This is a story, of a man named. . .

You will date yourself if you can finish that line.


This will probably take a while to complete. I mean the blog/record of this "Baseball Car" project. It starts with an extremely cheap baseball coach. If you don't realize, most high school sports involve fund raising. We have to fund raise for just about everything. The other thing specifically about baseball is that there is field maintenance involved. I'm enough of an Luddite and dinosaur to believe that if a person wants a job done, it is best to do it themself. So with that philosophy, I am always on the lookout for things to make my job maintaining the baseball field a bit easier. You know work smarter, as well as harder.

One of the big jobs is "dragging the field" or grooming the dirt of the field. I have used a airplane tug (you know, pulls the airplane on the runway), a Honda Trail 90, a Honda Accord, a bike, on foot, various ATV's (both 3 and 4 wheel versions), John Deere Gators, Kawasaki Mule, you get the picture. Some are better than others and all do the job. Keith Bontrager said you can build anything, "Strong, light, cheap; pick two." With this project and the constraints of fund raising I figure cheap is the highest priority, and that means appearance is compromised. At least according to the assistant coaches. There are those that like the look of such compromises. I am one of those creatures.

I have looked and priced various options. If money were no object, the Kawasaki Mule would probably be my choice. But that means spending $5000-6000 that could be used on other things like baseballs and uniforms. I've thought of many options in the interim.

All that being said, a local business donated a junked Mazda 323. Looked like this


except it is white. Just your basic high MPG Japanese engineered econo-car. Let the fun begin.

Keeping in mind the strong/light/cheap-pick 2(slc-p2) theory we then went to work with wrenches and a saws-all. In making something lighter, one should make sure the thing won't collapse when you're riding in it. Hatchback, gone. Doors, gone. Rear windows, gone. Rear bumper, gone. All of a sudden the econobox is lighter and more open.

Then one Sunday after church when I had too many things I wanted to avoid doing, I decided to accessorize the car. I used a Red Sox Nascar for inspiration and the "Baseball Car" is born.







Some more work with the saws-all and a few trips to our local high school shop night were made. Mr. C's wonderful students fabricated a rear bumper/trailer hitch. The doors are being chopped and opened up. Half doors are what they are called and they will make it possible to get in and out of the car and have a modicum of coverage. Here are some pictures of where the car is with the bumper, but not the doors yet. To be continued. . .