Why I Wasn't at Monterey (Post # 63)

I wanted to be there, I really did!  I wanted to see what the buzz was all about. And I knew that one of the Alfatross' brethren was going up for auction, Bill Kelly's car *01947*.  From the catalog images and description it sounded like a largely original example, minus the original engine. 

*01947*--Bill Kelly's  1955 1900C SS Zagato.  Gooding and Co.

I asked around at the Car Table what Monterey Car Week was like, and was told that it is one of those annual events that was better in the past, before it was "discovered".  Unless you like throngs of people, high prices for food, lodging and transportation, and frenetic hype--or are buying or selling a car at auction--better to read about it later in Sports Car Market or Octane.  One guy said about Pebble Beach, "You can't see the cars for all the people in the way!"  

I still wanted to go, but I had previous work commitments.  I was scheduled to return to Santa Fe a few days before the Gooding auction where the Kelly car would be offered, but I knew from previous experience that the job I had to do, installing an exhibit in the Turks and Caicos Islands National Museum, would likely take longer.

While I was in the Islands Tim Marinos of Vintage Autocraft called to say that he needed to see the Kelly car to help answer some questions that had come up while he was working on the chassis and body of The Alfatross.  There was also the possibility of seeing another one of the brethren, Arturo Keller's totally restored *02056*, but that was not certain.  With relief, I agreed that Tim should make the trip and see and photograph both cars, if possible.  By this time I knew I would still be 3,500 miles from Monterey during Car Week.

*02056*--Arturo Keller's beautifully restored 1955 1900C SS Zagato.  Tim Marinos.

When I finally returned to the US I discovered that Tim had closely inspected and photographed the Kelly and Keller cars as well as Corrado Lopresto's  "barn find" *01845*, whose presence at Monterey was a big surprise to both of us. So not only did Tim get to see three of the Alfatross' brethren but also a complete spectrum of examples from a non-running restoration candidate to a numbers-matching, running, preservation "barn find" to a fully restored example. Between the two of us we have now personally inspected six of The Alfatross' brethren--or about 24% of the known survivors.  Our database of 1900C SSZ characteristics is growing!

*01845*--Corrado Lopresto's "barn find" 1954 1900C SS Zagato.  Tim Marinos.

During the five weeks I spent in the Turks and Caicos Islands installing the new exhibits I kept thinking about The Alfatross and the many common threads connecting archaeology, carchaeology, and museology. One of the exhibits required us to fabricate a mannequin of a helmet diver from the 1800s who salvaged shipwrecks from all around the Caribbean Sea, and put him in his "dive locker" surrounded by his air pump, diving equipment, and objects he brought up from beneath the sea.  

Jeremiah Murphy mannequin in full diving regalia along with air pump and salvage items.

The other exhibit was a lot more complicated.  We had to build a full-scale reproduction of the "Lantern Room" of the Grand Turk lighthouse, install the lamp, lens, and mechanical clockwork--and make them all work together again for the first time in decades.  We had to balance authenticity with practicality, figure out how to get Industrial Age machinery working again, create physical contexts to put them in, pay attention to  authentic materials, textures and finishes and, most importantly, tell a true story.  Not so different from restoring an old car!

The "lamp room" recreation utilizing the original Fresnel lens, gravity-driven clockwork, and lantern parts.

But the thing that struck me as the most important correspondence between exhibit creation and car restoration is that they both take longer and cost more than expected!  

No, Not the CARD table--the CAR Table! (Post # 62)

There is this thing in Santa Fe called the Car Table.  Once upon a time, years ago, it was A table.  Now it is usually 4 tables, each seating 8 people. It is a unique phenomenon in my experience.  I'm not really sure exactly how it started.  It isn't exclusive.  My friend Jeff Kramer told me about it and insisted that I check it out.  I resisted for months, thinking I was too busy working on The Alfatross to waste time talking about it.  But I finally relented--and The Alfatross is glad I did!  It isn't a club.  There are no rules, no sign-in sheet, no agenda, no formalities.  You just walk in, sit down, order lunch, and start talking about cars. After a few visits you discover common interests, unique abilities, and uncommon knowledge among the attendees.   

A descendant of The Alfatross, waiting in the parking lot for the Car Table to adjourn.   

