Today I... "Redux Edition"

[b_hill_86]

So my son (15) picked up this barn find (but I knew it was there).








This was originally my uncles truck that I road around in when I was like 8 or 9. About 10 years later my younger brother bought it 1995. He drove the heck out of it all through college. It was a straight 6 with 3 on the tree but someone swapped a 302 out of a early mustang and dropped a cam, headers , intake and a carb on it. My uncle was in an accident years before and couldn't deal with the clutch so he swapped it to an auto including the steering column. He also wanted better fuel mileage so the intake and carb came off and a 2 barrel setup went on. My brother ran the trans out of fluid as it leaked and we put another trans in but the started doesn't work with the flywheel or something and that is why it was parked back in 2001. I actually had it at my place years ago because I was going to fix it buy all I was able to do was vice grip the starter in place enough to get it to start and I drove it into his barn where it has sat for thw last 12 or so years.

My son wants all sorts of cars and my brother said he could have this truck if he really had the desire to get it back on the road but he can never sell it. My brother is great at building stuff with wood and stuff but not with mechanical things and he knows I and my son are extremely mechanical so he decided to let us do something with it as he knows he never will even though he loves this truck.

As soon as we got home Logan cleaned out the bed and  started pulling the interior as it is mice piss soaked.  He was going to powerwash it but in came a torrential down pour so he grabbed a scrub brush and went to town.



It seems like it's still a very solid truck.  Frame, bed and most body panels are pretty good.

Very nice! 79? My dad had a 79 when I was a kid. It was his dads and when he died (3 days before I was born) my dad and uncle went to OK to get it. He drove it for several years until it was stolen out behind our house in Toledo. It was eventually recovered by the police full of old shingles. Guess someone needed a work truck lol. He’d bought an 87 by then so he sold the 79.

And yea, that rain was something yesterday lol

[FormTA]

It is a 76 but very close to the 79s we have like 5 of these growing up. All were 1979s except this 76.

[5th T/A]

That rig looks sweet!!



So today marks the 5th anniversary of Shizuna and I getting married in Okinawa Japan (or at least the ceremony part) so what better way than to make it legal!!

That's exactly what we did this morning!!

5 years ago we sorta joked about waiting but we always figured we'd get around to it sooner or later.

With a 30 min process, exchange of vows again, rings, and the signing of paper work, we are officially more than common law in the eyes of the Canadian government, and are now considered husband and wife!!

Now off to karate!!!

lol

Charlie, congratulations on being legally married and Shizuna. Kitchen looks great too. So what do you do with all that free time on your hands?

[5th T/A]

So my son (15) picked up this barn find (but I knew it was there).






This was originally my uncles truck that I road around in when I was like 8 or 9. About 10 years later my younger brother bought it 1995. He drove the heck out of it all through college. It was a straight 6 with 3 on the tree but someone swapped a 302 out of a early mustang and dropped a cam, headers , intake and a carb on it. My uncle was in an accident years before and couldn't deal with the clutch so he swapped it to an auto including the steering column. He also wanted better fuel mileage so the intake and carb came off and a 2 barrel setup went on. My brother ran the trans out of fluid as it leaked and we put another trans in but the started doesn't work with the flywheel or something and that is why it was parked back in 2001. I actually had it at my place years ago because I was going to fix it buy all I was able to do was vice grip the starter in place enough to get it to start and I drove it into his barn where it has sat for thw last 12 or so years.

My son wants all sorts of cars and my brother said he could have this truck if he really had the desire to get it back on the road but he can never sell it. My brother is great at building stuff with wood and stuff but not with mechanical things and he knows I and my son are extremely mechanical so he decided to let us do something with it as he knows he never will even though he loves this truck.

As soon as we got home Logan cleaned out the bed and  started pulling the interior as it is mice piss soaked.  He was going to powerwash it but in came a torrential down pour so he grabbed a scrub brush and went to town.



It seems like it's still a very solid truck.  Frame, bed and most body panels are pretty good.

Luke, what a great father-son project.

I bet you could find a running inline 6 with a three speed manual out of a junkyard for next to nothing. This is what I would call a good honest work truck. With a three on the tree, manual steering and brakes you become one with the road as you drive it.

[b_hill_86]

My dad’s must have been earlier I guess. I looked up a 79 and his looked like your 76 with the running lights over round headlights.

[FormTA]

My son is still trying to de mice the thing. Pulled the sear, carpet, headliner and now he is trying to remove all the ductwork. I bought him a new paint respirator because the mice smell is so bad. It will need 2 floor patches but otherwise, it's pretty good.

[5th T/A]

Saturday I went with an old friend to the Bloomington Corvette show held at the ISU campus about two hours south of Chicago.

