Desperate to find pictures of my car...

Not much to report on my car. It is still off being painted. Mike and I did work together to sand blast some parts and get caked on oil cleaned off of them. I even made sure to get pictures of myself working on yucky car parts. Sadly they are not on my computer so I cant include them in this post. You will just have to trust that I helped.

Saturday Mike and I had to go buy a new hood since the reproduction hood we were going to use got warped when being sand blasted. There was a guy in Ogden selling one so we went up and purchase it and then took it over to Hooper for Gary to use. It sucked having to buy a new hood, but it is an original hood, not a reproduction, so it should fit my car better. We also dropped off some other car parts at the same time that will need to be painted. We keep coming across parts that need painting so we periodically get to make trips to drop them off.

Gary has done wonders on the body work on the car. He is making some good progress. Its fun seeing the progress. I do feel bad since I had no idea how much work it takes to get a car ready and prepped to be painted. He is putting a ton of work into the car. I have full faith in him though. I know he can do wonders on cars (Mike's parents Pace Car being a prime example). It will be exciting to see the car finished.

So I have spent countless hours going through old pictures and video footage trying to find something with my car. I did find video footage, but it is not ideal.  Here is a still shot taken from that footage, its about the best there is of my car....

Pretty sad all you can see is the hood and part of the windshield. Oh well. At least I have the two pictures of it when it was a few months old. Can't argue that. I just hope someday to find more pictures. I know there have to be pictures out there. I would assume my aunt Beverlee (whom was the previous owner) would probably have lots of pictures with it. Unfortunately her pictures are not currently accessible. Hopefully someday something will surface though. In the mean time I can look at this picture and admire how shiny the hood was and dream of it looking that shiny again!

More Progress

We were on our way back from Logan today (Mike ran the Top of Utah Marathon) so we decided we would stop in Hooper to drop off more car parts that need to be painted. It was nice getting to see the progress on the car thus far.

This fender has been primed and is in the process of body filler being put on it and smoothed out. Once that is smoothed out, it will get another layer of primer before being painted.
This back corner panel was really dented in bad. Gary has been working with shrinking some of the metal and getting it all smoothed out.

The trunk and the Rear Valance are both primered with the body filler on it, in the process of being sanded. Then they will be ready for a 2nd layer of primer.

It is pretty exciting seeing the progress. I honestly had no idea so much went into getting a car ready to be painted. It looks like an awful lot of work with the primer and all the sanding that has to be done. It will be excited when the entire car is primed. Hopefully we will be able to make more trips out there and get some good pictures of the car while it is in the process of being painted.

Finally, Off to the Painters!!

Yesterday night we finally got the car dropped off at Gary's to be painted. It took a bit of work to get the car all ready to go.... and we didn't end up getting there till late, but it is exciting to be at this step in the restoration!

First they had to get the car off the rotisserie and onto the cart. This is Mike starting on that process.
The ended up putting the front end on an engine hoist and had to lower the back end by hand. Prior to taking the car off the rotisserie, they used tie downs to tie the cart onto the bottom of the car. So they just had to lower the already attached cart to the ground. So they held the car while I took the rotisserie arm off. I had to get a picture of them standing in the trunk afterwards with the towels they used to keep from gouging their arms.

This is the car on the trailer almost ready to go. Mike bolted the doors and fenders back on just to transport them easier.

Finally the car in it's new home-away-from-home (at least for the next 5 months).

It is very exciting to get it dropped off to be painted. It could take 5 months so we are looking end of January, beginning of February. Hopefully it will be done as soon as possible. We still have to be able to put the entire car back together come April for the show. Either way I am glad to at least have it officially to this stage. It can only look better from here on out.

Long time, no post!

