Today was a big day for the LeBaron.
The car was outside in Marin since 1976 and is nearly
rot-free, but the paint had oxidized through to bare metal
and had really severe surface rust on all horizontal
surfaces. I have just completed using a borrowed
sandblaster to sweep the layer of rust off of the car,
pound out most of the dents, and use Eastwood corrloess as
a base coat on the exposed, de-rusted metal.
The eastwood people told me that the corroless was safe to
leave outside once applied, but the car thought otherwise
and had developed some really superficial "measels" where
the dew had set on the car during the last 2 weeks. This
makes me worry that just sealing the car with correless,
primer and then paint might not cure the rust ills, but I'm
doing this myself and don't want to spend money on a pro,
so we'll see how well the corroless holds up. I re-blasted
the bad areas and applied 3 coats this time just to be
certain.
I like doing body work just enough that if things go wrong
a few years down the line with the paint that I can pay a
pro to take it back down to metal and do it correctly, but
am hoping that the corroless will be the magic bullet that
it claims to be. If it isn't, I'll be the one to give
proof of it.
After this, the car was scooped up by a buddy's tow truck
and deposited gently in the garage. This is the first time
that the car has been inside in at least 25 years, so I
hope that it is enjoying itself in my garage.
I am hoping that the neighbors are issuing a collective
sigh of relief. I had thought that I read the fine print
in the homeowner's association about my hobby, but got a
polite letter saying that cars that are inoperable or
unregistered may not be parked in front of the house. Mine
is neither. Fortunately, I was given 15 days, and I needed
2 weekends to complete my work.
I thought about spite, as I do have an "operable" and
registered 1960 on the side yard that is even more hideous
looking than the project car, but have decided not to spit
into the wind and leave it out of sight.
Now that most of the prep work that I am capable of doing
is done, I will turn my attention to new brake lines,
installing brakes, and tidying up the under carriage and
doing the front-end.
I expect this to take the next few months, as I have to
spend energy on the house and other things in life, but am
quite satisfied with myself for passing this milestone. I
am hoping to be driving the car by next October.
Still left:
Chrome
Interior & steering wheel re-do
Drivetrain
Paint it myself if I can
weatherstripping
Remove all the darned lead out of the rear window insert
and redo with all-metal/kittyhair/welding
At least bodywork, exhaust, and frame detailing is done.
More as I progress.
I am taking pictures, but want to publish once I get more
completed.
=====
Kenyon Wills
6o LeBaron - America's Most Carefully Built Car
73 LeBaron - Long Low & Luxurious
San Lorenzo/SF Bay Area
__________________________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! News - Today's headlines
http://news.yahoo.com
Back to the Home of the Forward Look Network