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

[realvc]

Your van is really shaping up. The non-skid tape turned our very nice indeed.
Would you work out of the van or buy another work truck?

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by realvc

Your van is really shaping up. The non-skid tape turned our very nice indeed.
Would you work out of the van or buy another work truck?

Thanks Vince, I like it too.

I would not work out of this van, it is just a toy.

The company car goes back 15 November.

[Grizz1963]

Insurance companies……. Rip off artists.

Just cancelled the s10 insurance, 2.5 months left on the policy.

Zero refund.


Swapped the grz733 plate to the astro.

£46.80 admin fee.


What a bunch of thieves.



Got a quote for a vehicle off the same company recently £578.00 with 3k miles, single driver, personal use only.
Repeated same quote online £337 up to £1000
selected to buy a £350.92 option from carole nash - went to check out…… system rejected purchase.
Called carole nash direct next day to check.
Nope…… price not available, new price now £372.00
i kinda lost it, and by being really nice, insisted on speaking to a supervisor, which did not happen, got the original price 20 minutes later.
It is crazy how they dip their hands into our pockets and steal because it is all legislated that you will have insurance.
And of course all the wriggling to not pay when you have an accident/damage/break in.


This realy is tiring.

Wartch your pockets.

[Grizz1963]

Saw this on FB in an Astro group.

How I would love one of these models.



Suspect not cheap or available.

[Grizz1963]

Raining all day.

Working redundancy style…….

They can’t really fire me now, can they.

Wanted to get some rear entry action in today.

Cut, shape and see if it works to make up a blanking panel for the rear door.

The number plate recess has been tidied and the paint now dried, but rain prevents fitting.



Hoped some time over the weekend to get some stuff done.

[Grizz1963]

140 miles mini road trip yesterday to meet up with two awesome guys.

One a member on here @sammo, and a younger guy who does 1% social media, only FB marketplace to sell stuff.

Spent an hour at least at Sam’s mums place and would happily spend a day working or chatting with him, got to spend time with his Mums cat, and also met his rescued pet tortoise, another cool creature. Bought and loaded some stuff, he kindly gave me some real winter emergency spares too. Thanks Sam.

Then off to Chertsy to meet up with Curtis a builder (construction sort)

How refreshing to chat for an hour with someone who is massively into cars, but has no PB, IG or other Stalker site presence. I just found him while doing a search for something arbitrary and unrelated, realising he also had some stuff I wanted (rarely about need)

I bought some stuff from him and ended up with having to return stuff that did not fit in the back of the com-any wagon as it was a bit bigger than the hole. Also some bits that did fit.

However, more importantly, he declined money for the stuff I had not gone to buy, citing that he was brought up by a step dad who taught him everything he knows in construction as he was employed by him after school and that being honest (he offered to demonstrate the goods I had bought from him, working, there for me) and paying stuff forward always left him with a full Karma bucket.

What a pleasure.

I drove off smiling and thinking that if I had kids, this would be my template.

Back home around 3.3.30pm after leaving at 09.00am

I was just moving the Astro over the street when I saw @nickwheeler waft by in his silver (actually it is grey) Ford Focus.

So I parked the van over the street nd reversed the company car up into the back yard for unloading.

As I was done and moved the Focus back out front, Nick cruised up and parked.

A couple of hours saw him being able to get his weekly quota of pissstaking with me, and no paint was involved.

A good at indeed, wallet somewhat lighter…… for the greater good.

No Astro work done, except unbox my new Hula Tiki.

Life is good.

[Grizz1963]

Time on my hands…..

Never a good thing.

Full build will be here.

too much copy and paste and my internet sucks big time, so always a struggle to load photos on every site, as my Photobucket is a PITA.

https://forum.retro-rides.org/thread...d-sliver-dream


please follow there if interested.

[Braunschweiger]

I'm happy to follow your reports and I'm excited to see what happens next for you.
The Micra would have been perfect for your current situation, you'll find something suitable.

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by Braunschweiger

I'm happy to follow your reports and I'm excited to see what happens next for you.
The Micra would have been perfect for your current situation, you'll find something suitable.

Thank you Harald,

Interesting thing with the post-Covid car market is that it has certainly escalated more than historically.

