The day I brought her home... November 3, 2008. After a brief interlude on the side of the road while my friend and I went and found new brushes for the dynamo, she did finally make the 1.5 hour drive back to my place.
She had a few blemishes and mechanical things to sort out, but it was very original (I bought it from the second owner, who was the grand-daughter of the original owner).
For the first year, I just fixed the essentails (brake master cyl, two ball joints...) and drove the snot out of it...including on our maiden "Spring Thaw" tour that my friend and I organize each year.
Fast-forwarding to the fun bits... In October 2009 I started the teardown, and I had the shell ready for stripping in January 2010. I decided to take it for a chemical bath and get it right down to bare metal with no rust. This was going to be the big test of how bad (or good) the shell really was! Turns out it was a pretty tidy little car, with only the usual areas around the a-panels, scuttle, and sills that needed attention (and a few other spots that would turn up later!)
A week later....
First order of business was getting a coat of primer on the car to prevent the bare shell from rusting. I decided to build a make-shift paint booth in my garage. I won't be doing this again any time soon! As you can see though, with some fans and furnace filters, we were able to get some serious airflow and positive pressure built up in the "booth"! The plastic walls inflated into a bubble!
More to come...
