`Rebuilding the Indian' a study in restoration
Story-Date: 04:17 a.m. PST Friday   , March 26, 1999

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`Rebuilding the Indian' a study in restoration


By Matt Nauman
Mercury News Auto Editor

THEY say the two happiest days in a boat owner's life are the day that the
boat is bought and the day that it is sold.

It's true for many mechanical projects, too, as evidenced by Fred Haefele's
"Rebuilding the Indian" (Audio Literature, $17.95, 3 hours). An erstwhile
writer and full-time tree surgeon, Haefele decides to restore a
1941 Indian Chief motorcycle.

Both the restoration and the "memoir" of the effort find Haefele
questioning himself at mid-life.

Some have compared it to the "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance"
but, thankfully, Haefele's musings stay focused on things like
straightening the bent fork of the bike and the pleasures and pitfalls of
becoming a father again at age 50.

It's a project beset with delays, frustrations and cost overruns. Still,
despite the fits and starts, it becomes a symbol of how Haefele is finally
getting his life in order. And the listener begins cheering each triumph
and commiserating over each failure as Haefele's sips coffee and ruminates.

Actor George Delhoyo reads this abridgement, capturing Haefele's dry wit
and penchant for self-doubt perfectly.

Haefele was awarded a Wallace Stegner fellowship at Stanford in 1988 and
taught there for three years. Despite the publication of "Rebuilding the
Indian" and his first novel, "City of Trees," last year, Haefele
continues to cut trees for a living in and around Missoula, Mont.



Reviews of books-on-cassettes can be found in Drive biweekly. Reviews by
Mercury News Book Editor Carol Doup Muller will return in May.



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