Grizz's Redneck Express 1966 Chevy Short Fleetside RESTO-GO!

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by Ta2Don

I'd love to help, but travel expenses would probably negate the affordable part...

Nothing beats a good party though.....

[Ta2Don]

Sorry I missed the Skype call Wednesday... Was on the road with my Wife...
Just for info, the Arsenal Dog is going to Clemdaddy's Get-together tomorrow...

[Grizz1963]

Been trying to get this job done for some time.

Lights in the garage for when I start doing the body prep on the truck over winter.

Up to now I had two 4 foot strip lights, but early this year, Euan "Moosevan" sent me 10 used 6 footers from a school that he had renovated. So now I have been getting on with that.

I have added some strips of wood to widen the rafters and wired them in today, thanks as so many times to Mickey from next door for giving an extra hand and keeping me company.

Result down the one side, the two short lights will be removed and fitted elsewhere.

I am also fitting four 6 footers down the other side.

[Ta2Don]

Lights are looking great!!!
Will try to catch ya on Skype tomorrow or Tuesday...

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by Ta2Don

Lights are looking great!!!
Will try to catch ya on Skype tomorrow or Tuesday...

And then there were even more.....




Well, last night I wired up and finished the second row of strip lights, looks brilliant in there now.

I decided after seeing the difference in whiteness to throw out all the yellowed diffusers, unless there is a really valid reason to keep them, I think distract from the brightness of the lights.



Now I have decent lights in the garage, there is less excuses and reasons not to work on anything over winter.

[Ta2Don]

Garage is looking bright!!!
Old Glory in the Background!!!
Will try to catch ya on Skype tomorrow, off to Dr. Appointment now!

[Ta2Don]

Where Pumpkin Pies come from...

Just had to share this...

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by Ta2Don

Garage is looking bright!!!
Old Glory in the Background!!!
Will try to catch ya on Skype tomorrow, off to Dr. Appointment now!

Looking the opposite way at the "electrics work bench" some of my bits and a 1960 plate with a bit of wear, thanks Don.

[McMurphy]

Remind me, and when I get the 66 and the 64 registered down in Washington, I will send you one each of their plates since I dont see many from Alaksa in your collection....

[clemdaddy]

on board now... i didn't read the complete thread, just kinda scanned over it, but i will read it. looks like you are having fun and you have a great way of sharing the fun. love your truck and your shop and i really love how you share your life.

i'm hooked...

[bj383ss]

Rian(Grizz) is a very resourceful and cool guy all around. I have some cool stuff from him hanging in my garage. The UK plates all the way to the right.



Bret

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by bj383ss

Rian(Grizz) is a very resourceful and cool guy all around. I have some cool stuff from him hanging in my garage. The UK plates all the way to the right.

Attachment 1166958

Bret

Morning Bret

Hope all is good with you guys.

Jost noted you have a plate off my old 2006 Benz.

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by McMurphy

Remind me, and when I get the 66 and the 64 registered down in Washington, I will send you one each of their plates since I dont see many from Alaksa in your collection....

Hi Michael

Thanks for that. I do have an old Alaska plate Nicola bought me for Christmas a few years back with a bear standing in the middle.

But always happy to add to my slowly growing collection.

Let me know if there is anything you need from here.

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by clemdaddy

on board now... i didn't read the complete thread, just kinda scanned over it, but i will read it. looks like you are having fun and you have a great way of sharing the fun. love your truck and your shop and i really love how you share your life.

i'm hooked...

Guess I am just a bit of a story teller.

I also appreciate the threads other people post up, so sharing bits n pieces is easy.

If you want to see more stuff on the shop etc, then look at this thread.

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/s...ad.php?t=52970

Thats a more complete thread on the stuff I get up to.

[Grizz1963]

Been out all day in Canterbury with Nicola, doing a bit of romantic reconnecting, after I asked her out on a date this morning. (Nice to date your wife from time to time) We ate too much bad food, had a McDonalds coffee and late afternoon a light lunch of Baguette with Boiled egg, mayo and loads of smoked bacon. We also bought some bargains through the day and held hands while shopping...... Yup, it's nice.


Mickey next door just came knocking on our front door, pretty pissed..... (though he would totally deny it, I still love him to bits)
Just in from a job he did in London today flooring an upmarket office and reception area in high traffic flooring. He managed to convince the project lead that he needed some of the flooring for my truck, as an alternative to the oak strips I still need to create out of the white oak skirting boards he brought home from another office refurbishment job a while back.
I was looking at this old oak flooring a while ago but decided it was way too pricey.

Got to love a bit of free stuff.

So tomorrow when he is back to normal, he will unload the van and bring it around.

Nicola's black iPhone just added for perspective.

[Ta2Don]

Glad you and Nicola had a great time!

Gotta admit, earlier when I read your Email it didn't make sense to me because my American brain read "pissed" as upset.
Then when I read this post, your caveat woke some more grey matter and I remembered "pissed" in context meant drunk...

Have a great night!!!
Cheers Mate

[Grizz1963]

Not much to report but nice to report.

Mate Martin and his wife Amanda are just back from the USA and he brought loads of spares back in his baggage.

I popped over today after taking a motorbike up to Worcestershire at 05.45 and being back in Maidstone by 12.30

So once the dogs had settled we started to go through all his treasures, and they are impressive..... from a full new wiring loom to disc brake conversion and power steering, the man has it.

