This posting is one in a series. If you have not yet read the earlier postings in the series, you’ll need to, as this posting won’t make much sense without having done so! Just do a search using the word “SLURP”.
In my last posting, I described how Red got completely undressed in preparation for painting.
Last night, we received the transmission that had been waiting for us for several days, loaded and dispatched Red’s body parts for bodywork and painting, and took a good look at our most obvious technical issue. As a result, this posting turns out to be all about the value of expertise and experience.
The evening began with David Horner from Restoration Specialties bringing over his trailer to collect Red’s body parts. Incredibly enough, he talked his patient wife, Michele, into accompanying him on this “small errand”. He was joined minutes later by Randy Peurifoy.
The next 90 minutes or so were a superb and information-dense experience for me, as I watched and listened as two lifelong pros in the business of designing, building, restoring, and finishing custom vehicles almost casually executed a meticulous loading/packing job while at the same time continuing a running conversation about things to consider doing – things I hadn’t even thought of yet. Between running the Deere tractor and taking photos where I could, I didn’t have much time to write down much of what they discussed, but it pretty much “filled my head”.
Here they are after gently guiding red’s cab past the trailer fender onto the trailer deck:
http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh16/JimGnitecki/Valueofexpertiseandexperience001loa.jpgAnd here’s one of the multiple planning discussions that took place:
http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh16/JimGnitecki/Valueofexpertiseandexperience002loa.jpgGetting closer:
http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh16/JimGnitecki/Valueofexpertiseandexperience003loa.jpgJust about ready to go:
http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh16/JimGnitecki/Valueofexpertiseandexperience004loa.jpgJust a short SAMPLING of what they managed to cover while loading the parts:
- Elimination of excess firewall holes
- potentially integrating the tachometer into a “looks original” instrument pod
- Reversing the speedometer and instrument pods (same diameter) so that the column shift lever no longer obscures the speedometer (factory GM design error for automatic 55s)
- Removing the ugly joint and center strip from the hood
- Recognizing that the hood was in fact from an earlier model (55s didn’t have either center strip or the Chevy front emblem)
- Noting that this is probably the reason the core support was cut at the top (to allow fitment of the incorrect hood)
- Showing me that replacing the entire dash panel with the spare I have is actually easier than using parts off the spare to repair the butchered one in the cab right now
- Agreeing that the fancy but inappropriate “bird” hood ornament will make a fine addition to David’s trophy wall
- Marveling at the fact that activation of the parking brakes uses a SOLID STEEL cross-chassis bar mechanism that weighs 12 ½ pounds! (I weighed it)
- Noting that the factory tint on Red’s windshield and side windows is both perfect and also perfectly matched
- Laughing at my fear that removing the ugly aftermarket tint in the corner windows and rear window will be difficult and messy (David has “ways” of doing this, and says the tint shops have a vested interest in making it sound unattractive for owners to do themselves!)
- Verifying that the back exterior of the cab, obscured by the cargo box, had NEVER once even been repainted, despite the incredible number of recoats, in multiple different colors, everywhere else (the back of the cab was still the factory forest green standard color)
- Agreeing that overall the bodywork is in fairly marvelous condition, with the only corrosion problem areas being where the heater core leak was allowed to exist long enough to attack the floor, and where driver’s wet boots left water in front of the pedals that was too many times not properly cleaned up
- Agreeing that the original ranch owners must have REALLY liked communication (versus music) radios, as they appear to have had 3 or maybe 4 of them – probably why the dash was so modified, and why there are 4 antenna holes in the body!
- Pretty much convincing me that the best way to protect the fender paint from chipping via stones tossed up from the INSIDE was to coat the insides of the fenders with a really neat truck bed material that was on the pickup truck that David used to pull the trailer last evening – looks REALLY nice, and not very heavy in weight.
- David offering to bend back the firewall for more engine clearance, if we want him to (he does it quite commonly on street rods versus faithful restorations in order to enable easier and more optimal installation of the drivetrain)
If my memory were better, I could go on for pages . . .
Heck, they started talking at one point about the restorations and repairs they had each done on Packard Caribbean cars! For those who do not know, those Packard models were super low volume vehicles, with only a few hundred being produced each year for maybe 4 years or so in the early 50s. They were pretty fancy, and are now of course exceedingly rare and priced well into six figures if restored. One brought to David had been squatter-settled by a family of mice, who had moved up the exhaust system right into condominiums within the engine cylinders (big straight 8). David recalled that you started it by depressing the clutch and partially pushing the accelerator – no starter button. When he did so, he got a shop full of mouse droppings out the exhaust! Randy had been tasked with restoring the torsion bar air suspension on another one (yes, you read that correctly: torsion bar air). This was sort of like two guys who both played in Super Bowl games getting together to casually discuss game highlights . . .
Continued . . .
