Posts Tagged ‘Diamond T trick’

Kim approves the proposed color for her Riviera!

Kim approves the proposed color for her Riviera!

My wife Kim and I visited the Gilmore Car Museum (practically in our backyard) last week, where I showed her their beautiful original ’63 Riv, in the light silver blue I’d envisioned our (OK, HER) own Riviera, and she approved.  Now, the push is on to get both it, and the ’59 T’bird done and ready for paint when the weather warms up.

To that end, I made a trip to the nearby village of Plainwell, where there’s a Do-It-Yourself media blast business.  For 20 bucks, I blasted all the front suspension bits, brought them home and got them painted.  I made a rather ingenious (I think) paint rack of two step ladders and my extension ladder, to hang parts from, it worked very well.

While the paint, rattle can enamel from Tractor Supply, dried, I pulled the front bumper off the T’bird, tack welded a small tear in the seam where the left front fender meets the filler panel between hood and bumper, hammer and dollied a few little ripples in that panel where it meets the bumper, and got a thin coat of reinforced filler on the panel.  Tomorrow, I’ll finish that, do the final work on the front bumper, the quarter panels behind the wheel wells, and the body work on that will be DONE!  Feels good.

Primed.

Primed.

Glossy black!

Glossy black!

We also made a decision about our fleet of cars, we’re going to thin the herd.  It’s tough to part with anything (and of course it’s not sold yet), but we’re going to try to sell the Diamond T 201.  I want to rehab the ’48 Pontiac convert (seen in the above photos) that’s been languishing in the garage too long, set aside from money for our rapidly approaching retirement, and finance my planned ’27 Ford roadster project.  We’ll see what happens…

Lets see if this photo ends up shared as much as the wagon and Spartan!

Lets see if this photo ends up shared as much as the wagon and Spartan!

It was a darkened stormy night at the RV Heritage Museum in Elkhart, IN.

20130625-194758.jpg Thinking ou friends were outside rocking the trailer to scare me, I looked out yje window and saw them all standing in front of John Culp’s trailer.

20130625-195031.jpg

Turned out, it Was a thunderstorm with severe winds rocking the trailer! We took shelter in the museum, had a nice supper and viewed the trailers. It was great fun…

20130625-200032.jpg

20130625-200104.jpg
Morning dawned overcast with threatening skies. Kim and I, Sandy and Helen, Nd Mike and Courtney went to breakfast, the headed to Mike’s shop to (hopefully) fix a leaky door in the Spartan. Brian and Matt were already there having their generator repaired. Thanks to Mike Greene’s generosity, we’re all back on the road again!

20130625-200555.jpg
We all took I-80 from Mike’s place to Geneva IL, which turned out to be a very good decision. We arrived with no stress, while everybody who took Rt. 30 arrived late, hot, and a bit frustrated! The great pot-luck supper smoothed over any still ruffled feathers, we’re all ready for another day of travel tomorrow through Iowa.

20130625-201029.jpg

PS, forgive the typo’s, I’m using our IPad, and unaccustomed to typing on a touch screen….