I am a newcomer.  Some of these men and women have been meeting at the Car Table for decades.  I gather that it was started by Denise Mccluggage and some other Santa Feans.  Google her.  You'll get about 27,000 results.  She was racing and rallying cars before most of us were born.  But don't bother Googling the Car Table.  It isn't there.  And we all know that anything that isn't Googleable doesn't exist.   That's how exclusive it isn't. 

Some of the Car Table people even have newer cars . . . .

The Car Table has been a Godsend for The Alfatross. The attendees probably have more than 1,000 years of combined knowledge and experience of everything car-related.  Need a window winder for a 1973 Porsche 911E? Somebody knows where to find one.  Want to see a D-Type in the flesh? Somebody has one.  Want to know what a full-race '55 OSCA MT4 Spider is going for these days?  Someone knows.  Need a carbon fiber bonnet for an E-Type?  Somebody knows how to make it.

A Triumph of Automotive engineering . . . and a lot of fun to boot.

Topics of conversation run the gamut from technical nitty-gritty topics like can you shoe-horn a 3.2 liter 911 engine into a '68 VW Crewcab bus,  to hilarious self-deprecating personal experience stories like "the time I ran out of gas in West Texas."  Just don't ever ask anyone how many different cars they've had over the years--you'll be there until the restaurant closes.   Then there are always stories about great drivers, great races and great wrecks.  If you've got a restoration project under way they always ask how it's going and cheerfully point out all the mistakes you are probably making.   They are uniformly skeptical of restorations that take too long.  

Harold Williams 240 HP' 68 VW Crewcab with extensive modifications to suspension, transmission, and instrumentation (http://there.dino.com/harold/bus.php).

Some are more eclectic than others . . . .

Car Table people don't just talk cars, they live cars.  And they like to show them to people who know what they're looking at.  When I walk through the parking lot as people are arriving it's a mini-car show with no theme.  It's as if the cars are having their own meeting.  It's always different.  You might see an 800 cc 3-cylinder SAAB Sonnet or, if the weather's nice, a Morgan look-alike 3-wheeler.  



Porsches abound.  The lot is usually infested with them. Old ones, new ones, daily drivers, concours restorations, rare ones, common ones, resto-mods, full race--you name it.    

A brace of 356s flank a slant nose DP935 I call the Midnight Rider.

Mild to Wild!  A prize winning carefully-restored Early 911 (above) and a
race-ready pavement ripper cohabit the parking lot peacefully.

A common topic these days is the up-coming Santa Fe Concorso (http://santafeconcorso.com/schedule.html).  There is going to be a lot of cleaning and polishing for the next couple of weeks!  A year ago I optimistically hoped that the 2014 Concorso would be The Alfatross' coming out event.  It was not meant to be.  But next year IS meant to be!  Not a problem.  No sweat.  Sure thing.  You can count on it.  

Exhausting work (Post # 61)

So now we come to the lowly exhaust system.  Usually virtually invisible and unappreciated, exhaust pipes and mufflers--and the sounds they produce--often receive extra attention from the designers and builders of bespoke cars like The Alfatross. Stephen Bayley once wrote, "In the designers' endless quest for more to work on, what goes out the back has come to the fore."

The exhaust system as a styling cue.  Zagato chose to recess the resonators in the rear bodywork on the driver's side (left in this photo), and create an asymmetric bulge on the opposite side for the spare tire. (bottom of the trunk panels have been removed in this shot.)

Another view of the exhaust recess on Arturo Keller's beautifully restored  1955 1900C SSZ. *02056*. Tim Marinos.

They are also one of the components most prone to failure for cars built in the 50s.  Aft of the headers, the tubing and mufflers were usually made of mild steel which, due to their location and exposure to heat, acid, and water vapor, rapidly succumbed to corrosion. The Alfatross was no exception.  One of the reasons I quit driving The Alfatross in 1970 was because it was virtually un-muffled--and LOUD!

The car had a lot of other, more urgent needs so I didn't do anything about the exhaust until 25 years later.  It all started in the Spring of 1994 when Peter Marshall notified me that some 1900 owners were getting together to order a batch of exhaust systems for their cars.  I had removed what I took to be the original exhaust system some time before that and discovered that it was in un-restorable condition.  It was heavily rusted and shot through with holes.    

