Call me crazy - Ranchero's (again)

[doghows]

It's a beautiful thing... Can I drop mine off and pick it up when it is done?? This body work is definitely not my forte. Guys at the body shop gave me some good pointers so back to the sanding boards. I hope your's goes better as far as the body work stuff....

[Luva65wagon]

Body work? What's that?

I've decided to just paint fake rips and tears into it and call it good. Maybe have something living poking its head through the tears - eating a Chevy or something.

And yeah... you can come by any.... time.... to grab this stuff before it sinks into the ground any further.

And that reminds me - I need to contact Dave. Need to get the 62 headlight doors he found to go with the 62 grill I got from him.

[Luva65wagon]

... here's where I am today. All the wiring is done. I have a couple connections under the dash to connect when I hook up the heater, and then I'll stick a battery in it, put some gas in the tank, and see what happens. Probably do that over the long weekend.

Gene stopped by yesterday after visiting with Pat at his place for a while and we got the floor deadening sheets in and the carpet shoved in. Tonight I trimmed the front half and burned all the holes for the seat bolts. Will do the back half later. I need to look at making mounts for the center console before I get too carried away with that.

[BillP 98201]

Looks great Roger glad that the carpet is black ...... red carpet would be WAY to bright...lol

[Luva65wagon]

Yeah, I looked at the interior on a lot of cars and they always seem to keep everything the same colors. Lots of the same colors.

I opted, since it is intended to be a driver (yes, that is still the intention) to go with darker colors on the carpet, door panels, dash pad, etc. The seats are red though as is the paint and headliner. So red high, black low. Should be interesting to see in the next few days as it continues to go together (quickly). 4-day weekend will help.

[Luva65wagon]

The forum is pretty slow these days - so I'll post a couple pictures. Some may look like repeats, but there are differences.

I have all the wiring done and got the dash installed, but found I had to have the dash pad installed first, so did that today. I should be able to put some water in the block, gas in the tank, cross my fingers and toes, and see if I can get it running. That will be my goal for Monday. I'll check all the wiring at the same time.

Wish me luck.

[BillP 98201]

You do great work! It looks very nice. Alot better than it looked when you pulled it in there

[doghows]

I like it Roger, look fantastic. No one would believe that is the same car you guys joy rode from my place back to Seattle. I hope you enjoy the heck out of it. You deserve it after all that hard work. Let us know how it runs!!!

[Luva65wagon]

It's running again as of Monday and seems to run well. Its using the stock Duraspark II bits and after a quick 180 degree dizzy reversal and a starter rebuild - it fired right up. Have some pics, but need to transfer them.

I'm now working on the doors because I need to have them in to move it outside. And secure it. Called Steve last night. Could use a blaster on some of that.

[doghows]

Consider it done; See you this afternoon.

Roger just left the shop with his newly sandblasted parts. Look for new updated pics and hopefully out of the garage by Sunday!!!

[Luva65wagon]

Look for new updated pics and hopefully out of the garage by Sunday!!!

I may get the doors out of the garage by Sunday. I will say what you did will speed me up getting it out. I have already welded up the holes and splits and cracks on the one which had the loose window frame. I took the one with the bashed in door handle (had about 1/2" thick bondo under the handle) and hammer and dolly'd that until it's currently less than 1/16" dip anywhere. It's really hard to get the dolly on one side and the hammer in the other... without having arms another foot longer.

Here are a few pictures from the past few days.

[Luva65wagon]

And today's efforts.

[BillP 98201]

U r fast!!!!!

[Luva65wagon]

Had a trade show last week to go to in Vegas, so after blasting the doors at Steve's shop on Friday just over a week ago, I was able to do some damage repair on the drivers door (hinge must have failed and they tried to slam the door). I then primed the doors and painted the jambs before I left. I returned Saturday and worked some that night and Sunday to fix a dent on the passenger (inside, upper painted area). Sprayed the red late Sunday night.

I took this week off, so I started to put on the doors Monday afternoon. Drivers side took all of 10 minutes. I was going to call Gene, but I was able to just set them in the opening and use a bungy cord to hold it in place while I walked around to the other side and climbed through to put bolts in. The passenger side... well, that was a different story.

If you read a few hundred post back you'll see where I had to repair the lower section where the hinges bolt on, and there was apparent damage to the dash. Kenny and I noted that sitting on the ferry driving it home. In essence, the opening was smaller than the door - now. So I had this painted door and a hole for it that wouldn't accept it. So... out came the hammers.

Suffice it to say, I have the door in, and will have to do some paint touch-up. Not too bad. Considering. I got the latches in today and they open and shut nicely.

The front wing windows are all rebuilt and ready to install. Those puny rivets for the rear wing seal were a pain. Could not find the tool for less than $130, though NPD listed it for $30. They were "not available." Had to drill the rivets deeper for them to work right.

So, there you go. I canceled my storage garage for my wagon for the first of October. So, the race is on to get it into the carport within 10 days.

[BadBird]

This is looking really really good. But, I didn't expect anything else from you. Amazing the progress you seem to make in a short amount of time. Badbird