The Rat Box
Thirty years ago few considered the computer a tool in the design much less the building or repair of the automobile. Those days are long gone. Let me confess a computer is my second best man when it comes to finding parts, forums for enthusiasts of all stripes, information and ideas.
And speaking of ideas, let me offer one that you might find handy. How many of us have been in the middle of a rust repair and needed a patch plate to weld in. Friends it's time to save a few bucks on some nice steel. Drive through any neighborhood on a trash day and it's likely you will find an old computer on the curb. The cases of most old computers have steel panels that are flat and perfect for rust repairs. For the cost of a few minutes you can liberate a ten or twenty dollar savings in steel.
It was this use for old computers that lead me to a discussion with a co-worker in our IT department. Our company has quite a few old dead AT boxes stuffed away under stairwells. While I couldn't get those old computers he just happened to be cleaning out his garage. It was like striking gold. A short trip landed me fourteen dead computers for salvage.
As I blew through those those boxes tearing them down there were a few worth salvaging as computers. Ergo the Rat Box, a beast cobbled together from remains of those free computers. The first one assembled is a 486 DX 66.
Okay it's not a power house, but a 486 carefully constructed is enough to run my Cad program, run an early version of Word Perfect, fetch my email and keep spreadsheets of maintenance, repairs and costs. Heck I may have to dig out a few old games too. I'll keep it in the garage and if it all goes pow what the heck, it's not like I've lost anything but a few hours of my time on this machine. Why go through this trouble you ask? For the same reason we keep fixing our old cars instead of going out and buying new cars. It's cheap, challenging something to be able to say, I did that.