VCCA Home Forums Just BS'ing

got a kinda guilty feeling about the lack of chatter in our chapter so i thought i'd do some BS'ing today and maybe get a little used to posting trivial comments. anyway, today was a banner one for me in that the only F**d on the farm left today with a new owner. i bought the 31 model a panel delivery about 20 years ago, a complete basket case. i tinkered with it the first year it was here, then put it on a back burner up until last year. at that time i concluded the kids would never get rid of it if it were completely disassembled so its been in my shop for the last year or so, going back together. good ridance. now i can concentrate on rebuilding the power top assembly off the 56 vette that i'm about 60% thru its resto. mike

Mike, how appropriate is that during Chevy's 100th year anniversary?

Great Idea! Let the BS'n begin!!!

Mike--sounds like a neat project. I look forward to hearing about the progress. Any pics?

I've been working, as I can on the '46 half ton rebuild. Sometime I'll post the story of how I came to buy her. Anyway, I now have the cab off the frame. Discovered the frame is bent, so now there is some adventure I hadn't planned on.
Engine and tranny have been rebuilt by the PO. I, with help from a buddy have rebuilt the front brakes. Yesterday we started on the rear brakes. Guess what? When new parking brake cables are ordered did you know the clevis ends are not included, nor does the catalog tell you they are needed? So now I've got to keep a look out for UPS---again. Arghhh!!!

One of these days I will get back on to my '56 Corvette. It has only been under restoration for 20+ years. Was hit hard in the front. Had a Corvette fiberglass guy take a mold off an original car and hand layup a single piece front end. Put the bonding strips on it so can't tell it is not all those separate pieces bonded together. It is # 399 so has all that special stuff. Had to find most of it as drive train was gone when I got the car.

chipper: my 56 is vin 566, also an early 56 like yours. i don't envy you having to find the rare oil pan with integral distick(i'm told that the 55-56 trucks used a similar if not identical pan). also difficult to come by are the two-bolt exhasust manifolds.your early 56 would have been equipped with the power top which was manditory on the first 500-600 56's. if ya need parts, let me know and i can possibly dircet you to guys that may have them. btw, there is a fiberglass manufacturer in washinton state that makes excellent front end panels --they are press-molded and i've got one of his clips on my 57. regards,mike

Wow, I love reading about you guys working on the early Vettes!

I remember working on my 69. Everything was a pain in the back. Just about any small project required you to be a contortionist. Unless you can get a small kid to do the work for you!

I can't wait to finish by basement project so I can squeeze back under the dash in my Camaro. Not much room in those things either. I need to work out the under dash wiring so all the dash lights work and to figure out what is wrong with the tic-tach-clock.

Mike,
I so far have decided not to put the power top on the car. Understand that it originally had one. Fortunately found the intake manifold, carburetors, heads, two bolt exhaust manifolds and even the oil pan many years ago when they were only ridiculously priced. I would hate to think what they would cost in today's market.

The body is done and painted so is the frame. Made sure that all the depressions and waves were retained. The door fit is still original too. Fit and finish were definitely not first quality on those cars.

Ray
You have made better progress than me, the 38 has been a 33 year project so far, work, now x wife and more work have all delayed the progress.
While I was at the 2005 JYD tour I nearly bought 2 Camaros, I had the money to buy but realized that getting them home would have broke the bank twice over.
Tony

Tony,
I am enjoying the Camaro more than I thought I would. It looks HOT as my daughter says. Although I still have Vette blood running thru my body the Camaro fills my desire for a street machine. Two of my buddies back in the day had super sports and I loved them back then. Fast, good looking, handled well, and had room for three others.

My plans are to add power front disc brakes and power variable steering. The cost of those two items on the aftermarket is getting costly these days, and of course the time to do the work.

I was a fan of the Junkyard Tours and would look forward to the next episode. Too bad that it looks like they may be cancelled.

if the 56 will be judged by the ncrs guys, you'll be penalized for not having the power top system. they know the first 5-6 hundred 56's were all power tops. if your vin is higher than 6-700, then you'll have to loose the weld nut plate on the trunk floor pan and fill some other holes in the fiberglass that are power top only features. i hate power tops but have to put one on my early 56 to go the ncrs route. merry christmas, mike

I was a member of NCRS years ago but decided that I didn't want to show the car. I will try to restore it so it is as original as practical and if the next owner wants to put it into concurs condition it will not require a major effort only a pile of $$$$$$. I plan on driving mine some day. Using it as an incentive to finish other restorations as it likely will be my last.