Just wanted to give a quick update. The car is pretty well ready to go to the painters. I haven't really kept track of days since all that has been done is welding and grinding for the last little while. Now it just needs to go to be painted. The person painting it has to clear up some room for it, so it wont go until the middle of August. It will be exciting when it goes off to the painters. At that point we can start working on other things. There is a lot going on in our personal life right now so it will be interesting getting the car done in the midst of everything else, but we are still aiming for April 2012... the Tuacahn show. So lets hope it times out well!

Day 50-52 Still more welding

Sadly I got way behind on blogging this time and I don't even know how many days when by. I think there were a few days where we didn't get any pictures. So I do have three days of pictures at least.

We are still in the welding stage. The floor is now about 99% welded in. Plus the seat platforms on both sides have been welded in. We just have a few more welds to do, and then the grinding will begin. Then it will be good to the painters. It is exciting thinking that it will be going to the painters soon. It is really coming along! It is amazing seeing the progress.

Anyways here are some pictures from the past week or so of work (these are only from three days of working since we didn't get pictures of everything).

Day 48 and 49.. Tail light and starting on the floor

Once again, I got very behind on blogging. So day 49 would have been June 28th. They were able to get the tail light piece welded on.

They then set the tail light in it just to make sure that the piece of metal didn't get tweaked while they were working on it. Looks like a great fit!

Then they moved onto the floor. They were able to get a good start on the floor before calling it a day. So the floor officially will not be coming back out of the car.

Due to vacations and Mike converting his '66 fastback from an automatic to a manual, there was a Little bit of a break from working on the car. So the next time they go out there (day 49) was today. It was a day spent working on the floor. They were able to get about half way done with the floor. They still have to weld the back section of the floor and put the seat platforms in.

We are getting closer to sending it off to be painted. I am sure the neighbors will be happy when the car gets shipped off. I am sure they are all getting tired of the banging and grinding noise. Actually the neighbors have been pretty good about it. The neighbor behind us says it doesn't bother him at all... and the side neighbor (who is the closest neighbor to the garage) is just excited to get to see the restoration, and is excited to see the finished project. Lucky for us that neighbor likes mustangs. So we haven't had any complaints....yet.

Another trip to the Sand Blasters

Friday morning Mike dropped off some more parts at the Sand Blasters. It is nice being able to drop them off in the morning and pick them up in the evening. It always blows my mind seeing something so dirty come back so clean! A good case in point would be the differential. It was caked with grease, dirt, and rust(see the "before" picture in previous post). Now look at how pretty it is!!
It is hard to tell what you are looking at here, but basically the trunk lid, two doors, and quarter panels that go on either side of the back seat of the car.

This would be a the quarter panels again, along with the hood and passenger side fender. The driver side fender was also sand blasted but didn't make it in the picture.

We are getting closer to the painting stage. We just have to finish a little more welding and grinding.... and then off it goes to be painted. I am excited!!

Day 47 - More Welding

The driver side rear fender got all welded in tonight.

The floor was laid down in the car as well. It is all ready to be welded in. As Mike put it, the floor is not coming out of the car again. It will sit there and then get welded in after all the other welding is completed. That will be exciting seeing the floor welded in the car.

I was laying in bed last night and the reality of everything set in. The restoration is really happening, and this car will be completed within a year. I can only imagine how exciting it will be to see the car back from the painters... and to see it all put back together. Thinking about it got me really giddy. I can't believe that it is really happening now. I also cant believe that I have my dad's first car. Incredible!

Day 46 - Oops... no welding pictures

Yesterday there was a a lot of things going on. I was busy babysitting, and Mike managed to only get pictures of what he was working on. So sadly there are no pictures of the welding that took place, but Mikes dad worked on the passenger side rear fender and getting those spots welded. I will have to see if I can go out and get pictures of at least the finished project.

In the meantime, Mike worked on getting pieces of the car ready to go to the sandblasters on Friday. He took the brakes off of the rear differential to get it ready.

He also took the guts out of the passenger side door.

So Friday he will take the rear differential, the two doors, the two front fenders, and the trunk lid to be sand blasted. That way we will be ready for the car to go to the painters after all the welding and grinding is done.

