Pictorial of Five Year Build on RAT1968

[magwakeenercew2jh]

I don't want to bore everybody with my life's story...Or with a bunch of pics that you may have seen before.
So, after putting this build in chronological order to the best I can remember (I'm old), and weeding-out dramatically,
I decided to post about 100 pics to my Smugmug account.

I have to say that I retired in September of 2008. My buddy Mike came to me and asked if I wanted the project he'd
started and wondered if he was going to finish. Let me say that Mike and I (and Jack...later for that) have started and
finished a bunch of projects together, including trucks, cars and motorcycles.

Mike, and his brother Jack, are about the best friends a person could have. Other than saying that, I'll say that we've
given and traded projects, cars, untold parts over the period spanning over 25 years...without keeping score. I'm not going
to get mushy here, but we'd all be lucky to have even ONE friend like either of these guys in my life. And, in these guys,
I have TWO.

Anyway, Mike had done a pristine job on the '71 roller. Including a new power steering set-up, rag joint, diff pumpkin, all
new 4.5/6 ECE drop and associated top-end parts. He'd checked the frame geometry. Mike, Jack, son-in-law Lance and I
delivered the roller, two cabs (71 and 68), a '71 front clip, a bed, and a 350 trans and 350 motor to my son-in-law's home
shop. That was in September of 2008.

Over the next three years, Jack brought me the 2004 Blazer seats as a gift, and Mike and Jack came back from time-to-time
to push and pull (lift cab, bed, front clip, strap the front to clean up the body lines, etc.) . Mike dropped by with a brand new
electric window set up. The good one from ECE...Lance helped drop the motor in, and was a major help with other heavy lifting.
Young grandson Will was there with a good eye for wrenching and a willing helping hand. Granddaughter Allie and daughter
Jessica fed me.

I think it was about two years ago that RAT came home. After a Mike and Jack trailered ride to the spaced out muffler-man
for installation of the twin 40 series Flowmasters. RAT had was now a '68 with a rattle can paint job on the cab, and '71 front clip,
and steel-floored bed.

Mike had been the recipient in a trade of my FJ Cruiser, in which I had installed a very high-end Panasonic stereo/dvd/GPS/sat
radio set-up. He decided to go with something even HIGHER end in the FJ. He said, "...this one's yours...here you go!!!". An OMG
moment, to say the least.

In my driveway, I suffered almost two years of stopping leaks, figuring out relationships between carb and distributor with the
help of a lot of you folks. ...Until, finally, (we all) got it right.

Until early June. An upcoming local (for fun) car show in Coarsegold made me spend $60 for matte black Trailer Supply paint.
I sprayed it in the driveway. Mostly, just to even out the rattle can job before the show.

At the show, Painter Lee came up and made Irene and me an offer we couldn't refuse. So, we decided to bury ourselves even deeper
in the Mercedes Palladium Silver Metallic (792).... Don't the math. Unhealthy.

This is my second 67-72 Chevy. I love it. And I love everyone that helped get here here. I'm sure more stuff will happen (right now
Tom's VA aluminum firewall plate is being anodized gloss black, and Rene's trim is getting ready for a windshield gasket redo).

We here on the Forum really all are good to each other. I've had fun sending extra parts to folks. Helping where I could. And staying
shut up when I wanted to help when I wasn't QUITE sure I had the correct answer.

If it's a slow Sunday (or whatever day), and you want to look at the RAT pics build of the over five year period in an abbreviated form,
just click the link and (below the search engine box on the page). Click "slideshow".

http://tinyurl.com/n9yrgae

Thanks again to everyone. Particularly Mike and Jack. Lance, wonderful wife Irene (who was less interested when I built the HD's or
BMW's...hahahaha!), Butch, Painter Lee, and all you folks here on the Forum..