Wheels for Faye Valentine

At long last I have acquired an unnecessary but much dreamed-of upgrade for the 142: those awesome 10-spoke Sirius wheels came stock on some 740 Turbos. Ever since I saw a picture of a blue-and-white 145 wearing a black set of these on OVTuners a while back (I posted a picture of it on Vintagebrick in February), I have been daydreaming of installing some on Faye. They haven't been impossible to find, but a bit expensive when I have seen them---even when I found some really dirty ones at the local Pick-A-Part. So they remained one of those 'someday' hopefuls that occasionally sooth me to sleep when I have insomnia.

With that preamble, I have been at home for the past few days with AC and our new baby boy, Charles Daniel. While out on a ride on my fixed gear Trek this morning I stopped by a crummy old Volvo repair and sales shop called 'Gabriel's Imports' that must have looked exactly as it does today in 1976. I had caught sight of a junker 740 on blocks with a full set of the wheels of my desire in the back of this place, so investigation was clearly necessary. After some haggling, a trip the bank, and a quick car-for-bike swap at home, I was driving home with them nestled beside my dual 12" Rockford-Fosgates---for a great price too---and as an added bonus, the tires are almost new! (Well two are, and other two are about half). The wheels are in need of a good cleaning of course, but they are in great condition, without any curb rash or corrosion. I haven't decided whether I will paint them black as I originally intended...they look pretty as they are, but I'm sill torn. The old guy who owned the place I bought them from threw in an old grill for free (which you can see in the picture), because as far as he is concerned the 140 series is dead, and he could care less about old parts.