Wilson Gillette - "The Girl From Ipanema"

Still catching up on household chores, so the Fury tribute is on hold for a few days.

I hope you don't mind my posting of another piece of great music performed by a gifted musician. This video is special to me as the performer is an old high school friend. Wilson Gillette was a star basketball player with the New Town Eagles when they were a powerhouse team in North Dakota high school sports. He also excelled in track and football, but I think his musical talent is what his friends will remember him for.

Like many of us, he's now retired to a warmer climate, but he still plays a mean steel. Please take a minute to enjoy the video and notice that Wilson is the sole performer in this rendition, and that he is playing all the accompanying instruments. Yes, he's always had a great sense of humor too.

Do the Twist!

Actually, I'm trying to undo the twist in the right side rocker panels. After checking everything with the information and tools available, I've decided that the approximately 1/4" misalignment was not due to an accident or rust weakened floors and rockers, but is the way it came out of the factory. No lasers, robots, and computer designed assembly jigs in the factories in those days, so there was a lot of hand manipulation to make things fit. I've found other places on the body with copious amounts of brazing to fill gaps and level the mating surfaces of joined panels, so I guess it's make do with what I have.

The goal was to first finish welding the floors and rockers so I could move the car outside to do all the  grinding, but now I first have to install the patch panel so I can tweak the parts to match, and fit check the door before I weld them in permanently. Sort of throws my plan off, but that's okay as it gives me a break by doing something different for a while. I've been a little nervous about this step, but nothing ventured, nothing gained.

Old sheet metal removed, surface rust killed, and difficult to reach surfaces painted with Rust-Oleum. The little Dremel rotary cutter worked slick for this job, but the abrasive discs are expensive and it took two of them to make these cuts.

New panel fit checked and adjusted to eliminate the rocker misalignment.  The bend radius of the outer rocker cap and the patch panel did not match and required some subtle massaging with a hammer.

As noted in an earlier post, the outer rockers are designed to be a cap that fits over the old sheet metal, so when installing them under the patch panel, some modification is required. It may be a few days before I weld this panel in place, as my wife's honey-do list keeps getting longer and the recent rains have the grass growing again.

Summer

Seems like only yesterday that I was delaying work on the car due to nasty, winter weather, but here it is already summer and the hot, muggy afternoons are what make me retreat into my air conditioned office.

I haven't taken any photos recently since all I've been doing is finishing welding the floors and patching small holes, so there really isn't anything to show. Mornings find me on my back under the car, with a welder and hammer, but about two hours is all this old body can take on that concrete floor, and then I have to get back on my feet until I work out the kinks.

While fit checking the outer body patch panels, I found some body misalignment in the right side rocker panel area. I can't see that it ever had collision damage, so I'm guessing the extreme rust on the floors and rockers allowed the body to flex. I think I've got it about fixed, but it's taken a lot of measuring and tweaking to get it there. Before I can weld the outer rocker in place, I'll have to fit check the door.

The welcome rain of the past few days and the accompanying high humidity have caused a bloom of surface rust to appear on all the parts that have yet to be prepped and primed, so I'll have to take of some of that problem before I can finish welding. I'll sure be glad to get the structure complete so I can prime and paint the interior and underbody and not have to fight the surface rust issue.

Now The Hard Work Begins

 I finished forming the last small floor sheet metal parts and they are tacked in place, but I didn't take any pictures at this point. The leather welding shirt arrived, and the gas bottle is refilled, so it's time to get off my butt and crawl under the car. I can now look forward to several days of welding and then I'll roll it out the door so I can grind welds without getting all that dust in the shop.

When I reach a point when my enthusiasm wanes, I look through all my car photos and try to visualize the end results of my loosely organized plan. This photo of an Imperial custom interior is something I'd love to replicate, and it does get me fired up to get to work even if I know it's unrealistic. The color combination would look so good with the Fury exterior colors. Well, I can dream, can't I?

 

 

Quiet Sunday

It's actually raining on this quiet Sunday morning in North Texas and the temperature is a pleasant 68. I'm not planning on doing much today, except relax, read, listen to some good music, and watch the race. The car will wait.

While I have no intention of saying goodbye, and the few English words are the only thing I understand, the two perfectly matched voices in this rendition of a simple melody will be another one of those timeless songs that generations will enjoy.

(Link removed by You Tube)

Another Small Milestone

Except for a couple of small corner patches that have to be formed, the floors and seatback area have patches in place and tack welded.

There were lots of chores to take care of around the house, so I didn't get much shop time this week, but with the wife on vacation, I have two weeks of cool mornings to take advantage of.

Next step is welding the bottom side of the floors, and I'm certain my tired old bones won't take too many hours on my back under the car. I finally broke down and ordered a leather welding shirt, since my last welding trip under the car left a few holes in my tee shirt.