This is a big event for Corvette lovers. My friend Joe has an original 1966 Corvette, 427 engine, four speed, factory knock off wheels, factory side pipes and original paint. He has owned his Vette for 35 years but did not bring it. While this event covers all year Corvettes, it seems like most the cars shown were high end C1, C2 and C3 cars. Lots of vendors with restored and unrestored parts for sale with $$$ prices. Also what might have been interesting seminars, unfortunately the sound system not good making it almost impossible to hear what the lecturers.

Beautifully restored C3 chassis.

IMG_3622 by Lawrence Alexander, on Flickr

Serial number 1, C1 Corvette. Mostly original although it looks like some items have been restored.

IMG_3628 by Lawrence Alexander, on Flickr

This year's Bloomington Gold judging area. Featuring over the top restorations and unrestored originals. From a distance some of the unrestored cars are hard to tell from the restored cars. We spent over an hour talking to one of the judges who is a high school friend of Joe's. The knowledge level of the judges and the details they scrutinize is impressive. 

IMG_3630 by Lawrence Alexander, on Flickr

IMG_3631 by Lawrence Alexander, on Flickr

IMG_3632 by Lawrence Alexander, on Flickr

I think its safe to say that most of the restyored cars are driven very littl, if at all.

IMG_3633 by Lawrence Alexander, on Flickr

IMG_3635 by Lawrence Alexander, on Flickr

This hall contains a lot of previous years Gold certified and historic cars.

IMG_3636 by Lawrence Alexander, on Flickr

IMG_3637 by Lawrence Alexander, on Flickr

IMG_3638 by Lawrence Alexander, on Flickr

After the show we took a scenic ride home on parts of the Historic Route 66 that parallels Route 55. This service station is mostly original inside and out.

IMG_3640 by Lawrence Alexander, on Flickr

IMG_3641 by Lawrence Alexander, on Flickr

Well, not everything is original. This Sun automotive tester is very similar to the one I used in autoshop 1970. Back then it was so state of the art. Now it sure looks old.

IMG_3642 by Lawrence Alexander, on Flickr

Sun distributor machine. We would use to test and recurve spark advance.

IMG_3643 by Lawrence Alexander, on Flickr

Me on the left and buddy Joe on the right.

IMG_3656 by Lawrence Alexander, on Flickr

Another mostly original Service station.

IMG_3657 by Lawrence Alexander, on Flickr

IMG_3662 by Lawrence Alexander, on Flickr

[FormTA]

Looks like a great time! To hear a good judge speak about what they look for and their knowledge would be very interesting. No wonder you spent over an hour talking to him. Those filling stations look so cool. I really want to travel down route 66 just for fun like that. Lost like it was a good trip Larry, thanks for the pictures!

[roadking77]

Thanks for the pics. Looks like a great time and def the 'super bowl' of the corvette world.

Do you know if they have a limit on the cars that are inspected for the 'gold'?

My son and I went to the camaro nationals last summer and they are trying to reach a level of respect in judging compared to the 'vette world. They have a special judging class that is limited to a dozen or so cars per year. Each one gets a mutli hour inspection. They put the cars on a lift and will check down to the last bolt to make sure its correct. I like all forms of judging as well as just having a car you can drive and not worry about.

On our trip last fall to the midwest I really wanted to travel rt66 but the timing was off. I did get to cross over it. And I have been on it through portions of Arizona on motorcycle so I suppose that accounts for a little bit. Although the sites in that state was mostly desert!

[72projectbird]

Picked up a 92 Silverado Asphalt Oval Truck. I plan on converting it to a road course setup and putting it on the street.

20240621_111700 by Argo Noneya, on Flickr

20240621_110504 by Argo Noneya, on Flickr

[Nexus]

Hello everyone,

All progress in life has halted, as I badly cut my thumb, nicking the tendon. It's only been the last few days that I've been able to do normal-ish things, but my hand is in a brace to prevent me from using my thumb and the first set of stitches at the base on my pointer finger have been removed. It will be short lived progress as I have surgery on Tuesday, the 9th to fix the tendon properly. Fresh stitches to follow that because they need to cut open along the tendon to access it properly. Other than that, all is well, and I'm in good spirits about it all and I will have a new story to tell people now. Besides, I didn't have any scars on that part of my hand!!

What did I do you ask?

I was trimming the arborite/laminate, material that was being used for my counter top, and in the process of going to score a line and break it, I was pushing too hard and the laminate broke, and one of the shards, shaped like a knife blade cut my thumb, nicking the tendon in the process.

