ones that cut into the moneymaking ones. But that one hour in front of the house, with all those cars, will carry Dahl and family through his last ones.
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From the Editor...
September already? Where has all the time gone?!?!!? It seems like just yesterday when a large group of us met back in January at the home of Pat & Connie Trine, to plan out the Mustangs Northwest calendar and all of the events, shows, and activities for the year. Now a lot of carefully planned events are just a pleasant memory, and many of us are beginning to think about the first steps to transitioning our cars into winter storage mode.
But I guess when you think about it, September is supposed to be a time of transition and change. The days get shorter, the temperatures get cooler, and families start preparing for their children to go back to school. With September, comes a change in the seasons, and the green leaves of spring and summer start changing their colors to hues of orange, brown, yellow, and red. No matter how much we try to resist the change and squeeze out “just one more cruise”, we know that the summer is on its way out, and the Fall is quickly being ushered in.
Here at the Seabrook house, we are busily preparing for some major life changes and milestones as well. Our oldest daughter Mikayla just turned six and will be starting Kindergarten in just a few short weeks, and our youngest daughter Rachel, who just turned four, will also be beginning her educational journey by attending Preschool this Fall. *Sniff*, *Sniff* What’s a mom to do? - Then, shortly after that, we will be welcoming a new baby boy into the family. (Didn’t I just find out I was pregnant with baby #3 yesterday?)
Where has all the time gone?
No matter what you are doing or where you are, here is hoping that you embrace all the transition and change that September has to offer!
Janell Seabrook
MNW Newsletter Editor
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“2010
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Gallery: MTParade
 
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July 30, 2010—Fun reigned once again at the 2010 “Tour de Terrace” Parade. Mustangs came out in force, and spectators were treated, not only to the blissful sounds of engines revving, but to the gorgeous sights of chrome and all-American Ford craftsmanship, as the ponies came strolling by. Rob Ogden’s newly-finished 1979 Pacecar led the pack in its first Mustangs Northwest Parade debut, followed by Sonny Alvarez in his Ranchero, and a cavalcade of MNW members piloting their steeds. Ford of Kirkland once again generously donated five cars for MNW club members to drive in the parade, and the evening was topped off with, what else? - a trip to Burgermaster! All in all, the 2010 Mountlake Terrace Parade was a successful event!
“Mustang Blog: The Sparky Chronicles - Part 2”
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Gallery: Sparky
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MONTH 1 – December 2010
Obviously my plans for the paint work were a bit accelerated. Hagerty Insurance was wonderful to deal with, and on December 12th, 2009 I drove Sparky out to Randy Sargent’s for the cowl replacement, insurance check in hand. As Scott Robinson was going to allow me to work on my car myself (actually, my preference as I’m a closet control freak) at his shop, the rest of the work would be completed there. Randy also ended up replacing the tailight panel, and upon cutting that out, found that the driver’s side frame rail was full of rusty holes. The rear spring was barely hanging on. Remember those runs through twisting back roads? Yeah, I did to, and my heart would pause thinking about what could have happened. A new rear frame rail, left trunk floor, and taillight panel later, Sparksters was good to go. Well, as much “go” as it could, with no fenders, hood, gas tank, or windshield. In fact, I had visited my car at Randy’s shop and had actually walked right by it before I recognized it. Tad bit embarrasing if you ask me.
December 22nd found Sparky on Randy’s enclosed trailer on his way to Scott and Northwest Pony Shoppe. The hardest part yet of my “job” would start next month after the holidays. I started shopping for paint color, as I didn’t want stock, but I wanted it to look different from the get-go.
MONTHS 2 and 3 – January and February 2010
I continued stripping stuff off of Sparky’s chassis, including the doors, quarter windows, and inside quarter panels. Everything that came off was labeled & bagged. As this would be my second – and in some sections, third – time taking out the interior, I felt comfortable that I would remember where everything went. (Note that at this point I haven’t actually put anything back.) I also had decided on a late-model VW Jetta color: Blue Graphite Metallic, a deep blue with gray metallic flake that changes color depending on how much light hits it.
I made plans to drive out to Scott’s pretty much four days a week, after work. I would arrive about 6pm and work until about 9 – or when various appendages would decide NOW is a great time to stop. I started stripping the paint around the driver’s side quarter and quickly discovered that at some point long ago, someone had done a horrible repair job to what looked like a crunched-in wheel lip. Instead of fixing it properly, the bent-in metal had been ball-pein hammered back out, and the resulting lumpy mess just Bondo-ed over. Apparently, this person took Automotive Body Sculpting with Bondo 101…and failed. Not only did they slather it on the outside wheel lip completely filling in Sparky’s “hips”, but the inside wheel lip as well. ??? Later I found that they had done the same to the passenger side quarter…apparently only just to match the driver’s side, as there is nothing wrong with the sheet metal there. I also discovered that Sparky had 4 coats of paint, instead of 3 like I originally thought. Including the primer & filler, in some places the layers looked like the rock strata on the side of the
- Liz Greene