I purchased this rod in April of 96. The body mods were as follows: The entire body has been smoothed, rear fenders have been molded into the body, 6 inch chop, suicide doors and trunk. Since then I've added a new gas tank and started doing the body work. I hope to have it running this summer. The power plant will be a Tuned Port Injection Chevy 305, backed by a 700R tranny, and cooling will be provided by a 16" electric pusher fan. The nine inch ford disc brake rear end and AMC disc brake front suspension will provide the rest of the get up and go, as well as the get down and stop. "Rack and pinion" with power steering will keep it going in the right direction and between the lines. The interior is still in the idea stage. It has VDO gauges set in an aluminium dash plate, and tilt/telescopic steering colum. Some of the trick features will be electric trunk latch and keyless door entry. Lots of work to do and parts to be found.
Unfortunatley, I had to sell my 1930 Model A 2dr sedan to come up with the cash to do the Olds, so I guess that's one less project now. I'll miss it, it will be a great ride when it's done!
Well, summer is almost over. I'm still working on the Olds and not anywhere near having it running!
I've been working on it fairly steady since I bought it, although I've spent some time on my
International Scout. It's almost done so I will be dedicating more of my time to the Olds. I dropped in
the TPI motor, bought some chrome brackets for the A/C, Alternator, and power steering pump. It's
starting to look pretty good!
I've also purchased most of the electronics that will go in the Olds. I bought the remote kit which will
activate the doors and windows, as well as the trunk. I bought the power window kit for the front
windows, a 12 volt wiper kit to replace the great vacuum ones, and an A/C heater combo kit. I've got
to tell you, dealing with some of these vendors is a major job. I've spent more time on the phone
trying to find out what exactly their instructions mean and some of them can't tell you for sure. That's
kind of scary considering that they sell the product.
I guess you have to take into consideration that we're working on old cars and sometimes things
don't fit according to plan. For the most part the installations have been going well. I've installed
most of the A/C. Vacuum lines, electrical wires, and hoses still need to be run. I've installed the
actuators for the doors, and the wiper kit was basically an OEM type replacement. I bought some
cast iron headers from Sandersons. They ended up hitting the motor mounts, so I had to send them
back for a different set. I'm also planning to make the frontend tilt, that's going to require some
work.
It's about the end of October. I got the new headers from Sandersons, they fit great. During the wait I finished installing the
remote wiring, the power window wiring, and ran all the A/C plumbing. Next step is to finish up the gas tank connections and see if this baby will fire up!
Well, Saturday the 25th of January, was a milestone in the history of the Olds. After many months of wiring and verifying every detail, and
buying an external electric fuel pump, the Olds roared to life!(YAHOO!!!). I ordered the pump from the same people I ordered the TPI wiring harness
from, TPI Tech. You can only order C.O.D from them, what a pain! I received my first notice from UPS on Wednesday, the 22nd. I called UPS and
requested they hold the package and I would come there to pick it up. They said Thursday would be fine. I get there Thursday and they tell me that
it has not been pulled off the truck yet. They told me that it would get pulled off tonight and be there Friday. Friday rolls along and I'm ready to
go get it and UPS calls to ask if I got the package last night. I told them I didn't and was getting ready to come down and get it. Again, they tell
me that it must still be on the truck because they don't have it at will call. Finally after several rounds with the UPS agents and a couple rounds with
managers, they finally delivered the package on Saturday afternoon. I hooked up the pump and the rest is history! Next step is getting the frames for the
seats built and then the final tear down will commence for body and paint work.
The Olds has been sitting most of the year so far. I did get a couple of days that I could take it out of the shop to do some grinding. Unfortunately, the heavy customizing of the body was done with a heavy dose of bondo. I knew there was some bondo in it, and I wanted to take it out because of the time the car has spent in primer. My biggest fear of leaving it in place is that it would come back to haunt me later after it was painted. I'm glad I decided to check it out now, there are places that the bondo is at least 1/2" thick. It's going to take a lot of work to get in back in shape, but the car is definitely worth the effort.
