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

[The Rocknrod]

This license plate: http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...postcount=3036
Or was it not a plate...

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by The Rocknrod

This license plate: http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...postcount=3036
Or was it not a plate...

Gotcha.

Still not got it.

Unfortunately it went to her old work address, where she left four months ago.

She went away for two or three weeks on holiday to Cyprus when it got delivered to her old work address and said she would drop it at her fathers addres once it got brought to her at the new address.

I will report it once it gets here.

[Ta2Don]

Due to keeping up on WhatsApp I don't get out here as much as I used too... Still like the weird Van pic...

Seeing the Grizzmobile slammed... Awesomeness!!!

Cheers Mate

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by Ta2Don

Due to keeping up on WhatsApp I don't get out here as much as I used too... Still like the weird Van pic...

Seeing the Grizzmobile slammed... Awesomeness!!!

Cheers Mate

Always good to chat daily and video reports going both ways mate.

I am pleased it is evolving.


My neighbour, who lets me use and has let me use his panel van to collect bulky stuff in the past, has two dogs that he walks near where we live.

Recently on two occasions, a Rottweiler has come out of a property along the way he walks his dogs and attacked the Scottish terrier, the second time leaving wounds, the owner not giving a toss.

Anyway, last night he asked me to make him an "enforcer" for the next time he needs to get the Rottweilers teeth out of his dog (typically, it will not happen again, I guess) but I made this out of some fire wood.
Hope he does not need it, but I know the feeling of rage when an animal gets attacked.



Then I made a couple of things for a new lady I met......

Cheap me, no Christmas present from a shop.



Blunt tools leading to a slight hiccup



And what I managed to rescue from that one, great for keys and change.



Temperature in the shed.

Not cold though.



Made one of these.



And a copy.



Not too bad a copy.



And completed pieces.

Call me cheap if you have to.



I trust she will like them, if not...

Too bad.

[Grizz1963]

Came back from a two day business meeting last night and after unpacking, went to brand up the pieces I made.

Video link below.

Wood turning. - YouTube

Lady receiving the wood bits has bout me a Christmas prezzie........

Sent me a pic.





Back to the two day planning meeting and awards evening.

This was the sign in the bar area.

Made me smile.



Great sense of humour.

And yes.....






Thursday evening I got to know Bacardi 7 quite well.

I also picked up this little piece.



Quite pleased with it.

Later.

[Grizz1963]

Wednesday was the real start of my Christmas break.
We have to take he time between Christmas and New Year off, as historically our factories would have shut down.

I also did not take enough or all my vacation through the year as it has been a busy one.

So on Wednesday, I went to B&Q to see if I could find something to spend then£90.00 in gift cards I got last year and the year before.
Crazy, yes.

I found nothing, and will wait for the new year sales and possibly put it toward a £180.00 Bosh hedge trimmer I could do with, in case there is a mark down, and the alternative is taking Nicolas dad along to get a 10% pensioners discount, if they still do that.

I popped into her dads place on the way to town to pick up this awesome plate that Alan had sent for my collection.

I absolutely love it, as it is a rare rare thing.



I also scored this water feature from Nicolas dad, and tossed it into the rear of Prozac.



In the mean time, the Eastern Cape plates I had made for Dennis and his son and daughter in law had made it to Missouri as well.

Thenplate withnthe extra H at the end is wrong, and I gave that to one of my favourite secretaries for her daughter whose name is. Hannah.




I did however get to speak to a great little customer service lady called Briony when checking to see if the cards were still valid.
Great customer service is always a good thing.

And the coffee and Carrot cake were exceptionally good for a hardware shop.




Later I went to Chatham High street and the Turkish shop for some groceries as well as a late lunch in their restaurant.

This is just their selection of Olives.
I know it is a love hate item.
I love them.





Lamb pitta with salad.

All for £5.00

Seriously good eating.




Yesterday Mickey and I loaded the GS for the third time in two weeks and took it to BMW in Tonbridge Well for the warranty work to be done to the fuel injection system and a rear flange of some sort.
Great dealership, massively helpful

And the kicker.....

My bike will be fixed by a tall, really nice and blonde lady called Katie.

I asked them what the jobs would cost if I paid for the parts and labour as a normal customer...... suffice it to say, it made my eyes water when they told me.

Thank goodness for recalls and free repairs on a 12 year old bike.

Headed out.



Mickey does like a coffee and something to eat.

My treat, as he only ever asks for a couple of pints of beer and diesel when he uses his car.



