After Eternity

Chapter 35

I.

Diana, James and Phil were sitting at James's office looking at photographs of the new 1953 Buick they had been working on. She couldn't but realize all the changes that it had suffered since it arrived. She remembered when the old Buick arrived at their facilities, old but still so beautiful and was now all redone. She had fallen in love with it right away. It had been crafted almost from scratch. The car was going to be shipped to London and they wanted it to be ready for the exhibition. James and Phil had been working hard on that project, getting out of work late almost every day during that week. James had done many of craft work on that car and had been spending much time imagining little details to its custom design. The final work was almost done, and it looked astonishing.

"What engine is it equipped with?" Diana asked studying the photographs, mainly paying attention at the aerodynamics. She posed the question without looking at any of the guys.

"A 454 block Chevy... it boosts a lot the horsepower..." James explained.

Diana raised her head from the photographs there and her eyes went wide. Phil was surprised at her knowledge of cars. By her look, he could understand she knew how powerful that engine was. Diana knew a lot more than she showed, but she had also learned a whole bunch while working there with them the past months. She always showed interest in details.

"Have any of you tried it?" She asked looking at James and then at Phil.

"I did..." He said.

"Is it stable?" She insisted. "Look at this..." She said pointing at the wheels. "They should be larger to balance the curves. Am I wrong? Are they large enough?" She asked.

Phil smiled at her. "They're not..."

"This engine needs at least a 16-inch wheels to be stable and the suspension must be something like 46 inches height, so it can offer security to the driver." She said pointing at the photographs. Both men were staring at her. She shrugged feeling a little awkward. "It's not like I am teaching you two how to do your job..." She added feeling a little embarrassed, because she loved their work.

"No..." James told her smiling. "... but everything you said is very true. We concluded that after the tests. We are looking at you because of all the details you know..." He said.

"Yeah..." Phil agreed. "I was thinking about a suspension of 48 inches." He told her. "What do you think?"

Diana looked down at the photographs one more time and shook her head. James smiled watching her knowing her stuff. How proud of her he felt that moment. What woman knows so much about engines and suspensions and aerodynamics? He recalled the last car show they had been together. Diana had enjoyed being there as much as he did. They discussed details of cars and invented others while discussing every single car in that venue. It had been incredible to have taken her with him. She knew his passion and shared his passion and that meant a lot to him.

"Two inches in this car makes a lot of difference..." She raised her head to speak at Phil. "We have to do the math amongst the wideness of the car, the horsepower of the engine and the largeness of the wheels. If you calculate all that carefully, you will reach the exact height of 46 inches."

Phil frowned. "Are you doing literature or fucking physics?" The three of them burst into laughter. "God damn... you almost lost me!"

"No way..." She slapped his arm. "You know all this."

James spoke. "Ok... we have that in the garage right?" He asked to be sure. They had been arranging all the changes after the first driving test.

"We do. They are changing that right now. Mark is just waiting for the small details to incorporate them in the car. It is dismantled already." Phil explained.