Essex, that ol mower was cool. My first Craftsman i got was used. Got it all working great and painted it up like a 340 'Cuda. Sub lime green with the black out hood bump and a bit on the sides of the hood, (i put a set of 340 magnum emblems on there), tail light panel and made a kansas tag that looked real that said "MOW-PARR". play on Mopar and my little golf course.

Six ball, my buddy Tom sold his bush hog after a big rock slung forward thru the chains and hit him in the back. He bought a finish pull behind, works great.

Thanks Tom, it's advancing faster than i ever thought it could🙄

Which brings me to another decision that i've been struggling with, my Coupe. All the freinds that were mechanicly inclined to give me a hand building the coupe have died, with the exception of my buddy Tom. I'm not going to be able to finish it.

A younger friend of mine that is turning out to be a good fabricator stopped by to see me yesterday and give me a hand installing the deck spindles. I told him of my situation, and he is very interested in the coupe. 90 questions i asked him, such as something he would keep. Could he refrain from Rat rodding it, no 20" wheels, no mexican blanket seat covers etc. I told him i would like it finished as per my plans. He said that would be great as he liked my vision. He asked if i would advise him along the way to finish, of course.

I have 95% of the parts already. He said when i thought it through and could give him a price to let him know. I would feel good with him getting the coupe. He has already built 3 half hotrod/rat rods for his last 3 kids, so he is capable. The last kid left the nest, so his wife and him want a hotrod to travel around in now.👍

Sammons sorry to hear your RA has gotten worse.  Great idea for a work around with the ball valve!  That mower deck came out nice!

Good looking deck you got there now.
Sorry to hear bout your arthritis.
I had an old Rally mower on which I never got the belt to last. My son drove it around
the yard and on the fields around the house. I put three twos on it and rattle can-flamed
it for practice, planning to flame the Essex which ended up gettting scallops instead.




The little guy is 32 today, pics snapped in 2005

Rattiac., great job on the tops!
 
I had one convertible and it did NOT look like those.

I thought they might be for some truck, but I gave up searching, I fould somet that looked similar, but not the same.