Friday afternoon, Darren calls, the golf cart is here.

Hooters restaurateur, promotions guru, and cousin Grant Hoovestol had the cart dropped off with instructions to do something COOL, and I need it back on Monday.

I drove to Darren's shop after work to come up with "THE PLAN. The cart was already dismantled to the frame. Besides all of the body parts being cracked and broken, it needed a new suspension, bumpers, reupholstered seats, and some mechanical work. Darren had already done the fiberglass repair and was preparing to prime and paint yet that night. As I started to sketch out the remaining parts and frame, I started to giggle. Darren asked "What's so funny". I said, "This looks like a Flintstone Car". We discussed it briefly, agreed on the Flintstone theme, and vowed not to tell Grant what we were doing. We then called our usual team buddys to see who was available immediately for a fun project. We were lucky, these guys are good and we have worked together for years, and everyone likes a challenge.

Saturday and Sunday was a rush of creative construction for the crew. Each man on specific tasks, working in separate buildings, and nobody certain how the others were handling the other parts. Dave Ely was in charge of airbrushing the stone body look, the bumpers and the vinyl wrap for the wood stick look on the frame bars. Darren finished painting parts, then on to manufacture bumpers, and install a booze dispenser. Kelly Schuler was in charge of the mechanical, suspension, stereo, and loudspeaker system. Brian Selzler was handling the seat upholstery and decided that they should be airbrushed zebra style, then laid a stone looking vinyl on the floorboard. I was in charge of the roof vinyl cloth addition and painting. I also painted the tires and wheel, then made the acrylic stone look dealer plate and wood look grill emblem.

Monday we were done, it was loaded on a trailer and dropped off to a very anxious and happily surprised Grant. The golf cart needed to be done fast so it could immediately go to the races in Brainard , Minnesota to be used as a shuttle for the gang from Fargo Hooters Restaurant. The cart was the hit of all of the shuttle/golf carts at the track. I don't suppose it hurt that girls from the restaurant were usually riding or driving.

Dwight Hegel