Saturday

Well we made it to Connecticut, picked up the phaeton, visited with a lot of old friends. There was a gathering at the old favorite pizza place on Wednesday night. There were about 30 friends there. That was so good to see them all. We had not been back for ten years. So it was a long time since we saw them all. Thursday we went to visit old friend PC at his great shop. I will post pictures of the shop in the next night or so. The camera is in the truck and I don't want to walk out to get it tonight. PC has a roadster project, a full fender deuce, a 34 coupe, a full fender 3W,a 3w highboy and tons of flathead parts hanging on the wall. A REAL NEAT place. After the tour we all went to lunch at a great place. There were 8 of us guys...a fun time. Friday it was off to Massachusetts to visit more friends...more good times. We parked the trailer at good friend John's house for safe keeping. This morning it was off to John's place, tour his garage and then hook up the trailer and head out. We made it to Dubois, PA tonight. Thats about 2/3rd's across the state. Tomorrow its Springfield, IL to go to a huge antique store. I hope to get to Indy or so for the night. That will depend on how long we stay at the antique store.

second picture test

OK this is on the new laptop using Google Chrome......I hope to post a picture of the new phaeton

picture test

I tried to post a picture from my new laptop last night and it wouldn't post. I am trying it tonight from the little note book. Here goes.

April 1, 2014

This is not an April fool joke...it's a real update. I just realized its been since Feb 17th that I have been on here. I have been working on the deuce panel body....grinding out the cracked body filler and re bondoing it. Not much to see but has kept me busy. In the mean time I have leaded some more of the seams and patches on the fordor. I got some of the panel in K38 primer today and even blocked out the side panel on the passenger side. Plans are to block out the front fenders and back door tommorow. I also repainted the 7 garnish moldings on the full fender fordor. The guy before me used big trim washers behind the screws...UGLY....and of course it made a big ring into the paint when I removed the washers. I sanded them all down reprimed them and repainted them tonight...I will put them on the car tomorrow to get them out of the shop before I knock over and damage them. I replaced the trunk lift rams on the blue roadster. Finally got the correct ones...four trips to O'Rileys, but they work now! My buddy John from CT is going to drive the blue roadster to the LARS in June. As soon as the snow melts the plans are to get the roadster to the shop to check it all over under neath, change oil, pack the bearings etc so it is all ready for him. We leave June 4th...long time but time goes so fast. Saturday morning its off to the GSTA show at the fairgrounds. I'm excited about seeing all the cars, especially Dennis Heppy's 60 style show rod. Then at noon its on the road for a trip to CT. I purchased a phaeton body for a new project...like I needed one !! But you know what they say about "Deuce Fever"...it just nevers goes away, it just gets stronger and stronger.

Monday

I leaded the left rear corner of the body today. Came out pretty nice. I ran out of oxygen so I used a propane torch instead...it even worked better until I dropped it and broke the tip...damn!! It was about 4 PM by that time so I decided to snow blow the driveways before it got dark. Just as I was finishing that job the drive belt broke...at least ZI got it done. I did a trial fit on the back eat too. Looks like tomorrow will be errand day......new torch, fill the oxygen tank,and a snow blower belt. Wednesday morning I off to Des Moines, IA to help my buddy Dave adjust the hood on his tudor. It will be fun working with him...we always have a good time. I will post a few pictures of the patches in the fodor.

Surprise.......I'm still here

Its been a long time since the last post. The Ca trip to the GNRS was awesome. There were 6 couples of us and we all had a great time. Many shop tours and 3 days at the show.....an awesome show. It gets better every year. Nine buildings and out side car show too. All of the cars are very high quality. The AMBR contenders were all very nice. My favorite was the black phaeton......surprise surprise! The dark blue hiboy from TN belongs to a friend of mine....a very nice car. I was hoping he would win. But when you have a Foose design, Troy built and Wes Rydell financed entry, how can you not win? The car was over the top nice....and the owner, Wes is one of the nicest guys around...I am very happy for him. The progress in the shop is finally starting back up. I developed a lower stomach hernia in November that slowed me down, then the holidays, I had surgery Jan 2, then it took a couple of weeks to recover, then a week in sunny CA.....finally I am getting a little shop time. Most of the patches have been welded in, both cowl sides, the B pillar, lower rear, wheel wells, etc. I redid a few of them because I did not like how they came out, I think they are OK now. I hope to shoot some DP primer on the rear and the cowl in the morning and then start some mudding. I think I will use lead on some of the spots like the left wheel well edge. I think it will hold up better. The new door fits pretty good, I need to work on the gap in one spot yet. The top worries me...it is rusty....might have to cut the old door top off and weld it on the new door. The three other doors need work on the skins.....might have to be reskinned. I have a friend coming over to look at them. I bought front and rear spreader bars that have been drilled and sleeved from Ebay.....they look pretty cool. I filed and sanded the welds around the holes and now look even better.

past due update

I've been trying to get the panel driveable and do some panel patching on the fordor. The panel needed a trans redo, third gear was gone. Second gear at 60 MPH will twist the tach to about 4000 rpms!! The trans is all fixed and now it will shift into third but the rpms are still about 2800. I found a replacement rear section (55-61 chev) with 3.02 gears....I decided to have Fat Joe install it for me....good thing because it needed new bearings and had some rust on the pinon....he took care of all of that for me. Now at 60 it tachs out about 2300. But now it is too cold and snowy to drive it!! I added a rear view camera so I can see who is behind me......new gauges and a new panel was installed....new floor and my special made heel pad. The plan for the winter is to get some body work done......just a skim coat of bondo and a semi gloss black finish I have welded in several small patches into the lower rear of the fordor body and wheel wells. I still have a few to go. I found, (actually it found me !) a right rear door. It is in so much better shape. I got a facebook message from a friend in Colorado telling me he had a door, not sure how he knew I needed one but hey, it worked out,we made the deal and Fedex delivered it to me. I have been wondering how I was going to fix that old door....now I know...just hang it on the wall!! Christmas holidays and all slowed down the shop progress, I hope to make a little progress the next couple of days and then take off a week again. We will be going to the GNRS in late Jan, that will be fun, but no shop progress....good thin g I'm not on a crunch deadline with this car!! I figure spring of 2015 will work just fine.