On a sad note, it was deemed that my original hood is beyond repair. Mike took off the trim on the front of the hood to find it was all rusted out underneath it. So we already have a replacement hood but were hoping that we could fix the original. That is a negative. I am rather bummed the original hood wont go back on the car, but beyond the rust it was bent down on the front tip as well. We are still trying to be able to save any original parts possible, but some things are just too far gone to save.

Day 45 - Toe Boards

Day 45 was June 20th. The driver side and passenger side toe board pieces were welded in.
The next two pictures are the passenger side toe board.

This is the driver side toe board. Of course there will be some grinding to smooth out the welds still, but that will come later.

Day 44...making progress so fast I cant keep my blog up to date!

I did not realize how incredibly behind I got on my blogging. I have 4 days to blog about. So here it goes. Day 44 was June 19th. More work was done on the floor. Mikes dad welded on the different brackets that go on the floor. So the floor is good and ready to go in the car. That will be the last thing that gets welded in though.

Day 43 - It is really starting to come together...

Yesterday Mike and his dad spent the morning working on my car. I was working some overtime so I was not able to be there, but Mike took lots of pictures for me. I am honestly amazed at how good its turning out. It amazes me that once a piece has been welded in and smoothed out.... you honestly cannot tell where the new metal is at. Honestly, this car is going to look incredible when it's all done!

This is where the battery goes. There were two pieces to it. Last post showed the underside of it welded in. This is the top side of it.

Mike's dad welded in the missing piece from the radiator support. This is him smoothing it out after welding it.

It is amazing seeing it with the new metal all welded in and smoothed. It looks so much better without the big chunk missing out of it.

Mike was able to get the POR-15 painted onto the new floor where metal will overlap.

Mike's dad was also able to get the top layer of metal welded in on the fender aprons.

He used the spot welder to weld the top and bottom pieces together.He also got the bottom layer on the driver side toe board welded into place.

The welding seems to be happening so fast. It is crazy how fast things are moving on this restoration now. It is amazing the transformation my car is going through. I am lucky to have people in my life that can pull off this great of a restoration. They really have the knowledge and experience and know how to make things happen... as is evident from the Pace Car Mike's parents restored. I know my car is in good hands!

Day 42 - Officially Building the car back up

So today was the start of building the car back up. I said once it came back from the sand blasters that it had officially hit rock bottom. Well I was wrong. After all the pieces of rusted out metal were cut out... it had hit rock bottom. But today we move onto the welding phase where we are now starting to build the car back up. It is exciting seeing it go into the build-up stage!

This is all of the cut pieces of metal laid out. They all are fit and ready to be welded to the car.
Mike painted some of the pieces with POR-15. I did forget to post about him taking the pieces and sandblasting them in his sandblasting cabinet to get them ready. That was a couple days ago. So today he worked on getting them painted with POR-15.

He then went ahead and painted the frame rails and where the metal for the floor will overlap. He did this so that it will protect the metal from rusting where metal overlaps.. since moisture can get in there. It also stops any existing rust from getting worse.

Its hard to tell but this is looking towards the trunk of the car where he painted it around the edges and on the top of the frame rails.

Meanwhile, Mikes dad started welding. This is the frame rail where there were some holes. It still will need to be smoothed out where it was welded.

He got 4 of the pieces welded onto the fender aprons on the driver and passenger side. Mike then coated them with POR-15
This is the underside of the weld. There are still the top pieces that will be welded on here as well.

He also got one of the two pieces on the fender apron (where the battery tray goes) welded in place.

This is a view from the top. As you can see there is still one more piece to be welded on top.

Today was a very productive and exciting day! I LOVE seeing all the progress being made.

Day 41 - Final day of Cutting

Mikes dad came over and finished doing the final cutting on the car. He cut out the passenger side tail light and fit the new piece in.

The new piece fit and set in place.