Alan, what a bummer. Kids now a days don't realize how good they have it. I have 6 kids, 3 grown and moved on, 3 still at home. Each one of them have their strengths and weaknesses and it is so disappointing, as a parent, when they mess up. I do think that sometimes Tough love is harder on us. But good for you in sticking by your guns so that she learns there are consequences to their actions. And, unfortunately, this is a big one.

This won't be your last disappointment Alan. Kids want to experiment and they think they know it all. Don't go too hard on her, see if she is willing to work with you so you both get what you want. Teenagers can be real trying, raised 2, plenty of disappointments but they both turned out pretty good and I'm proud of both of them. Just something you have to work through, too bad there's no handbook to tell you how to deal with all the things that will come up.

It's funny. I said I wanted a girl because I didn't want another "me" running around. These girls are the polar opposite of me. I guess I got what I asked for. I'm sure Cora will get another chance at a car. Next time, ..she'll have to work just a little bit harder for it, though. I keep hoping one day soon everything will "click" and she starts kicking it in gear a little harder. I have no doubt Kasie, our middle girl, will do fine. She tries harder at things than I ever did. The youngest is 8. She's always off in her own little world. I hope I can real her in before it becomes a problem.

She will come around, I have 3 and the oldest one gave me a run for my money and he is now 27 and I could not be prouder of him as it took him a while to fiqure out that bucking the system is a no win situation. Good job sticking to your guns on the car as I know it is hard on us to do than it is on the kids sometime. Chin up and keep up the good parenting.

Well said.

I got some rust repair done on the Bel Air.

Look at the eyebrows and around the headlights. They're actually MUCH worse than they look. Someone did some shoddy patch work before. I had to cut out all the garbage and weld in new metal.

http://i129.photobucket.com/albums/p...1BelAir005.jpg

http://i129.photobucket.com/albums/p...1BelAir001.jpg

http://i129.photobucket.com/albums/p...ke68/008-1.jpg

I didn't get any in progress shots, but here it is done. Keep in mind there is NO plastic on these yet. This is just the raw metal work.

http://i129.photobucket.com/albums/p...trepair001.jpg

http://i129.photobucket.com/albums/p...trepair002.jpg

http://i129.photobucket.com/albums/p...trepair003.jpg

...and the driver's side. While this side looked better, it was MUCH worse. Check what was used to back up the inside of the fender so all the fiberglass resin didn't leak through.

http://i129.photobucket.com/albums/p...trepair004.jpg

Here it is done. The section under the eyebrow was completely gone. I had to rebuild the entire front 5" of the fender.

http://i129.photobucket.com/albums/p...trepair007.jpg

http://i129.photobucket.com/albums/p...trepair006.jpg

http://i129.photobucket.com/albums/p...trepair005.jpg

..and the headlight assemblies fit beautifully, too. On to the fender bottoms and quarter panels.

Nice work!

Thanks Carpoor.

More metal work's been done on it. Almost all of the rust is gone now. The more I look at this car, the more I'm impressed with it. It is 100% original! I still have the owner's manual in the glove box, the push button AM radio works and the original spare, bumper jack and tire iron are in the trunk. How cool is that?!

I envision that car with a 348/409 and a super t-10, body color steel wheels with dog dish caps. :D