At the time, Joost Gompels was Peter's US counterpart with respect to accumulating information about Alfa 1900s and their owners. so I arranged with him to purchase one of the systems, which were being fabricated in Great Britain. Joost contacted me before actual fabrication began to find out if I had any information about the original exhaust system on The Alfatross thinking, perhaps, that it might have been somewhat different from the more run-of-the-mill models.

Fortunately, I had made a measured sketch of the surviving components of the exhaust system that were on the car when I bought it.  But unfortunately, the rear section of the system had been removed--or maybe even just dropped off--before I got the car. I sent the sketch to Joost who again wrote to ask if I had recorded other critical dimensions such as the rise and length of the exhaust pipes between the "Siamesed" mufflers and the headers.   I had not. And by that time the engine was out of the car so I couldn't even mock up the exhaust system to re-create the space that had to be bridged.

My sketch of the exhaust system on The Alfatross when I bought it.  I have no way of knowing if it was original, but the system was in the kind of condition you would expect for a 14 year-old  unprotected mild steel exhaust. Also, the first stage mufflers were conjoined  ("Siamesed") and had the look of pinch-welded production units rather than off-the-shelf replacements. The engine is to the right in this sketch.  

Evidently, the information I was able to supply helped, because Joost wrote in a 1994 issue of the Mostly 1900 Irregular Newsletter: 

"Peter commissioned another batch of stainless steel exhaust systems with Peter Gough incorporating small adjustments (and hopefully) improvements as a result of our experience with the first batch.  Mostly took two and fortuitously found two ready takers almost immediately in Don Keith (*02160*-Z) and Ben Jones. Those who might like to be in on the next batch please let us know."

The "new" exhaust system, fabricated in 1994-5 at a cost of $1070, still hanging on the wall in my shop.  The fabricator made two sets of secondary cylindrical mufflers, one is appropriate for an Alfa-bodied 1900, the other is a guess at what The Alfatross' Zagato  bodywork might require.  We won't know how well it all fits together until the engine and chassis are once again re-united.

One unusual aspect of the 1900C SSZ exhaust system is the location of the after section.  I have a copy of a long letter from Joost to Bennett Jones (evidently the owner of an Alfa 1900 Type III) dated 8/8/95 in which he discusses the fabrication of a replacement exhaust system for a Type III 1900.  One of the main concerns is whether the after part of the exhaust system ran above or below the rear axle. there appears to be evidence to support both possibilities. This is of interest to me because the Alfatross was missing that part of its exhaust system when I bought it in 1969.  From the letter it seems that Mr. Jones sent photos to Joost of a Type III that has the exhaust passing over the rear axle.  Joost says, 

“It looks very similar (but can’t be ) to a picture of another believed original system in Illinois.  I cannot tell whether the rear pipes, in that case rose in a hump or went sideways.” 

Gompels favors a configuration that passes beneath the rear axle, and goes on to say,

“The pipes take a jog to the right (looking aft) after the radius rod hanger, lie next to the gas tank and then jog to the right again to the rear of the car, centering neatly in the oval shaped cut-out on the body.   I cannot imagine how one can get a solidly welded one piece system in place without a connecting flange or joint for the rear section, (or perhaps dropping the rear axle to mount the exhaust system?) and I cannot see how it clears the rear springs without more contortion than a simple hump." 

The location of the after section of the exhaust system on the Arturo Keller Car below the rear axle.   On this car there is a third set of resonators  in the rear bodywork recess just ahead of the tail pipes.  Tim Marinos.  

Further evidence supporting the below-the-axle contention was supplied by the above photo taken a couple of weeks ago by Time Marinos, who is restoring The Alfatross' chassis and body.   Miraculously, while in Monterey Tim was able to view three of The Alfatross' brethren, *01845*, *02056*, and *01947*, which which means that we have now been able to personally inspect about 25% of the surviving 1900 Zagatos! More on that in the next post . . . . 

"Polishing Away the Past" (Post # 60)

The parallels between marine archaeology and carchaeology never cease to amaze me. One of them is the powerful natural inclination car people have to interpret the word "restoration" to mean "better than new."

A number of years ago I was asked to look at a small bronze cannon sitting on the front porch of the Governor's House on the island of Grand Turk.  It was serving as a decoration rather than representing part of history.  Cleaned and polished brutally for the last 200 years, its raised decorations and stampings were disappearing.  And not only that: although the cannon was intended to be a field piece mounted on a carriage between two large wagon-wheels, it was incorrectly mounted on a faux marine carriage.  