Lastly,

Late yesterday afternoon, I took Prozac and went to buy a load of 20kg bags of coal for the fire place.

The little van that can was happy to help.

Guy at the yard where I loaded the coal loved the NASCAR inspired look and practicality.



I want to service him soon too, replacing belts and waterpump plus the rest as I have no real idea what state the belts are in.

And today I'm planning on heading out to see if I can get a tow bar and wiring harness plus box from a local-ish scrapyard.

Hopefully Martin will be able to do the honours on the wiring.

[Grizz1963]

Woke up to this, this morning.

So part two of the carving.



It was -2'C or 28'F outside, despite this lovely sunrise as seen from my cozy bed.



So I started with my awl, and also half of a pair of secateurs that lives in the garage.
Makes a great cutting tool.



Slow but sure progress.



Of course I had completely cleaned the house on Tuesday morning.

Today I noticed that it would be a repeat job.

Thankfully I live alone and pay the mortgage.



Eventually by just after 13.00 the Tiki head was completed.

Funny how these things shape themselves..... no matter how hard you try.



Decided to try it on a plinth.

And really liked it.



So designed a Tiki Surfboard plinth whith pineapple, and some palm fronds down the sides.






Completed.



Happy.

Next up some SHAG style Skulls I think.

Look them up.

[Grizz1963]

Friday.

Last one of 2017.

Had a date with a lady, but this was the weather in the morning......

Needless to say, not much use for going to the beach, unless you are testing g umbrellas or rain coats.




So we cancelled our "date" and I contacted Neil "MyGasser" about some plastic pallets he had found for Craig my mate, and decided that today would be a good day to run Prozac down to Whitstable where he works.

In an unusual move, I stopped at the gas station and filled up, one forgets to fill as these things are relatively light on fuel.



Got to Whitstable and had a nice chat with Neil, then loaded the pallets, and a large section of show display carpet he had laying around, good for my garage, under the truck.



One of the jobs he does is to test every Mig Welder they sell before it goes out to customers, you are talking in excess of 750 and the last week it's been about 15 machines.

Obviously, testing welders can get a bit boring, so a bit of boredom relief creeps in......

Includes a dragon breaking through the base, a butterfly, sun, monster worm





And of course a bondage mermaid......



While I was there, I also got these bits.

Available for anyone who needs them at cost of postage and packing.

Couple of UJ's for steering column and a quick release base for a steering wheel.



Got home and unpacked the Little Van that Can.



Chuffed as always, this van is certainly Prozac for the Soul.

Miles of smiles.

[Grizz1963]

Remember my Road Trip in September?

http://forum.retro-rides.org/thread/...-small-updates

Well, this is a road trip that seems to keep on giving and giving and GIVING AND GIVING........

Today when I got back from Whitstable in Prozac, there was a letter in my mailbox.

Anyway........

Remember this entry when the Hemi Challenger broke down, due to a melted wiring loom, which turned out to be a factory recall job after Dennis spending a small fortune to get it bypassed in Jonesboro in order to get me mobile so I could get back to Rogers party and his birthday party??


Challenger breaking down in the middle of nowhere, in Banjo country....


So I try various ways to start the Hemi Challenger, but no go.

So I pull out my UK based mobile phone that will let me make a call at £1.10/min to call Dennis......

No reception.

So took some pics of the car, the address etc and started to walk toward the next home down Hiway 25 Arkansas.

Number 3001 has an old guy working in his yard, next to a trailer and 70's Big Block Suburban.





So I look for guns and approach, explaining my situation.

He pulls out his mobile phone and says "You can use my phone" while he carries on trying to remove a tyre from a rim with some wholly inadequate tools. But he does succeed.

Long story short, Dennis refers me to Dodge recovery service, they take my exact details and say it should take an hour (I am 29 miles from one small dealer at Wallnut Ridge and about 45 miles from the bigger dealer at Jonesboro)
I get a text a while later to confirm it will be just over two hours for them to get there.
So Walk back to the car to check if it will start again, but also just to move it more on driveway.
Then I hear RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR.........!!!

Look back and see this.



Old guy in his EZ-GO Golf kart coming to pick me up and run me to the car.

Thank you Charles.

No luck there in the end.

