No new news on the 'Stang

Dan has been busy playing handyman around the house lately. The oldest daughter tried to pull the towel rack out of the wall in the main bath upstairs so he had to replace part of the wall. Since he was replacing part of the wall, he decided he would not only paint that bathroom but the other two as well. They all look great! It's amazing how the same color in each bathroom can look so different with the different decorating themes.

the Welder's fashion

Yeah, these are a tadbit old (from the beginning of the month) but still fun. Dan came in to check the time or when the next meal was still decked out in his fashionable welding gear :)

Veteran's Day weekend

Dan had a long weekend and with Grandma H. here to entertain the girls, he was able to spend quite abit of time with his project car. Most of it was spent sand blasting to remove rust so that he could begin welding on the driver's side. He was able to get one key piece up, not without a lot of frustration due to generic cutting and other issues. I didn't get pictures--sorry.

Plasma Cutter

So Dan rented a plasma cutter and made lots of progress cutting out rusted metal parts that he will be replacing. I neglected to take pictures this weekend while he was working and then the silly machine stopped working. He returned it this morning and the button was worn out. When they get a replacement button installed, they will call him so that he can do some more work.

Meanwhile, he is going to do more of the prep work that he decided he probably should have done before getting the plasma cutter. Experience is a phenomenal teacher--especially on a project like this.

I personally would be quite intimidated by a project like this and be unable to move forward due to the intimidation factor. Dan has small episodes of feeling overwhelmed but then is able to break down the large tasks into manageable smaller tasks and get to work. I find that truly amazing.

1965 Coupe

Here are promised pictures of the 1965 Mustang Coupe, they aren't the best pictures, but I actually remembered while I was outside taking the pictures for the previous posts :)

in the GARAGE!?!?!

My mother would be so proud of Dan today, not only did he formulate an attack plan, he cleaned the garage enough to literally squeeze the convertible inside!!!



Dan says he needs a bigger garage. I guess for the time being he is stuck with what we have :)

Out of Hiding

Yes, the convertible came out of hiding today... this signifies that the main demolition (the truly messy part) is supposedly over now :) Now on to welding....

Bare bones

So this is part of the basic structure of a car. Now, Dan just needs to weld these pieces together and insert them where they go under the car.

Sounds easy, right? Yeah well, unfortunately it is not that easy. Since some of the parts that are still on the car that also need to be welded to this skeleton of a framework, it has to be welded bit by bit after removing the rusted out remains of what he is replacing.

Needless to say, this is not necessarily a good project to do on the current terrain. So the rest of the day, Dan is cleaning out his garage so that the true welding and assembly can take place on a flat, sturdy surface.

Demolition Day 1

Demolition Day 1--narrative

Oct 4, 2008 was the first day of demolition. Mind you, we have had this creation sitting in our yard since June. Dan has an amazing eye for classic cars--he spotted this 1965 Mustang convertible behind a house in a yard off the highway as we were traveling down to his brother's house. It took over 3 months to get all the arrangements made to purchase it. There was no known title anymore, so a title had to be created and in order for that to happen, it had to be appraised. Dan had lots of "leg work" to do to finally get his convertible. It really doesn't look like much now--but he has great plans.



Right now, he has a working 1965 Mustang coupe (will get pictures up later) and when the convertible is ready for it, he plans to take the engine and transmission out of the coupe and put it in the convertible.



Yesterday, Dan made a parts run to northwestern Virginia to get body parts for the car. This weekend we will spray them with a protective coating to prevent rusting.