20240704_092741 by Charles Marson, on Flickr

[5th T/A]

Hello everyone,

All progress in life has halted, as I badly cut my thumb, nicking the tendon. It's only been the last few days that I've been able to do normal-ish things, but my hand is in a brace to prevent me from using my thumb and the first set of stitches at the base on my pointer finger have been removed. It will be short lived progress as I have surgery on Tuesday, the 9th to fix the tendon properly. Fresh stitches to follow that because they need to cut open along the tendon to access it properly. Other than that, all is well, and I'm in good spirits about it all and I will have a new story to tell people now. Besides, I didn't have any scars on that part of my hand!!

What did I do you ask?

I was trimming the arborite/laminate, material that was being used for my counter top, and in the process of going to score a line and break it, I was pushing too hard and the laminate broke, and one of the shards, shaped like a knife blade cut my thumb, nicking the tendon in the process.

20240704_092741 by Charles Marson, on Flickr

Ouch, Charlie I suppose you are right handed making it that much harder. Wishing you a speedy recovery so you can do the things you love.

[Nexus]

yup...I'm a righty

BTW... Happy 4th of July to all those South of the Canadian boarder!!!

[nas t eh]

Hope you get well soon

[FormTA]

Picked up a 92 Silverado Asphalt Oval Truck. I plan on converting it to a road course setup and putting it on the street.

20240621_111700 by Argo Noneya, on Flickr

20240621_110504 by Argo Noneya, on Flickr

That is totally awesome! I would rock that truck everywhere!

Kinda looks like a 90s motif

[roadking77]

Charlie, sorry to hear of your injury. Hope you have a full, fast recovery.

[72projectbird]

That is totally awesome! I would rock that truck everywhere!

Kinda looks like a 90s motif

Thanks! It's definitely 90s looking. I'm thinking about redoing it to look like the City Chevrolet Nascar from Days Of Thunder. That won't be for a while tho, so I'll be rocking the 90s look.

[FormTA]

Went for a drive with my son. It was a nice night but the bug cleaning will be my sentence...

[5th T/A]

Luke, you are living your motto, Life is short drive a TA.

Yesterday I was looking at my car, noticed it looked a little dusty. It’s summer time and almost a month since I last drove my car, what’s wrong with me.

Nice pictures!

What cleanup other than a few dead bugs?

[FormTA]

Ya, the front nose just gets plastered with them. It's such a pain to clean them off a black car. I actually drove it to work today as well. It is a dusty mess but hey, it's on the road.

[roadking77]

Love those pics Luke. Im like 5th, its been way too long since I have had my car. Been using car time working on the 79. It was absolutely beautiful this past weekend and the car just sits. Had my eye on a couple of events this weekend but wouldnt you know they are calling for rain!
Luke, at the risk of me sounding like a complete A*&*&^*^*^, do you have a good base of carnuba wax on the nose of your car? My 77 doesnt have as much real estate as the 79 front but it still gets it share of bugs. I keep it waxed pretty good and with some spray wax/detailer the bugs come off pretty easy.

[FormTA]

Kerry, that's not a bad question.  I have only applied carnauba wax one time since I painted the car. I then uses a Teflon spray detailer to "wash" the car but that is probably once a year. I really do need to "wash" it again and apply a few coats of wax. I didn't even do anything this year.  I pulled the cover off and drove it. Just been allocating my time to other projects.

[roadking77]

A whole lot more fun to drive them than to clean them for sure.

[scarebird]

Got notice that most of the ports on the Gulf and Atlantic coast may go on strike 1 October.
 Of course my 71 may get caught up in this - and no doubt the ports will try to charge storage/demurrage for this.   Grrr.

[FormTA]

Bought another car... 2006 GO-Man-Go Daytona Charger R/T. Garaged, never in rain, all original 74,000 miles.

I was looking for a cleaner parts car for my 69 charger body swap project and found this. I also was looking for something to daily to keep miles off my 3 year old ram 2500. I'm at 45K on it already.  So not what the owners had in mind keeping it so nice and the first 2 days I had it it poured rain. The exhaust didn't even show signs of rust. It is cleaner than my RAM. So far I can't find a single thing wrong with it. It's like as new as it was the day it rolled out of the factory... and I'm going to ruin it... Hopefully drive ot for a few years as I mock up everything on the other 06 charger donor I have and then tear into this one for the final swap.

[72projectbird]

The world is littered with Chargers primed for being cut up, and you chose a clean Go Mango Daytona?

Hmm

[FormTA]

Ya, I know. But it doesn't seem anyone cares about these early Daytonas. It's just a nice, rust free chàrger and that is what I was looking for. The color is growing on me, I might even paint the 69 this color so it matches the dash plaque.

[5th T/A]

Bought another car... 2006 GO-Man-Go Daytona Charger R/T. Garaged, never in rain, all original 74,000 miles.