To the cannon's caretakers what mattered was its shininess, not the preservation of its historical importance. 

The bronze "Governor's Cannon" on Grand Turk.  Cast  in 1761 by gunfounder Richard Gilpin and polished to a fare-thee-well for centuries, nearly obliterating the markings that identify where, when, and by whom it was made as well as its caliber and weight.

The date that the cannon was cast and the name
of the gunfounder were cast in high relief around
 the cannon's breech ring.  After thousands of
polishings they are now almost invisible. 

These markings identify the cannon as having
been cast during the reign of King George III
and property of the Crown.

I just read an article in Octane titled Polishing Away the Past. In it the British author, a long-serving concours judge, laments the common phenomenon of over-restoration: the paint too shiny, the glass too clear, the leather too tight, the engine compartment cleaner than an operating room.  The example he gave was the sight of a man at the Pebble Beach Concours with an air cannister blowing dust off the grommets between the body and bumper of the car he was preparing.  This, he thought, was excessive.

He says the people who designed and built the cars that win in concours events today can hardly recognize them following restoration.  And when restorers look at the build quality of original cars they say things like "My craftsmen can't do work that sloppy."

Perhaps a bit over-restored?  National Car Museum.

A beautifully restored Austin Healey  engine room at the Santa Fe Concorso.

In the next issue there was a letter to the editor by an American restorer who both lamented the practice of over-restoration--and admitted to helping create it. It seems that there are other trends as well, such as "patinisation"--the faking of wear and usage.  He writes, 

"This is a strange world that we as judges, restorers and detailers have created.  Cars that are barn finds that no one gave a crap about for 20, 30, 40 years are now being uncovered and cleaned, then "re-dirtied" to give them the feel of the original . . . .  No preservation here, just fakes.  Ouch."

New York to Paris the hard way.  Original 1908 dirt?  Really?  National Car Museum.

The bottom line is Keep the Client Happy.  I know this from personal experience, now that I am a client making decisions for The Alfatross.  As nearly as I can tell, the individuals and teams now working on The Alfatross are keeping me happy.  

Tim Marinos examines one of the entries in the Santa Fe Concorso.

The Alfatross will not be a trailer queen.  Tim Marinos is responsible for the steel chassis and aluminum body.  The chassis will be sound.  The paint will be as original.

The Alfatross will be mechanically strong.  The engine has been thoroughly assessed by DeWayne Samuels and Roger Lorton. Original parts that were worn out have been replaced. Weaknesses in engine design such as oil supply have been addressed.  Other than two new universal joints the drive train is original.  

The Alfatross' interior will be as original, with original materials being re-used where possible, and new materials sourced to match the originals as closely as possible.   According to Derrick Dunbar, the trimmer at Paul Russel and Company doing the work, the original carpet was prone to tearing and will probably be replaced with a look-alike with much greater durability.   

I think we are all pulling in the same direction--one that will, in the fullness of time, return the Alfatross to its former glory and drive-ability.  

Four States of Separation Part II (Post # 59)

Continuing with updates on progress being made with the interior, body, engine, and "little jobs" that will eventually produce a restored Alfatross, here are the last two states of separation: New Mexico and Arizona.

New Mexico

I'm still grinding along here in Santa Fe with the "little jobs."  Compared with modern cars the electrical components of The Alfatross are Stone Age technology.  I've checked out most of the relays, switches and lights, but then I encountered the 
"Trafficator." I'm talking about the little box under the dash crammed with the kind of electrical components that Thomas Edison would have immediately recognized.  It tells the lights when to act like turn signals, parking lights, or brake lights.

The  Alfatross' Trafficator box, made by Carello.  Disarmingly simple-looking on the outside . . . .

. . . but a little more complicated inside.  

A comparison with today's electrical components that handle the same functions reveals how times have changed: It's large size, complicated manufacturing procedure, and profligate use of expensive metals, are evidence of a time when labor was cheap.  But if something went wrong you could easily open the case and fix it! Today's electronic black boxes are often stamped "no user serviceable parts inside."  When it quits working, throw it away and buy another one!

Two obvious problems: one of the contacts for the solenoid in the center is bent upward, and the fine,
tightly-coiled wire to the right of the solenoid on the far right has become disconnected at its lower end.  What is it supposed to be attached to?  

