Some of you may not know that Dave Bean has had some bad luck in the recent wild fires in California. Here is a letter that he distributed:
Dear friends and family,
Just got word from our neighber, a fire volenteer, who had gotten home for the first time since last Thursday when he was activated. He checked out our little hill top, and aside from his, the neighbor across the road, and the 102 year old E mil, all other homes are toast, including ours. Our machine shop and the "bunkhouse" (S2 Elan and 4 Lotus race cars projects storage) are OK. The out buildings up top at the house are gone, including the a sheet metal skinned pole barn which searved as an equipment shed and the garage for our M3. Go figure! My John Deere tractor and the Landrover/firetruck (work in proces) which were on gravel pads are unscathed. Most our magnificent old Oaks are gone. Don't know about the timber sized ponderosas. Gonna be a busy winter clearing off all the debris. Worse luck: All my chainsaws were in the pole barn, plus all the picks, shovels, axes ect!
Most of the personal items are just "Stuff" which you can buy anywhere. But there was the original Bean Ranch butcher block, over a 100 years old (one owner!) which I rescued from the ranch auction 8 years ago that proudly decorated Berta's kitchen. Also, a just restored antique marble wash stand converted running water with china wash basin that graced the 1/2 bath on the first floor, and the 20 unit lawyer book cases that graced one wall that contained, amoung other treasures, my completed group of Lotus books and collectable literature, plus colletable novels and bios, including a complete set of Teddy Roosevelt, plus a few Mark Twains. I call that a bit more than stuff. Worst of all, There was the 50 year collection of high end Winchesters which had appriciated into what I proudly called "my retirement." Although they were in gun safes, those things become ovens if sustained over 400 deg for anything more that 30-60 minutes. The coin collection will now be just bullion, a fraction of the value.
As a recovering engineer, anybody who has seen me dress, will know I cannot miss my wardrobe, save for one sprort jacket, which I proudly called my "jungle jacket", that I bought at college in 1960. Cost a whopping $18 and got comments (both ways) for 50 plus years and as recently as the LOG 35 last month in Colorado Springs.
Tonight we're gonna share one or more Margaritas and ruminate on what path to take. Now a houseless (but usefull outbuldings) property with several tillable sights and the best well in the area might just be very apealing to the emerging Pot industry in Calavarus. I've alway wanted to build a Log house, which would now look pretty silly on a bare moutain hill top. Then too, 30 acres is a bit more of a project than it once was, especially now that resto is needed. Country raised, I cannot live in the city anymore, especially with a large ranch broke Lab who ownes this place. Maybe a cheap double wide (blend right in with the locals) and ride it out. Still got the shop! Or, what hell, sell it all and retire. If only that Winchester collection had survived!
(explitive deleted),
Dave
(If you know Dave, there were many more than on expletive that was deleted)
I haven't tried to contact anybody at his shop so I don't know if it's open or not, but I suspect it is since I believe his employees were not nearly as impacted by the fire. In any event, I thought it would be a good gesture to buy any parts you need from him - at least for a while. He has been doing Lotus and British cars for many, many years so besides his stock of difficult to find and performance related parts, he and his team are very knowledgeable about what they're doing (think in terms of an American Richard Winter).
I'm sure you all join me in hoping that he's able to recover from his "recent unpleasantness" quickly and fully!
