Highland Body Shoppe 160 Edinburgh Way...

[Hilandr451]

I come home from work, sittin' at a stinkin' computer all day - change into my jeans & a t-shirt, open the garage door, turn on the fans and the compressor, slap on a dust mask strap on the pneumatic power tools and go at it for four hours. A strange mix of Skynyrd, Hatchet, and Bag Pipes bellows out of the stereo setting an energetic pace for the work to be done.



Sweat, blood and sheer love pours out of my soul in ample quantities as I watch 40 years of dirt, grease & rust fall off of the 18 guage cold rolled steel that made America great in the sixties. 40 years of grime representing 40 years of faithful service from a machine hand crafted by proud WWII & Korea vets that cared about what they put their hands to. It's not just a truck, its a living breathing monument to what made America THE super-power of the world.




At 9:00 PM the bell goes off telling me it's time to put the tools down, blow off the days progress from my clothes & what's left of my hair. And as I reach for the light I admire my handy-work there sitting silent in the shadows I feel sad that I can't keep working on to midnight. But even before the light leaves the shop I am already looking forward to coming home from work the next day to start all over again.



Later as I'm nursing my wounds over a cool glass of whiskey, I feel priveleged to carry on the work of my fore-fathers and honor them by restoring one of their masterpieces from Detroit. This is my world here at the Highland Body Shoppe on Edinburgh Way - my wife calls it our garage, but it's a body shop to me at least for now...... Made in Texas from Highland blood.

I finished coating the inner fenders, the core support - which I pilfered from pick-n-pull this last saturday on a pristine 1960 C-10 stepside. I also found a clean header panel off that same truck and POR15'ed the entire back side of the piece.

The back side of both inner door panels have been coated with POR15. They've been stripped and are ready for primer on the "show" side.

I started on the passenger door last night. I have had a huge dent in that door for 12 years. It took me 20 minutes to pull it out. 20 minutes - I could have fixed it years ago - but NO - I chose to drive around with a dent in my door for 12 years. I am such an idiot sometimes - just ask my wife!

I also found what appears to be a divit from a bullet on the upper part of the door above the window. Hmmm.... I don't remember that one...