When I opened up the Trafficator box I expected to see the contents all in good order, as they were in the other relays and switches.  But no such luck!  Two obvious problems jumped out at me:  an electrical connection was broken and a contact arm on one of the solenoids was bent away from its intended point of contact, rendering it useless.  

I'm sure this schematic of the trafficator will be helpful when I'm connecting it to the wiring harness, but it doesn't tell me where to attach the loose end of that fine coil of wire!

The bent contact arm I can easily fix, but I cannot figure out where to reconnect the strange hair-fine, tightly-coiled wire until I understand what it is supposed to do!  Any of you electrical engineers out there familiar with early 20th century consumer electronics should feel free to chime in on this one . . .

Arizona

DeWayne and Roger, the engine guys, seem to be satisfied with the replacement Crower cams ("way less money than the Italians and way faster delivery, plus I prefer their profile design with USA gasoline vs Italian design on EU gas").  So that issue is finally resolved.

With the block, exhaust valves, crank, head, and chain box components done they have now turned their attention to the carbs, oil lines, distributor, oil pump assembly, oil pan, water pump, block inspection ports and plating and metal finishing.  

One of the carbs had a broken shaft return spring, necessitating drilling out the frozen throttle plate screws, to replace the spring.  One accelerator pump cover was found to be cracked throughout and its activation lever bent, so it will need replacement. 

Drilling out the throttle butterflies and re-tapping them.  DeWayne Samuels.

The original Solex 40 P II carbs after cleaning.  DeWayne Samuels.

The venturies and throttle shaft.  DeWayne Samuels. 

The cleaned and prepped Solex 40 PII carbs, awaiting reassembly. DeWayne Samuels. 

Profiling the piston valve relief area is under way. When this is finished they will perform a static balance prior to a dynamic balance of the whole assembly.

One of the last hurdles is valve springs.  DeWayne says he and Roger are having a serious problem sourcing replacement valve springs.  They decided to rework the spring seat area in the cylinder head to allow 0.150” additional height in the spring package, making the spring development more feasible, but are still unhappy with the options.  So far the Italian sources they have queried are not sure they can come up with stock pressure springs, but DeWayne and Roger think that the stock springs are too weak anyway.  They found some Ferrari inner springs with a spacer but the spring rate pressure is off - which is as important or more so than the seat pressure.  The search continues . . . .

So that's the overall update for The Alfatross in its present four states of separation.

Four States of Separation Part I (Post # 58)

Now that The Alfatross is spread across 4 states from Massachusetts to Arizona, it's time for an update.   One of the things I learned along the way is that if you are restoring your car yourself (which was my original intent) YOU are in control of what gets done and when.  After it became apparent that The Alfatross is the kind of car that needs the attention of professional restorers I gave up that kind of control. The first element that I farmed out to professionals was the engine, delivered to DeWayne Samuels in Phoenix, AZ in April, 2012.  The second element was the chassis and body, which I delivered to Tim Marinos of Vintage Autocraft in Lebanon, TN, back in November, 2013. In January of this year I shipped the interior elements to Derrick Dunbar at Paul Russell & Co in Massachuttes. Meanwhile, I continue to work on the "little jobs" here in New Mexico. 

Massachusetts

Not much to report here.  The Alfatross' interior is in the capable hands of trimmer Derrick Dunbar at Paul Russell and Company.  Problem is, those hands are already full preparing interiors for cars bound for Pebble Beach that are a lot farther along than The Alfatross.  Another thing I learned along the way is that in the world of professional restorers of collector cars, the closer your car is to completion (and hence an appearance at one of the Big Three concours in the US), the more likely it is to receive attention.  So how do you get to the head of the line?

Even without having the rest of the car, there is a lot Derrick can do.  Locating exact matches for the different types of material used in the interior is perhaps the most tedious job of all, but you can't start sewing until you have the right material--or feel you have found the closest match possible.  Derrick says this is the hardest part of the job.

Tennessee

Tim Marinos and his guys have been going at The Alfatross for about 5 months now.  The steel chassis needed a lot more work than I thought.  The worst corrosion was on the top of the platform in front of the rear wheels that the rear seat cushion sit on. A leak around one of the windows allowed moisture to accumulate there during those years when the car was not regularly garaged--and we all know what standing water does to unprotected steel over time! 

The complicated floor pan supporting the rear seat  on the driver's side had to be replicated and bead-rolled to match the surrounding contours.  Tim Marinos.

