Monsoon Season and Avoiding the WuFlu

I hope everyone has successfully avoided a visit from the nasty pandemic virus. So far, no one I know has been hit by it, but it struck a local nursing home and a resident facility for the mentally challenged. There are multiple cases in both places and the entire county is now under stay-home orders.

We had already been voluntarily staying home for two weeks and I thought I'd be able to find a lot of time to work on the car, but no such luck. I got back to work preparing the remaining sheet metal for paint, but it only lasted a day or two until heavy rains pounded the area for the better part of a week. My gauge registered over five inches in a three-day period and eventually totaled over seven inches in a week, so much of my yard is still under water and I can't even cut the grass, and boy does it need cutting! .Of course, the horrible humidity put a stop to body work, and the latest forecast doesn't look encouraging until several days into April.

When the rain finally quit and brisk winds dried out the air somewhat, I got back to sanding and priming but non-essential stores have been ordered to close due to the virus, and I needed some like 80-grit sandpaper and spot putty. With no local source to buy from, I had to order online. Amazon Prime has always been good about getting things to me in a very short time, but then I discovered that they were delaying shipment of things they deemed to be non-essential.  The day I placed the order, they said everything would be here within 48 hours, but when the order didn't arrive by the time quoted, I was notified that it would be another two days. It actually took a week, so there was very little body work going on.

I did manage to get the rear gravel shields ready for paint, and the front one is getting close, so I guess I'm one step closer to having the exterior parts all one color.

Back to Body Work

A brief return of summerlike weather arrived late last week, so I took advantage of temperatures in the 70s and 80's to accomplish some body work in preparation for priming and painting. The doors had already been primed with etching primer, but the fenders were still in need of  body filler and spot putty. Everything went quite well, so I was able to finish the driver's side fender and apply a coat of etching primer.

The passenger side fender still needs some Bondo and putty work, but I did get the bare metal sanded, treated with rust killer, and a coat of etching primer applied. One more nice day, and except for the hood I should have the remaining sheet metal ready for high-build primer. It won't take much sanding on the doors and the driver's side fender, but there is pitting on the one fender so it will probably need multiple coats of primer and quite a bit of sanding. At least I should have the rest of the front half sheet metal ready for painting by the time it gets nice and warm in late April or May.

Since the car has become too heavy for me to move it in and out of the garage alone, I'll see if I can set up a temporary paint booth inside. It shouldn't be a problem making an enclosure by draping plastic, but I'll have to see what I can do about ventilation. If we get a couple of windless mornings that are warm enough to paint, I can make a three-sided enclosure and leave the door-side open, but even without the usual spring storms, days are often windy here on the North Texas prairie. I always try to paint before 9:00 am.  I hope I can complete painting the exterior this spring so I can install the door glass and work on the interior. That's the type of work I really enjoy.

Custom Antenna Bases

With the arrival of spring weather, I'm not getting much play time. About all I've been able to accomplish is making custom antenna bases for the fin-mounted duals. They are not like the OEM parts, but it looks as if they will work okay. I tried them out on my parts car and they look okay, even if they are not as stylish as the real '56 parts.

It tool about eight hours to make the two parts, and all I have left to do is polish the ABS plastic on my buffer.

The ABS rod was the perfect diameter and it was nice to work with, even without real machine tools.  There are probably higher quality universal antennas to be had for a little more money, but like so many things I've chosen to make, they'll be good enough for my daily driver faux-Fury.

I suppose I should be concentrating on larger restoration tasks, but it's been too cold to paint and I'm busy with another one of my wife's studio projects, but warmer weather is on the way, so I'm sure that will give me more enthusiasm to put in longer hours.