Bittersweet day today
 

Sold my 68 Malibu project today with all the amassed parts to a guy that plans to restore it .Hated to see it go but now I can start making my 72 Chevy truck the way I want it. One more to sell (55 Chevy) and I will be happier to have plenty of space again in my shop to work. Just not enough room or money to keep all six.I hope the new owner is better to her than I was.

Glad to hear, I think! Good luck with the truck.

Yes ,it was goood to let her go knowing it will be fixed and giving me the cash to make my truck presentable .Its all good in the end and now I have some room to move in my shop with the Malibu and parts car out of my shop.

It is so hard to give up one of our babies. But just think, it was adopted by someone who will take good care of her. And bonus, now you have a few extra bucks to work on your truck. I can't wait to see some pics.

Always more projects to move onto. Glad to hear you can fix up your truck.

Ray

I am getting a list of rust repair panels together and looking for a crate motor .My goal at present is to get rid of all the rust first. But while the front clip is apart might as well put in a new motor.The current one leaks more oil than it burns but has too much cam to suit me.I prefer to start with a new one and know what I have. May not be able to paint til later but thats OK . When we get started I will have to get one of ya'll to post pics .I hope this truck will be my last project .If my 55 sells I will be down to 4 classic cars which is more than plenty to keep up.

flash, you and the Mrs. live for those cars. I can see all the work that you have put into each and every car, even with the moans and groans along the way, are all labors of love for you two.

You have beautiful vehicles and I can't wait to see what you are going to do with your truck. And, you know me, I can't wait to see the pics.

It is very hard to part with them as you know Joan names them all ,they are our children .But I finally decided its better to adopt them out so they are cared for and enjoyed by others .One more to go someday and things will be much easier as far as upkeep and insurance goes. We do love our cars but its our friends weve made along the ride that matters most .And that includes everyone here whether we have met face to face or just over the keyboard.

Im almost ready to start ordering rust repair panels ,may just take the old motor out and replace cam and put in new gaskets and be good with the motor. Save that money toward paint .

You got more cars than we have dogs. I don't think you will miss one,unless it was your favorite.

Gary ,they are all our favorite but Im glad it went to someone thats got the time and energy to fix it with.

I made a tough decision today and called the shop that had started working on taking my truck apart for rust repairs and told him to stop work on it. I will be sending a rollback after it and taking it elsewhere as I decided I had better options at another shop. The current shop kept changing prices after the fact so Im cutting my losses and starting over with the shop that restored our vert.

Sorry to hear that you have to change shops flash. I take it you have talked with shop #2 about your expectations. Why didn't you go with them first ?

They were extremely busy(shop #2 ) and the shop that has it currently is experienced with old Chevy trucks and I thought I would give them a chance .Shop #2 is where I had wanted it all along and I should have waited on them to work it in. It will be in good hands soon and the vert is almost ready to come home.

One comes out as another one goes in. Sounds like the classic car game. :)

Got to visit my truck the other day ,no progress yet but it will get there soon enough .

Yeah and I bet he wondered why you don't call everyday.

I got to visit my truck again yesterday or what there is left of it. My shop called and wanted me to bring the trailer and get some stuff they wont be reusing out of their way. They are making good progress .The bed is sandblasted and ready for repairs to start on it.Thr front fenders are also blasted and being repaired. The cab is being gutted ,rocker panels have been cut out .The shop owner informed me he is taking it off the frame in order to make the frame look purty (his words) .He is going to pull the engine and trans next week and has someone lined up to change out the cam and replace all the gaskets throughout ,something about my old truck bleeding all over his shop floor seems to bother him. We were discussing how it should be finished and I suggested he build it as if it were his own and with a shiteating grin he said I was going to anyway .Man Im proud I changed shops .

Any pictures?

I didnt think of taking pictures but it aint pretty ,Ill get some next week if someone will post them.

I guess I never did get pictures to show you guys ,well it hasnt changed much so next time Im up there I will get some pics and get Ms Grumpy to post them for me.

Well I did finally get some pics and Joan will send them to Ms Grumpy when she gets time during one of her breaks .

Here you go flash.

and more...

Thanks Ms Grumpy ,it aint pretty ......................................YET .

Going to be one very nice 72 pickup.:banana:

It will be very nice someday ,hopefully soon.

Stopped by the bodyshop today ,nothing else happening yet .Their insurance work is getting slower and the old 49 Ford truck (chevy powered) they are restoring is moving along pretty good so it should be going again soon.

Well ,still nothing happening with my truck .Its still in its opposing corners and scattered about the shop. Maybe by next fall it will come together ,Im going to spend some of the shops money on a complete new Heat and A/C system when I figure out who to order it from. I assembled the new grill with help of one of our boys just to put it back in the box when we were finished .

That's why they call it body shop jail. Always take for ever to get them back out.

I hear you on Body Shop Jail ,but they are going to install the new A/C for basicly nothing if I help take out the old heater system.

I visited the bodyshop on Monday to check on an idea of mine(brainfart) and the old truck has not changed since the last visit. Im going to try to go up saturday and take the old heater system out .

This is certainly a "labor of love" for you.

I miss my old ugly truck really bad.

I went up to the bodyshop today and spent some quality time with whats left of my truck taking the rest of the cab apart. I took the complete heater system out ,firewall pad out in pieces ,permanently removed the radio antenna so the hole can be welded up and no more leaky,took the windshield and back glass out as well as the new dash pad ,removed the wiring harness and fuseblock .Now the old girl's cab is ready to be partially sandblasted to remove the rest of the rust and surgery can hopefully start again soon .Now to get rid of some more parts I wont be needing .

I wouldn't get rid of any parts until you put it back together.Once assembled,I would think any unused or extra pieces would then go up for sale.

The original heater wont be reused as Im putting Vintage Air in and the old back window is being replaced with a new one already in my possession.

Well the old truck is still in limbo for now but it will have its turn. When I took the fuse block and wiring harness out I found a fire just waiting to happen with the old mangled harness so I ordered a new Painless wiring harness .I dont know why they call it Painless cause it hurt a lot just to pay for that thing ,it should be gold coated. Then when the wiring harness arrived the fuse block was broken even though the box showed no damage. They told me it would take 3-4 weeks to send me out another one as they had to receive and process the original one before they would release another one so I e mailed them and cancelled the order at return. I have since found another harness from EZ Wire that costs almost half as much and has more features so that will help me save toward a fancy new Tach Dash cluster for the old ugly truck. I keep adding things to do to the old rig including spraying bed liner inside the cab on the floor up to the top of the fire wall. That should make for a quiter ride and can be sprayed out with a hose when it needs it.

Flash it seems like it is one step forward, two steps back. Is there a step on the side of the truck ? (Couldn't resist)

It will get there.

Flash you will get there. Always something when doing a project. Looking forward to seeing it some day.

Ray