The area mentioned above after welding in place and faring in to match the surrounding panels.  Tim Marinos.

Here you can see the panels mentioned above being prepped for epoxy primer.  Work has yet to begin on the aluminum body.  Tim Marinos.

The Alfatross chassis being primed with epoxy in the paint booth following repair of rust damage.  Tim Marinos. 

The aluminum skin that forms the body of course will not need this kind of work.  But it still won't be easy to restore.  Work on the skin can't begin until the steel skeleton is straight and strong! 

I'll continue with progress reports on the "little jobs" in New Mexico and the engine in Arizona in the next post.  This one is already too long!  

The "Little Jobs" (Post # 57)

The circles indicate the locations of the fasteners that secured
the leather straps for the tool roll to the top of the rear axle
hump in the trunk.

All Alfa 1900s came with a set of tools in a canvas roll and a jack in a bag of the same material. Canvas bags and rolls wear out quickly, and the tools that used to come as standard issue with cars are often pressed into service elsewhere and quickly become separated from their rightful place.  The Alfatross had its jack and a nearly complete tool set when I got it, but no roll or bag. 

The Alfatross' original, but fragmentary straps with buckles, rivets and fasteners.

Parts of the leather straps that secured the tool roll to the rear axle hump were still there, but in poor condition.  Fortunately, the surviving parts retained the buckles and holes of various sizes showing how they were attached.  This may seem like minor details, and I notice that none of the 1900 Zagatos I have had the privilege of inspecting had their tools, tool rolls, or even straps, so maybe it isn't that important to most people--but it is to me! 

The tool roll on the left and jack bag on the right.

The first step was to figure out what the original tool roll and jack bag looked like.  The factory Alfa 1900 manual shows detailed images of both of them so I thought this is going to be easy.  Then I mentioned my quest to Peter Marshall and to Jason Wenig of The Creative Workshop and both of them responded with photos of original tools, tool rolls and bags--and that's when things started to get complicated.  In reality, there appears to be more than one type of tool roll.  As these photos of original rolls show, there is a "long" one and a "short" one.  The long one looks more like the illustration in the manual.  Perhaps it is longer to accommodate the hammer?

An example of a "long" tool roll with eight slots for tools and constricting bands that meet in the center, just like the illustration in the 1900 shop manual.  This particular kit is missing the valve adjustment tools and the cam cover wrench, but it has the mysterious tiny hammer--what are you supposed to do with that?  Jason Wenig.

The shorter tool roll doesn't have the constricting bands and appears to have
other internal and external difference as well.  Jason Wenig.

So this is a typical "little job," starting with research and communication and moving on to restoration for some elements and fabrication for others.  I knew that The Creative Workshop's restoration of a 1955 Alfa 1900CSS Ghia-Aigle last year included replication of an authentic tool roll and jack bag so I asked them to to make a set for me using their patterns.   

The Alfatross' tools in the "shorter" roll fabricated by The Creative Workshop.  

The raw leather strips after narrowing and before dying.

It's easy when you have the right tools!  

From the surviving original straps I was able to get width and thickness (2.3-2.6 mm) dimensions, but not overall length. I sourced 3/4 in. leather strips from the local Tandy Leather dealer but had to reduce their width to 18 mm and dye them to match the originals.  I noticed that there is a faint but definite decorative groove near one side of each of the original straps, so I duplicated it on the new straps using a handy-dandy grooving tool I picked up at Tandy.

The original straps give the spacing between the tie-down holes, but not
the overall length or where the tongue hole sequence should start or the
shape of the end of the strap that fits through the buckle.

The rest of the process was just a matter of duplicating the spacing of the buckle tongue slot, rivet, tie-down screw and tongue holes.  I detached the original buckles, cleaned them up, and secured them to the new straps with copper rivets.  

From the buckle rivet to the first tie-down hole on the original straps was 105 mm, with 92 mm between the first and second holes.  Stuffed with tools, the roll was 340 mm in circumference.  Because I don't have the entire length of either strap from buckle to tip, I had to guess at their overall length, where the first of the tongue holes should be placed, and how many there should be.  

The tool roll, stuffed with tools and one of the finished hold-down straps.

So much for the "small job" of restoring a part of The Alfatross that will seldom be seen by anyone--unless I have to change a tire or make a roadside repair!