So the mini van alternative i.e. my Suburban got her beauty treatment started this last Saturday. It's a 58 black plate CA Burb, so it's has the mandatory sun burnt surface rust patina from way to many hours under the sun in the central valley. According to the papers I found in here shes been there her whole life (got a parking permit from 1960 stuck under the head liner).
Anyways her is the pics how she looked before I started..
Before treatment front Before treatment front 2 Tailgate before treatment Yes she is the one with the missing parts from the tailgate
and yes she also don't have the second or third row of seats.. I intend to make the seats from VW bus (Split screen/Baywindow) since they also have 2/3 and 3/3 seats/benches that looks vintage.. Beside if I find seats I can always change so please don't kill me..
Started with the frontend, most fun since you see some result quickly.
Front apart The fenders are as you can see from the pics below in very good condition, just a tiny speck of rust on the passenger side one. Hehe the mini is really tiny
compared to the chevy fenders..
Mini fenders Inner fenders Headlight door The window frame and cowl are also in really good condition so very happy. So far if you exclude the tailgate only four nasty stuff has surfaced, door pillar lower inside and a some in the bottom of the front doors where the holes for the weather stipping clips are. It's very minor and I only sheared two bolts so far so it's looking good..
Windshield frame and cowl Don't know if it's the original engine but it's a 58-61 283 according to the casting number (3756519), so at least it's from the right time frame and not a 350 from 1985
.
Casting numbers Maybe someone can recognize the heat shields under the exhaust manifolds?
Heat shields Somebody must have fixed the passenger side jump seat, but I'm happy they did and didn't junk it, now at least I have both driver and passnger seat all original less the fix of course..
Jump seat Burbly Dyna...
PS: Yes I'm still hunting tail gate parts!! or panel doors if I can find a affordable way of shipping them...
