The Old Car Bug Hits
Dad must have sensed my enthusiasm in old cars after the dirt track incident and took the opportunity to nurture my interest in automobiles. He brought me along to an "old car show" to see his uncle who was showing a 1931 Pontiac. I remember that show vividly, because after that I began my prodding dad to bring the '31 home. Once I turned 16, dad let me drag the old Chevy out of the barn once more and begin working on it. I don't think he had much to lose in letting me do what I wanted on the car since by this time in was in pretty sad shape. Most of the wood was rotted, interior was mice infested, and a whole lot of rust.
Let The Restoration Begin...
I enjoyed taking my time to disassemble the car, taking note of the detailing of its construction. I even elicited the help of a couple of by Boy Scout buddies in the process, unfortunately we could not apply our efforts towards a merit badge. Building or putting things together was my hobby as a kid so this was just one big model to me � only in reverse order.
Having totally disassemble the car and stripped the paint from the body, I was ready to remove the body from the frame. My father and I constructed 2 ten foot high wooden "A" framed members with a heavy cross bar above that was used to lift the body. With most of the wood rotted, there wasn't much there holding the sheet metal together. Not being able to find a wood kit for the car in 1976 as you can now, I proceeded with what knowledge I had from my high school shop class to fabricate new frame sills and doorposts from a pile of kiln dried oak. After 3 months of cutting, fitting, (and burning up dad's good Craftsman saber saw), I was able to get all the wood fitted into the body as before.
I worked on and off between the body and the rolling frame so by the time the woodwork was completed on the body, the frame was also completed. Unfortunately, at that time I did not attend to some of the mechanical details such as rear bearings and seals since I was more interested in getting the car back together. At this point, my free time was getting more limited since I was beginning my college studies, so the car was sent to a bodyshop operated by a member of our AACA chapter to attend to the sheet metal work and painting..
Due to scheduling in the body shop, the car was out of my care for over a year. Although I missed the car, it worked out for the best since it allowed me the opportunity to work on researching details of the car and to run down other needed parts. Hershey in the mid 70's introduced me to the newfound joy of carrying fenders, new tires and other treasures through mud over once sneakers for what seemed miles to the camper. What fun it was! |
