Lots of things to get done

Recently, we've been trying to get the metal work done on the truck so we can move onto the wagon. The truck needs to be finished so we can push it out of the room and do the skim coat of filler on it. We're running out of time and thus we are working about 12 hours a day, 7 days a week. I've been hammering out the dents and dings in the stainless steal trim and polishing it all up. Some of the pieces were grinded on and incorrectly finished so I had to go over them again, and wet sand the deep scratches out.

The gauge faces finally came back. They're about 98% perfect but there are one or two things I would have done differently if I had more time. Overall, no one is going to notice and they will look wonderful regardless.

One nose cone is in primer, the other is fitted onto the truck body for fender and hood alignment. All the little odds and ends are being completed. Tom is priming and painted just about every day. Merrill has been working on the wagon suspension and finishing up the frame so we can put the body back onto it.

Jeremy is mainly the metalworking guy so he pretty much stays in his room all day and night. Today we were getting a nasty oil can, dent and scratch out of the driver side front fender. We used a stud gun which shrinks the metal a little bit, and you can attach a puller on it and knock out the dent in some cases. We got all the oil cans out of the fender and used large angle iron to support the rest of the dent, to get it smooth again.

AND!!!

Jeremy and I bought a 1954 Ford Mainline Ranch Wagon for $100. We're going to do a modest hot rod restoration of this car and has 2 of them for our shop after I graduate.

AND!!! I went to my first Goodguys show...and I thought it was pretty spectacular to see. I got a lot of ideas for future cars I might restore, ideas for hot rods, and saw just some beautiful rides.

The "Tonka Truck" is looking more like something you drive that has four wheels and an engine. Instead of a hunk of sheet metal.

These are my gauges after "Signs By Tomorrow" heated vinyl and stuck them on the originals. I think they look great! They are even doing the odometer decals. This is something nice for those people out there that restore old gauges that aren't ford and have their own decals. Plus the cost to make three sets of speedo, odometer, amps, fuel, temp and oil faces was only about $200. So its about $12 a gauge.

I'm kind of in love with this new wagon so I had to post a before and after of it. This is obviously the before we washed it picture.