Also pressure and stealth taxes on every move, by our thieving government add to pressures,




I failed miserably at finding something cheap like the Prozac Berlingo.

I guess one of those in a lifetime is a bargain, not to be repeated.


Looked right across to Markplaats and Scout24.de and found the market for cheap cars is limited.


Some real sh!trees out there for strong money.

Considering the price of a scrap car, catalytic converters etc now……

Things are just more expensive..



My current total is £1800.00 spent on it.



More later.

[Grizz1963]

Right.

Friday the 13th October, I was in Shropshire at buddy Craigs place, after my trip up to see @oxb1l buddy Bill the fireman in Scotland.





I had an 11.00 appointment on Teams with my contract’s manager and the company HR representative obviously there for the whole farce of so called “consultation” there was no consulting and the statutory o days were not over yet….. but mehhhhh.

Told that my service/role terminates 15 November at which point the Ford Focus company car, IT equipment including the iPad I am writing this on (I never owned an iPad as one was enough) mobile phone and headset will get collected. Leaving me with the choice of Rezin Rockit and Astro to use as daily. Both are somewhat impractical for differing reasons, and I like them for those reasons, but it became obvious that I would do well having something like the Micra, sold a year ago. So I looked about, including on the auto****e.com For Sale section and saw a car that had previously made me smile, for sale. Sadly, prices of bangers have gone up a lot in the last few years, and when looking at some German and Dutch sales websites, they were even more pricey than the U.K.
so a lot of thinking and a message to the seller followed, including an agreement to leave Shropshire a day early to go view this car.

Resulting in the following.


The New to me, Redundancy Runabout comes from the same retro cars community I am part of.

Firstly, I want to post a link to its previous life in the hands of a gent called Zelandeth

He is as meticulous and OCD as you want someone to be when you buy a car from him.

Weirdly……..

He and I share another link.

He has owned three cars, previously owned by Colin, I now own two of Colin’s former cars, and Zel retains two.

My Chevy Astro that I collected from Colin in S****horpe and the new car were his before.



FIRST INFORMATION SET.


LOOK FROM PAGE 53 IN THIS THREAD FOR ALL THE OCD WORK AND REPAIRS CARRIED OUT BY ZEL BEFORE ME.


https://forum.retro-rides.org/thread...ctions?page=53



Of course, as mentioned, the Astro belonged to Colin and is still getting a load of small jobs done by me, just to tidy it up to a standard that I can get along with.









So there you have the preamble to the latest vehicle at Grizz-towers.


I had not intended buying anything else when I bought the Chevy Astro to replace the S10 truck.


In fact, the Rezin Rockit was and is also due to be sold to someone who wants to drive it and play with it.


Simply the logistics of having too many cars on the drive taking up space and needing juggling when something needs doing, using or whatever.


I now need to do some corporate work first but will come back in a bit to post up the FOR SALE ad as originally posted by Zel.


Then we can carry on with this ownership story.

[Grizz1963]

Here is a short random video of just how sweet and smooth a £2750.00 sixty year old Rover P4 110 can be.

When collected to go buy the Caddy.

Salesmen ehhhh.

https://youtu.be/Qgg_Es9G-74?si=sQaAULVPteJHFI5x

[Palf70Step]

Kool looking ride, the Pope Mobile. I've hear the P4s are nice, but can be not so reliable. Looking forward to your work on the VW.

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by Palf70Step

Kool looking ride, the Pope Mobile. I've hear the P4s are nice, but can be not so reliable. Looking forward to your work on the VW.

Right.

Having agreed to buy the Caddy.

The rest was a bit of planning, praying, panicking, pfffft.


Report with words and photos coming up in a moment, or three for those who read.


Video.


https://youtu.be/-NELOe4sfsw?si=cN0iwWBaOzxpxhWq



.

[Grizz1963]

Having decided to buy the Caddy Van from Zelandeth, the next point of interest was insurance………

That was a surprise as my rant evidenced.

Also ended up for some unexplained reason that management tossed a related thread in the whingebin, which is why people walk away from forums. Like it or not, despite any of the reasons maybe put forward for it. Anyway, it was a shock getting screwed by an insurer based on all their ducking and diving and reasons, none of which are actually applicable to me.

