It was a few weeks ago that I found I might need to travel around the state for work, visiting many towns of Maine from Wells to Fort Kent. At the time I was also reading Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance and thought, how fun it would be to travel by bike or motorcycle across Maine in the summer. Out in the air, experiencing summer. Well, one thing led to another and here I am working on fixing up the 1982 London Roadster that has sat in my garage since 2005 when I took the engine out and apart.

My first thought was a nice Ural with a sidecar would be a wonderful bike, with some storage room and good visibility to cars on the road. At $14k, it was a little out of my price range – and never having ridden a motorcycle for an extended period of time, perhaps not the best choice. I began looking at some super-scooters that might get the job done. These are quite beefy, up to 250cc. Not your average moped. Could be fun. This of course all led to the convertible sitting in the garage. Which would be just as fun to ride and there she was.

On a whim, while looking at scooters and motorcycles, I searched cragislist for VW engines. Gulp. There was one for $750 in Raymond. That’s worth a look. Only 20 miles or less form my house. Two days later, I loaded it up in the truck and drove it home. On the surface it looks good, I’m hoping the insides are working as advertised as well. I’m not a real expert on engines (yet) and hope I’ve at least not wasted all $750 of my purchase price. The motor has sat, in its assembled state for several years, the fellow said it ran very smooth when he purchased it some time ago. Here’s hoping that’s all true and that when installed, she will purr like a kitten.

And that’s where my daughter enters the picture. Pondering that the roadster, after being in my possession longer than many other things in my life, does not have a name. So is the birth of “Kit Cat.” It’s a combination of kit-car and my daughters first love, cats. So far the name has stuck. I’ve read some other names online that are appealing, like Bridget the Midget, but we will stick to Kit Cat for now and see how she wears it.

Fortunately over the years Kit Cat was collecting mostly dust. I’m pretty good at not stacking things in and around other things in the garage. The garage is for cars, not for storage. Unfortunately, I have discovered over the past few weeks she has been collecting problems from just sitting doing nothing. Cars like to be driven. She has not been driven and she is happily reminding me of that when I poke and prod at her innards. No worries Kit, we are getting you fixed up this time around.