I was looking for a cleaner parts car for my 69 charger body swap project and found this. I also was looking for something to daily to keep miles off my 3 year old ram 2500. I'm at 45K on it already.  So not what the owners had in mind keeping it so nice and the first 2 days I had it it poured rain. The exhaust didn't even show signs of rust. It is cleaner than my RAM. So far I can't find a single thing wrong with it. It's like as new as it was the day it rolled out of the factory... and I'm going to ruin it... Hopefully drive ot for a few years as I mock up everything on the other 06 charger donor I have and then tear into this one for the final swap.

Luke, congratulations on your NEW 06 Charger. It looks great and is probably a pleasure to drive. In my opinion too nice to cut up. Modern cars have ALB, VSC, crumple zones and tons of airbags. This could be the perfect car for your son when he starts driving! Honestly much safer than a second gen Firebird. Although you probably would have to get into the ECU and detune the engine a little. I would love to have something like that as a daily driver.

I appologise for sticking my nose where it doesn't belong.

[roadking77]

Luke, that is nice than my daily driver! And newer too!!

But, like the saying goes, its your car do what you want with it. I see Larry's point but I know the charger project is something you have been working on and thinking about for a few years now. Personally, at the risk of offending you and any other mopar guys around here, I say chop away. I dont particularly care for anything Chrysler related after about 1965.

[FormTA]

Ah, you guys are fine. But no way would I give a new driver a 350hp 390ft torque car. This thing is more impressive than I was expecting. I know, it is a really nice car I am in love with everything about it. But remember, I cut uo q 1998 trans am in the exact same condition as this for my 79 LS swap, so I'm no stranger to chopping up nice cars. I just keep thinking how cool would it be with this interior, drive train but 1969 body. But, the 06/07 chargers are my favorite "new" body style out of all of them.

We'll see what happens. I still have my other 06 RT that I will cut up first and fit the 69 on first so I don't accidentally ruin the Daytona.

As for a first car my son now has a low mileage 93 ranger with a 4 cylinder, stick. It can barely make it to 70MPH so that is a good every day ride fpr him not to get into trouble.  He also has a 1976 ford F100 302/auto as his fun classic summer vehicle.  We haven't even got to the 79 formula yet.

My buildings are bursting with cars and car projects...

[5th T/A]

Last Saturday I had the pleasure of meeting Kerry/RoadKing.
I was spending time with my daughter in Alexandria VA, about two hours from Kerry in MD. I had an extremely enjoyable day exceeding all my expectations. Kerry was such a gracious host. He gave me a tour of his garage including his 77 TA, his sons late model GTO and wife’s Mustang convertible. On to multiple other buildings/work shops. We share a passion for motorcycles, especially older bikes. Just seeing and talking about the bikes made my day. On to his big shop where we spent a fair amount of time looking over and talking about his 79 TATA. Any one who follows his build in TAC knows that it has been challenging at times. Kudos to Kerry for sharing both the beautiful workmanship along with the frustrating times when it took perseverance to accomplish a task up to his standards.

A little off topic here, most of us know in the real world restoring a car takes a lot more time, work and money than we anticipate. I am grateful to the small group of regular contributors on TAC that share their experiences and knowledge. Hopefully that encourages others to hang in there even if things don’t go smoothly and sometimes gets frustrating.

So after a lot of show and tell, Kerry took me for a relaxing cruise in his 77 TA through his town and then Maryland country roads with beautiful fall colors. We then had lunch outside at one of his favorite restaurants. I had my first, but not last crab cake sandwich.

Kerry, thanks again for a great day. I tried to post a picture, but don’t believe it worked, will try again once home and I have access to my computer.

[roadking77]

Great post Larry, it was a great day and was nice to meet a fellow TAC'r in person. I think you are 3 or 4 now that I have met in person.

[5th T/A]

Great post Larry, it was a great day and was nice to meet a fellow TAC'r in person. I think you are 3 or 4 now that I have met in person.

You got me beat 2-1, all in all I still feel fortunate!

I met Luke (Form TA) a couple years ago when he picked up the original engine out of my TA. Another super nice and knowledgeable guy. I would love to see his toys and shop  some day.

[FormTA]

It's funny, when I talk to others about what I'm working on and mention my friend or friends from the internet people look at weird. I consider Kerry a good friend as we have swapped parts, stories, and if we have a question we text or message each other, yet I have never met him in person. I have a similar relationship with Ryan whom I also never met. I have met other folks from this forum but Larry and Brian are two that stand out a great guys too!

[roadking77]

I feel the same way Luke. You may or may not remember but about this time last year my wife and I traveled through Ohio on our way to Iowa. I sent you a text as I was wanting to stop by and say hi, unfortunately it was either the wrong time of day or I think you were in a different part of the state. Maybe next year if we head out west.