After I found out the extent of bondo used I started making some calls to find someone who really knows how to work metal. I was surprised that most auto body shops don't have anyone with that knowledge. I did get some leads and finally found someone in Portland. The shop that told me about him said that he teaches an auto restoration class at PCC, and runs the shop in Portland as well. I called and talked to him and I think this is going to work out well. He's the type of person that likes to work with the car owner, making sure you understand the amount of work and also working with you on what you can, or want to do, versus what he can do. I also talked to him about his class, and it turns out the class is held at the Rock Creek campus, which is very close to where I live. I've decided to sign up for the class, I think it will be a great learning experience. He's been around long enough to know how to do lead work, and that tells me he probably knows his business. From all the calls I made, it sounds like this art is fading into history like so many things in this fast paced world we live in, what a shame.......
Well, it's been a while since my last update. Things have been going at what seems the speed of light for me. It's been just over a year and I've moved to Texas, great to be here, got married just before leaving Oregon, and I now have a baby on the way. How's that for getting everything done at once!..... I haven't had much time to work on the Olds since moving here last August. I was renting a place and didn't really have the room to pull all my equipment out either, so the Olds has just been sitting. I just bought a place outside Springtown in February, and I'm now in the process of setting up my new shop, it's a 30X40 metal shop with a concrete floor. Hopefully I can get things straightened out soon and start back on the Olds, it's been too long.
First on the agenda will be pulling the body off the frame, it needs to be cleaned up and painted. I'm also going to build a body jig so I can turn the body in a 360' circle, making it easier to do all the body work. Until next time......
Just call me sick......While working on the Olds, and realizing how long it was going to be before it saw pavement, I got the bright idea that what I needed was a running project. Something I could drive and work on a little at a time. So, I went to a swap meet about a month ago and bought of all things a 4dr sedan. It's a 1953 Chrysler New Yorker Deluxe with a 331 Hemi in it. The body is in fair shape, the interior has been redone, and it runs pretty good, but the whole brake system was shot. I ordered a rebuild kit from Kanter Auto, which showed up last week. Now I just need to find the time to get everything done. I tore down the brake system while waiting for the kit so, it's just cleaning up, honing the cylinders, and putting it all back together. I've been working on the Olds as well. I've done all the lead work and got the whole thing primered in PPG DP90. I decided against pulling the body off the frame, it's just too much to do at this time. Now I'm starting the rest of the bodywork. I have the roof roughed out, need to fill in a little more and it should be done. From there I'll work my way down. I need to get the inside cleaned up as well, and ready it for primer. I thought about shooting the inside with paint as soon as I can so I can start getting the interior in, but I may go ahead and get it prepped inside and out before laying any paint. Anyway, here's a few pics after spraying the primer, it's starting to look pretty good.
Well, it's been a long time since I've updated this site. I can't believe how things change. I think I have gone full circle now. As I had mentioned earlier, I got married before moving to Springtown, Texas in 1997. The company I work for, and transferred to Texas for, decided not to build their new site in Fort Worth, so we ended up moving to Austin where they had a small site starting.
I won't go into the painful details on having to move again, and the loss that was felt. Not only emotionally, but financially as well. We lived in rental places for a while and finally found a place outside Lockhart, Texas. It was an old farmhouse on 30 acres. I thought it was a pretty good deal considering that we hadn't sold the place in Springtown yet. We were paying two mortgages for a while, and almost lost the place in Springtown because we had used up everything we had making mortgage payments. Finally we were able to sell the place in Springtown, but at a great loss.
Well, in August of 2000 my wife decided to leave while I was out of town on business. Took my son, some clothes, and left, with no message as to why. So, needless to say, after a painful yearlong divorce, I'm now single again. Lost the Chrysler in the divorce, among other things. But, I get to see my son who is now three years old, and likes to work with tools already. He loves dad’s trucks too, so that's all that really matters to me at this point.
As for the Olds, it's still sitting. I have a couple of barns on the place, but they're full of wood. The previous owner had been in the furniture business, and when his business went under he had a hugh inventory of furniture pieces. These barns are both about 40X40, so you can imagine the amount of wood pieces in these barns when I say they are full!
I thought he would do something with it by now, but it's been over a year and it's time to get rid of it. I need to get some space to work on the Olds and one of those barns has got to be emptied, even if I have to burn all this stuff! I would think there is a lot of money in this wood, but I haven't found any body that wants it yet. I did find a guy who does body work, and works with wood on the side. He took a small portion of it with the understanding that he would help me out on the Olds, or something else, but I haven't heard from him in a while, so that's probably a bust. Well, more later......
