Back in the Saddle

It's amazing how far behind you can get by taking a two week "vacation. When I got home, the yard looked like a parched jungle despite having an automated sprinkler system for much of it. The lawn wasn't too bad, but I've spent a week trying to resuscitate wilted trees and shrubs. Unfortunately, I fear that several will not make it. Besides the heat damage, my Knockout Roses were hit with a virus..."rose rosette"...that's said to be fatal in most cases. No more roses for my yard, even the ones that claim to be disease resistant.

Small jobs are all I've been able to get done when it comes to the car. I had to make some dimensional changes on the seat mounting brackets, but now have the seats placed correctly. I'd like to take the seats in to be reupholstered, but they want the rear seats at the same time and I have yet to start work on them. Since the bench portion will be highly modified, it may be awhile before I get them ready.

After comparing the ivory color I used for the steering wheel column and dash to the exterior color and the fabric, I decided it contained too much yellow to match properly, and it was too shiny. I found a more muted cream color in the paint store book, so I had them mix a pint and add a dab of flattening agent to soften the shine. I should be able to re-paint the steering column this weekend.

The rear seat arm rest panels were in pretty bad shape with rust damage. It took lots of time with a wire wheel and sander to get them ready to re-cover.

Still trying to come up with a period-appearing design for the horn ring and steering wheel center trim, but I'm not satisfied with anything I've tried so far. It's not needed anytime soon, but it's a project I can contemplate when I have only a few minutes at a time.

I ordered Duplicolor, ceramic, silver engine paint online yesterday and it's already been shipped, so maybe I can begin assembling the engine in the next week or two. It would be nice to get some of the big parts out of my way so I can quit stumbling over them.