We do look at this truck, found out later it was bought for the house owners son, but he lost interest fast and now has a jacked up V6 Toyota pickup



We go back to the old guys home, try to get a tyre onto the rim, unsuccessfully.
More chat, glass of water and local history.
Help him adjust golf kart throttle cable.
And then I go back to the car to await recovery service.
By 3.30 pm still no recovery, so I walk back to the house and ask for phone again......
at 4.03 a missed call, as I cannot raise the service......
Call back and it is the Recovery service owner to say they were given the wrong details and despatched to the wrong address

So I walk back to the car and at the same time my friend Steve from Jonesboro where I was headed arrives in his Toyota truck, so we chat while waiting for the service guys, who eventually get there after 5pm.



Car loaded, we head to Jonesboro, which is where Steve lives, the recovery service is based even though Dodge will only recover to the nearest address etc...... the owner Glenn says he will take the car to Jonesboro with us following in Steves truck.



Once we got there, signed off the car, to be investigated on Thursday.....

And Steve and I head home via a Pizza place with cold beers and great service.



Then home to see Lulu the dog and his wife.

Lulu loves me, and I love her gentle nature.

Knowing we need to be back at the dealers 30 minutes away by 07.30 the next morning, we turn in early-ish.

Thursday was going to turn into a pile of steaming poop.





SO TODAY WHEN I GET IN THERE IS THIS ENVELOPE IN THE POST.


I look at the return address and the memories come rushing back.





Take a moment to read this message from Charles, who had helped me when I broke down.

I had sent him and his wife Onida a nice Thank You card after I got back to Dennis and it must have impressed them that I did not take their help for granted.
They actually made the effort to find out what my address in the UK is.





Did I mention that LIFE IS GOOD ??

[clemdaddy]

Life certainly is good... even wonderful sometimes. Here's hoping you have a wonderful 2018, you crafty pirate you.

[Grizz1963]

More random stuff.

Ended up that I did 100's of miles in Prozac over the festive season, fetching stuff, visiting people and going shopping etc.

This little van consinue to amaze.

Parked next to a newer face.ifted panel version on Chatham town centre.



As you may remember, I spent Christmas with Kevin and his family.

Old years a few of us went there again, for a roast dinner as only he can do, and some drinks......

Friends Dave and Helen joined us as well and they brought me one more Christmas prezzie.

It blew my little mind.

Personalised.



In other news, it seems I have a real lodger again (deposit and first month paid, plus all his stuff moved in) and the cool thing is that he is into scooters, cars, music and his day job...... super cool I think, is with Bobcat as a regional representative.

He seems to like the cats and both Dukey last night, and Harley every time he has been here, went straight to him.
Trust me, they are selective who they spend time with.

Meet Dave.



Dave drives an Isuzu D-Max double cab, so unlike previous lodgers in Corsa, Golf etc sized cars, this is a bit larger.

Bush out front needed a bit of a trim.



Randomly associated, is the C10 front and rear screen glass...

Been in the spare room the last two years, but I needed to clear it for Dave, so needed to make a safe space on top of the wardrobe in my room.

This made me realise that 2018 has to be the year of the Redneck Express rising from being a pile of parts to being a thundering Antisocial Thug again.

1.6 meter wide screen and 480mm high.

It's a large truck.



Yesterday Mickey and I went to fetch my bike after the fuel pump and rear flange had been replaced under warranty by Katie.
Still impresses me that BMW will repair, free of charge a 2006 model bike.



And so the sun sets on my vacation.

Monday it's back to it all, with all guns playing.




Here's to an awesome 2018 for all of us.

Life is still good.

[flashed]

Very nice work ,I especially like the Doggy Stick but the others are very nice too.

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by flashed

Very nice work ,I especially like the Doggy Stick but the others are very nice too.

Hallo John,

Ideally the doggy stick needs a 15mm hole bored down its head and get filled with lead or a bit of steel, just to enhance its persuasive powers.



Thought I would do a copy and paste from a post I made on Garage Journal, just to keep the info current and together.

Originally Posted by Craptain

So!!! More about this new lady. [emoji180]?
Does this mean no more Miss Katy?

Oh, nice lathe work by the way.

Sent from my SM-G930T using Tapatalk

Morning from a chilly UK, unusually, I crawled back into bed after feeding the cats and making a cuppa tea.

New lady......hmmmm.....?

Met on Monday, via Plenty of Fish dating/introductory website, same place I met Nicola 10 years ago and Miss Katy in August 2015 as I put up a new wanted add at the weekend.

She approached me to find out a bit more on Monday, and an hour later we agreed to meeting up about 30 miles from here, as I needed to go to Darren's workshop anyway to deliver a generator and some gauges I had given him for a project he is working on.