The 2 Camaros I was looking at were 88 or 89 model in a sad condition but I was told they both drove and were current registration so could have driven to the container. Both would have needed a lot of $$$ and work. The temptation was nearly to great to ignore just the same.
Where I have the 38 there is a collection of 30 other Chevs (though not mine) mainly 47 to 54 models but there is 1 37 ambulance and 3 or 4 Willys all waiting a lot of attention.
Tony

The '37 ambulance sounds like it would be an interesting project. One of the guys in a local car club recently completed work on a '37 Ford ambulance. It had too much damage to take back to original, but it sure looks nice as a WWII resto-rod. He painted it olive drab color with large Red Crosses and Army insignia. He turns heads whereever he goes.

It is the 2nd 37 ambulance I have seen, the 1st I saw 40 years ago and I know the same person still owns it but doesnt use it anymore.
Tony

In todays news:
Been really busy the past week keeping up with a 6 pound package of trouble. Wife and kids gave me a Chocolate Labrador Retiever puppy for Christmas. Not in my wildest imagination would I have guess that would happen. It's been a hoot, but lots of work, almost like having an infant in the house again. Hoss, his big brother, also a Choc. Lab., isn't too pleased with the writhing dynamo of energy, piddle etc.

Heading out now to the shop to try and get part of the brake job done on the '46. Wife is on duty with the pup for a while.

with the temperature in the 50's here in wewtern md, i spent the day sawing and loading firewood in a couple pickups. felt good gettin out and working with mr stihl.resto of the 56 vet has slowed down a bit, awaiting parts. wife and i leave for the ncrs regional in the Orlando Fla are in a couple weeks--haven't missed this regional since 1982. it used to have the best swap meet but the quantity of original parts has declined significantly in the the last 10-15 years.enough BS for today.mike

Well, in today's news the former 6 lb package of trouble is now nearly 19 lbs. Bear and Hoss have reached an agreement of just who the "top dog" really is. Bear has learned a bunch of commands and is now house broken. The really neat trick, so far, is negotiating the steep ramp I have for the dogs to get into our tornado shelter. He is fearless in jumping on the ramp and walking on down. Hoss on the other hand, has to be coaxed and coaxed. He didn't learn the trick as a puppy. We'll keep our fingers crossed we don't actually need to exercise that trick for real this year.

Lee
Sounds like you Hoss have been busy with the puppy training. Needing to have a tornado shelter let alone using it doesnt sound good to me.
Tony

Been thinning out the stock the past two years since I retired. Sold the 69 GMC SWB Stepside, the Steel Woody and the 32 three window coupe. All went local so I get to see them quite often. Also traded of the 60 El Camino so now I am quite close to having what I want.

I dragged a 1950 3600 pick-up out of the field. We plan on driving it on the St.Louis SST in May. Just began working on it this week. We worked on it 3 days this week. Discovered the Brake drums, brake lines, wheel cylinders, master cylinder, king pins, tie rod ends, emergency brake cables, drag link ends, water pump and radiator need to be replaced. We started the engine yesterday. Compression about 120. Initally we could not get it to start after checking the electrical and fuel system we put in new spark plugs. It started and ran extremely smooth. No spitting, no coughing, no sputtering. Very happy about that. Now we will replace the spark plug wires, distributor cap, coil, points, condenser and rotor. Also between now and May we will get the wheels powder coated and buy new tires. The tires on it hold air, but I think they were last replaced in about 1962. 50 years old and holding air. The back ones are heavy mud tires and probably Ok, but the front ones have splits in the sidewalls. The engine oil, gasoline and antifreeze are very clean and clear. I think we really lucked out on the engine. I know that the farmer that bought this in 1959 could not get the brakes to work after about 1969. He used it during wheat harvest in the 70's, 80's and 90's with no brakes. The grain elevator was a 4 mile drive and they would kill the engine and at the one stop sign to stop.

It is amazing just how bullet proof those old babbitt pounders really are. Hope to see you and the truck in St Louie. It will be an adventure one way or the other. There will be a bunch of help on the tour if needed. I know that several guys go partly to see what they can fix.

All classic car tours need a road service crew of some sort.
Tony

Probably all car tours need a "pit crew". A while back we were on a cruise with the street rod club. One of the super fancy cars had a wheel problem. None of the other fancy cars had carried a jack. Lucky for them the grandapa and "ugly duckling" of the cruise..."Old Blue the '37 vintage Chevy 1/2 ton" never leaves the shop without the basic tools, fluids etc. Want to guess the make of the fancy car? Hint: It has four letters in the name.

Olds?

Nash?