In early May Andy Jones of Top Notch towing suggested that a bunch of us car guys get together and see if we could get the Model T Bug that Bob Miller has been working on for several years finished for him. I foolishly offered to help out with the body and paint! The original plan was to have work parties over at Bob's house a couple of nights a week. I quickly realized that without the facilities of a proper shop it would take forever to get it done that way so I told Andy to bring it out to my shop which is very well equipped. For the past six weeks or so several of the guys came out two or three nights a week to help with bodywork, sanding, and mechanical fettling. What was supposed to be a quick splash paint job turned into a major restoration when I decided that if we were going to do this we had to do it well. Off came the body Bob had made, while it was OK for a backyard bug Bob lacked the tools to form it in the compound curves required to make it look great. Without an English wheel the sides were flat and straight and because the metal he used was so thin it dented just looking at it. Using his panels as patterns (which were GREAT patterns) I fabricated a new body from 22ga steel. It was formed over the round steel tubing framework he had built for his body and run through my English wheel to give it some shape. I'm afraid we got kind of carried away, 'just another hour block sanding on this side and it will be straight enough to paint' was repeated hour after hour on the same panel. With the annual Model T Day looming on June 16th, the push was on to get it finished for its debut at this event. Work parties ran late into the night and extended into the weekends in the first couple of weeks of June. I decided on Saturday the 8th that I would paint it that evening ready or not, finally by about 8pm I was satisfied with the prep. By 11:30 pm it was done, suitably attired now in a coat of Antique White. The following week was very hectic, only the body had been painted. The fenders, splash aprons and running boards were still days of sanding away from being ready to paint. I realized on Thursday that there was no way they would be done in time for the Sunday outing so I switched to the upholstery. At least there had to be something decent to sit on! I had found some pictures of racing cars in the twenties so I copied the style of the day, the seat covering would extend out over the edge of the cockpit and be held onto the body with snap fasteners. I had some tan leather ordered in for a job years ago that never materialized (no pun intended) and thought this would be a great choice. I piped it in red leather, at 12:30 am the Sunday of the Model T Day I put the last snap fastener on while Andy was wiring up the stoplamp he had just bolted on. Thanks to all the long hours and hard work put in by Andy Jones, Brian Betts, Bruce Cornfield and of course Bob himself the Bug made it to its debut.