Our coffee date lasted nearly 5 hrs (I had a days leave and she was day off as she works some weekends) really just a lot of chatting and getting to know each other.

We agreed to meet again, (woman's prerogative). which may be next weekend as both our lives are just that way.

The massive deal breaker though, is that she is hyper allergic to cats and we cannot just walk into a shop to buy a shotgun (to solve the cat problem) and actually had an allergic reaction when she got home, after giving me a goodbye hug in the car park.

So right now, I have a texting, talking distraction who may just stay that, and that is cool too.

She collected "Bad Taste Bears" in the past, and I like hem.

All I will say is that she has sent me a couple of pics to support conversations we have had by text or phone so far.

This one was after we realised the cat allergy will be a problem.



This one I will not go into....... suffice it to say, it was very very funny.



Miss Katy has been on consideration for some time sadly, my fault entirely.

She is a lovely lady, and I like her, but the relationship was never going to blow me away or see us retire together, sadly.
She is super nice and I like her, but I also like my 86 year old neighbour.
So we called it a day.
Thankfully with no malice from my side, and I am sure she will hurt, as I was never an asshole to her, and women often find that hard to understand, hopefully she will remember the good stuff and find a guy that suits her better.
There are some classy guys out there who are more suited to genteel pursuits.
She is way too upmarket from me, and the 100 miles commute over weekends, meaning nothing got done over weekends the last year plus, could now see me doing stuff I love to do.
Like fetching a L6 motor, gearbox and rear diff from Colchester on Sunday.
And loading my bike onto a trailer to go in for a repair as it's fuel injection system is blowing fuel out.

Originally Posted by Nursepeter1973

I personally would much prefer a present that is "cheap" that someone has taken the time and effort to make rather than something that is expensive and has no "love'" put into it

Hallo Peter, long time no see.

Trust you are well.

I totally agree with you.

At my age, I prefer a bit of thought in a gift to something I can pop to the shops for myself.

Hopefully she enjoys the bits, regardless of whether we become anything, which I doubt.

But she makes me laugh, a lot and has a sharp wit, which have missed for a couple of years.

That thing where you need to stay awake in case you get kicked with your own proverbial boots.



I will do another update later on this weeks little happening.

[Indian113]

Griz, great work on the Lathe! I love Presents that somebody has Put part of them in.

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by Indian113

Griz, great work on the Lathe! I love Presents that somebody has Put part of them in.

Thank you very much.

I agree with you, personal stuff holdsmuch more value.

Just noted you are in Iowa.

Was wondering if that should be a state on my next road trip.

I know Leclare has an attraction, but what about the rest of it?

[Indian113]

Well, It would be great if You could spend time in Iowa! Yes, there are many attractions each and every County is known for something. Depending on the Date's you would be here in my immediate 20 mile radius we have a Nascar Track in Newton Ia. 12 miles North , The Sprint Car Capitol of The World- Knoxville Ia. 12 miles South, 25 miles West is Des Moines our State Capitol. Car Shows, Cruises, County Fairs plus in my mind some of the Nicest People to be around. I know I have 2 English Springer's that would love to meet you too.

[flashed]

Isnt Iowa where the American Pickers place is ?

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by Indian113

Well, It would be great if You could spend time in Iowa! Yes, there are many attractions each and every County is known for something. Depending on the Date's you would be here in my immediate 20 mile radius we have a Nascar Track in Newton Ia. 12 miles North , The Sprint Car Capitol of The World- Knoxville Ia. 12 miles South, 25 miles West is Des Moines our State Capitol. Car Shows, Cruises, County Fairs plus in my mind some of the Nicest People to be around. I know I have 2 English Springer's that would love to meet you too.

Sounds great !!

Love to crawl around on the floor with a pair of excited Springers.

Originally Posted by flashed

Isnt Iowa where the American Pickers place is ?

Yup...!!

That would be Leclare.

Would love to tick a box there.

[Grizz1963]

Road trip with @CraigRK and his son Kyle to fetch a straight Chevy Straight 6 260ci motor, auto box and rear axle from a '53 Chevy truck to go into one if his three cars. The 47 Aerosedan or his wifes 49 or his 50 pickup truck.

Aerosedan http://forum.retro-rides.org/thread/...an-inspiration

Pickups http://forum.retro-rides.org/thread/...p-electrifying

Off to Colchester in Essex by 07.30 to meet them in Dartford and then onward.

The snow started just after I left home.

By the time we met.......

