Paul was a dear friend from the time that I met him until his death. I came to know his family and love them as much as I loved him to the point that my wife and I always had a Christmas meal with his mother throughout her later years. I think she loved my son as much as her own granddaughter. My lasting memory is the summer he and I rebuilt his mother's Camero. Paul had his back to the kitchen door the day he and I were lifting the head from the engine and I will never forget his mother walking over and looking at the scene with absolute horror. She later confessed that she took one look and knew that she would end up calling the junk man to come and haul it away. But Paul was destined to be an attorney and a good one at that. He had an envelope or a tag for every part that came off that engine and he had a schedule for when each part was to be removed and replaced. He must have spent weeks in a Chilton's manual to get the prep work done but that was just Paul. We replaced everything that should have been replaced and near the end of the process there were 8 bolts that were identical. I just started putting them in the holes without referencing the numbered order. They were identical bolts, right? No good. Every bolt came back out and went back in the "correct" hole. When we got the engine back together and double checked to make sure that there were no unused parts, he climbed in and turned the key. The engine turned over once and fired. That Camero ran sweetly for many more years. I miss you buddy and wish we could have a BBQ sandwich and catch up as we used to.
Ronald C. Idol
Paul was a dear friend from the time that I met him until his death. I came to know his family and love them as much as I loved him to the point that my wife and I always had a Christmas meal with his mother throughout her later years. I think she loved my son as much as her own granddaughter. My lasting memory is the summer he and I rebuilt his mother's Camero. Paul had his back to the kitchen door the day he and I were lifting the head from the engine and I will never forget his mother walking over and looking at the scene with absolute horror. She later confessed that she took one look and knew that she would end up calling the junk man to come and haul it away. But Paul was destined to be an attorney and a good one at that. He had an envelope or a tag for every part that came off that engine and he had a schedule for when each part was to be removed and replaced. He must have spent weeks in a Chilton's manual to get the prep work done but that was just Paul. We replaced everything that should have been replaced and near the end of the process there were 8 bolts that were identical. I just started putting them in the holes without referencing the numbered order. They were identical bolts, right? No good. Every bolt came back out and went back in the "correct" hole. When we got the engine back together and double checked to make sure that there were no unused parts, he climbed in and turned the key. The engine turned over once and fired. That Camero ran sweetly for many more years. I miss you buddy and wish we could have a BBQ sandwich and catch up as we used to.
Ron Idol