I also got lucky, and a great surprise it was.

I am now one of the Walmart Family.... with a cool T-**** in size XXL




An also added was a parking reserved sign for the garage ...... Thanks mate !!



Looking forward to seeing Martin's truck develop over the next few years.

[Ta2Don]

Walmart Family...

[Grizz1963]

Yesterday I splurged out on an early Christmas prezzie for Nicola. She is always so good at bargain hunting and spending pennies, not pounds, so when she mentioned that she really wanted a Radley Messenger bag, but could not justify it, I told her to just get the bag...... she still searched the web, Ebay etc to find the best price.

[img src="http://www.radleycollector.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/radley-signature-away-day1.jpg" alt=" "]

[img src="http://icemaidencakes.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/Radley-Bag-Cake-Detail.jpg" alt=" "]

In the end we went to Blue Water, to the Radley shop and got her a different over the shoulder bag to what she had planned, but it does not come with the Radley dog tassle (Your girls, wives n women will know) so I decided that I would make her one in wood.

One very happy woman.



Started by Googling the shape of the dog and drawing one on paper...... then cutting it out with scissors.

Next up, found some wood, cut a sliver off it.



Followed by copying the design onto the wood.



Then onto the bandsaw, and again I realized, wood is unforgiving, with metal you can weld in some metal, with wood, if it is gone, then its gone.

Cut out the shape.



One dog cut out..... next up, hand sand and shaping.





Lastly a leash and collar made up from an old neclace out of my spares box.




I guess the most important thing to mention is that Nicola called me a "Clever Bear"

Looking forward to winter kicking in so that I can start working the wood again.

[Ta2Don]

Thanks for the Preview of the doggie for Nicola's new handbag...

Thanks for the goodies...


Cheers Mate!

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by Ta2Don

Thanks for the Preview of the doggie for Nicola's new handbag...

Thanks for the goodies...


Cheers Mate!

Always a pleasure Don.

About 6 months ago I sent one of my number plate trading buddies, Herb, on Garagejournal.com a parcel with some random stuff including some number plates I thought he may like.
After he got the parcel and messaged me it was obvious he did like the stuff I had sent.

This week I got in from work and found a parcel from Kansas......

Opened it and was blown away by the contents.

Herb had collected very specific things for me over the last six months.

Firstly, a 1:24 model of my Chevy in red, as a recovery/wrecker with a Corvette behind it.

Just this week I had forwarded an Ebay Germany link to Nicola of a 1:24 model of a C10 Chevy in the hope that the hint would get me one for Christmas.





The other things in the parcel including a used US Army number plate...... perfect for me as I am trying to specialize in what I collect.

Thanks a mil Herb !!!

[Grizz1963]

Not quite my truck, but I guess here in the UK we have to stand together as these trucks are not so common, and Martin is a bit of a bodywork guru as he managed a bodyshop for many years so I will surely be needing his help as well when I get to painting and prepping the truck.

So hopefully this update makes sense.

Bought an older 210 liter compressor from a friend last week, collecting this week. Happy at £100 for it.

Plan is to clean it and service it, then use it to paint the Chevy truck.



Years ago I restored a 1963 VW Beetle from this.....






In other news, I went over to help mate Martin to put up a car port frame yesterday, started at 0,5'C at 08.00 and turned into a good day.

We ended up working till about 19.00 which was about 2 plus hours after dark and then I went back today to help him get the roof on as well.

Bunch of pics of the process.







Front corner post was actually correct.








After dark we carried on with the neighbours spotlight







Today we got half the roof on when rain stopped safe play.



Of course the whole motivation for this roof build is so that Martin can work under some cover over winter prepping his truck.



And that pretty much brought another weekend to an end.

[Ta2Don]

Nice score on the compressor...
Helping your mate Martin...

Da Bears won today… Early BDay present to me!!!

Cheers Mate!

[Grizz1963]

Fetched the compressor last night in mate Jon's VW T5 van.

What a heavy bit of kit, nearly killed the two of us to get it in the van, so we left it in the van last night and tonight after work Jon and Martin, along with myself got it out using a coupleof sections of pipe and a pait of scaffolding boards.



Too dark for pics in its temporary resting place.

So I just took a few pics of the plates on its various parts.

Seems it was built on 12 November 1973, so 40 years old.



1.5 bhp single phase electric motor



Air filter...... Made in England too.




Name says a lot.




Plans include getting some trolley wheels under it, cleanup and repaint, service.

Then use it for painting the truck and other jobs.

[Grizz1963]

Came home from work yesterday and skipped Friday admin, instead choosing to go spend two hours with 6 litres of petrol some brushes and dismantling parts of the compressor.

Started here......



Finished here......

Next up will be some new paint after the prep.



I was up early to get over to Martins today with the truck, to get a 4x8 sheet of MDF and my tall ladder to his place so that we could complete the rest of the carport roof for his truck resto.

It was really great to get the truck back on the road again, its been some time.



Martin's truck earning its keep.

We were done with the roof after dark, and by 5pm I was on the road home again.



Every time I drive my truk it leaves a HUGE SMILE on my face.

The cost of fueling it up, disappears with the sound of that V8 rolling down the road.

Looking forward to the new year and getting the body and paint sorted.