Craigs new to him 4x4 Ranger.



Slowly got more whited out. And speeds reduced quickly to below 50mph.



Happy days.

Snow in 2017 headed to Essex - YouTube

As we progressed the speed dropped right down to stop and start and an average of 25mph max.

Saw a lot of carnage and slippy stuff and cars in ditches with black ice.

But unable to stop on the motorway to change to high range four wheel drive despite trying on the fly.

Then from nowhere

Craigs Ranger on Black Ice. - YouTube

With traffic as slow it was we took more than an hour longer than planned by Satnav.

Got there.

Loaded



Teenager waiting while we looked at Barry the selkers stuff.



Motor etc were in this before.



Making our way back the traffic was even worse.

Snow lovely though.



So this has taken 7 hours so far.

Craigs door to door including offloading the parts should take him to an 11 hour day.



Did we have fun ???

Yes we certainly have.

In the mean time I am now decided that Prozac is for sale and I want a 2x4 Super cab (not 4x4 Double cab) Ranger in reasonable condition.
Probably a Mk2 around 2002-2006 truck.

Interesting colour hoped for too.

[Palf70Step]

Looks like it was a good (cool, but good) day Rian.

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by Palf70Step

Looks like it was a good (cool, but good) day Rian.

Good times with friends are always great.


So the slow trip continued homeward.

At one point we were stationary for at least 30 minutes, while presumably the roads were being cleared.

I did see a very cool snowman someone had built, no more that 18" tall.



Seven hours after picking me up at 07.00 we crossed the Dartford bridge.....



And Craig dropped me off where I had left my car, parking thanks to @mercdan.

From there I headed home, getting in in time to get Mickey next door to help me load the 1200GS onto my trailer.

He has a tow hitch on his car and was going to help me get the bike to Bromley 35 miles away for the leaking fuel injection system to be fixed and also for a service to be carried out.

Amazing how cold it gets with a breeze thrown into the mix.

Bike loaded.



Monday I had taken the day off work.

So we left here by 07.00 to take the bike up.

It was freezing and by the time we made it to Bromley area it started to snow.

iAds were rubbish too, congested by 07.15
What has happened to our world?



Mickey smokes in his car, so when he does, the window is down a couple of inches.

Before we got to the bike shop, he dropped his window all the way down.....


OOOOOOPPPPSSS....!!!'

Window refused to go up again.

And when we got to the bike shop, the boot or trunk of his 2004 Ford Focus also refused to open, necessitating me to drop the rear seat to get the bike ramp out.

This also meant that we had to try stick some clear plastic to the aperture in the freezing cold, with rain and sleet merrily dropping around us.

Less fun than it sounds.

The drive home was chilly, and to top it all, the cafe where I had promised him a hot breakfast..... was shut, so we just god some hot Cornish pasties and went home.



The bike is still in the shop to get a major service for 24k miles and the repairs to the injection system will be a fight for another day, as it is a recall job.

Not bad that it can still be done on a 2006 model bike

(That's if the dealers agree to do it for me)

[flashed]

Im glad you had a fun time out in the cold and got back home safely .

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by flashed

Im glad you had a fun time out in the cold and got back home safely .

Indeed.

Good company is always a good thing.

[Grizz1963]

Kind of a non Report report.

Last day to London on Thursday for the year.

Yup......

Predictably.

Delayed trains.

Why?




Chilly day outside, but at least looking at the Houses of Parliament from indoors was not too bad.



Fartsbook has a habit of tossing old pics back into the present.

This one was taken 10 years ago, when I was restoring some Passat wheels.

Still do silly car related stuff, eat too much and got more grey hair.



And this was on my wedding day on 6/8/10 when my brother and I swapped out the complete front and rear suspension on my old Transit because the lowered set up could not handle the loads we were moving from my home to the new home Nicola and I had bought. (Signwriting was photoshopped)



And some more oldies....

Riding in ice and snow is not clever, unless you have no option.





Saw this in a hospital too this week.

Great use of a pair of men's urinals and a bed Pan.




Finally.......

My dinner date last night, sent me this pic this week.

Pretty much sums up my opinion of the season to be grumpy.




Wanted to go out to the shops in Prozac today, but got distracted by a house that needed cleaning, seems they don't clean themselves.

Maybe tomorrow I will jump in the van that can and go shopping.

[Micmac]

Merry Christmas Rian. I wish I could post photos on here, I would show you the snow up here in the sunny North Carolina Blue Ridge Mountains.