Strange that.

My rant, hopefully not to get censored.

INSURANCE COMPANIES……. RIP OFF ARTISTS.

JUST CANCELLED THE S10 INSURANCE, 2.5 MONTHS LEFT ON THE POLICY.

ZERO REFUND.


SWAPPED THE GRZ733 PLATE TO THE ASTRO.

£46.80 ADMIN FEE.


WHAT A BUNCH OF THIEVES.



GOT A QUOTE FOR A VEHICLE OFF THE SAME COMPANY RECENTLY £578.00 WITH 3K MILES, SINGLE DRIVER, PERSONAL USE ONLY.
REPEATED SAME QUOTE ONLINE £337 UP TO £1000
SELECTED TO BUY A £350.92 OPTION FROM CAROLE NASH - WENT TO CHECK OUT…… SYSTEM REJECTED PURCHASE.
CALLED CAROLE NASH DIRECT NEXT DAY TO CHECK.
NOPE…… PRICE NOT AVAILABLE, NEW PRICE NOW £372.00
I KINDA LOST IT, AND BY BEING REALLY NICE, INSISTED ON SPEAKING TO A SUPERVISOR, WHICH DID NOT HAPPEN, GOT THE ORIGINAL PRICE 20 MINUTES LATER.
IT IS CRAZY HOW THEY DIP THEIR HANDS INTO OUR POCKETS AND STEAL BECAUSE IT IS ALL LEGISLATED THAT YOU WILL HAVE INSURANCE.
AND OF COURSE ALL THE WRIGGLING TO NOT PAY WHEN YOU HAVE AN ACCIDENT/DAMAGE/BREAK IN.


THIS REALY IS TIRING.

WATCH YOUR POCKETS.

So the plan, after seeing the car on Saturday on the way back from Scotland, was to take a train on Monday to collect, but having to sit for an extended period trying to deal with the insurance company would mean a late departure…… so I decided to leave on Tuesday instead.
Just as well, because the roads were murder on Monday.

So up early, Mickey next door earned his £10.00 pint money taking me down to the station at Strood, Kent.

Tickets bought. Add this to the purchase price, as well as Dartford Toll crossing and Mickey’s taxi fare.



Strood station wait.



Then I minded many gaps, switching and using 4 trains on my way up to Milton Keynes.



First train change at Gravesend, broken public toilets and a 20 minute wait for the next train, used the ladies toilets as I identified as a guy needing to pee.



Through to London, over the Thames river.



And into Charing Cross or Charing-X station for the next change.



Then onto the underground and up for air at Euston tube and overground station.





Once I surfaced at Euston overground station, I got onto the Avanti train service.

Interesting to note the price of my connection ticket, online the same item was £8.00 but restricted to possibly one train only. Dickheads.

The intercom on Avanti also warns you, reasonably clearly, that if you are caught on a different class carriage to what your ticket permits it will be another £222.00 fine/ticket.

Very tidy trains, much much better than the stock I am used to travelling on on my routes.

You kinda don’t mind paying the exorbitant fees for quality like that.



Uneventful, 30 minute trip, both comfortable, and without the usual riffraff that often polite South Eastern and whatever the other service is that I am reliant on.

Coming out of the station at Milton Keynes Central station, I had to walk as far as Subway sandwich shop and find my ride.

What a great surprise.

Sublime.



And the interior……… Pure 60’s Britain.

What a lovely place to be.



And just for fun, a two minute inside video.

https://youtu.be/Qgg_Es9G-74?si=qYZs-wd2Wjb5r4ms

Getting to @Zelandeth ‘s home, we did the usual ritual dance of buying old cars.

Time to pay……

Hmmmm…. Transaction rejected in various ways. Barclays Bank proving why Cash is King.

System down, which meant jumping into the Caddy replacement, a Peugeot Partner van, slightly newer, but with the same familiarity as my old Prozac Berlingo.
So we headed back into the town centre to the actual bank branch, only to have the transactions declined repeatedly to the embarrassment of the staff member helping us navigate their future of banking machines.
Ultimately, thankfully, I managed to withdraw a pile of cash and hand it over to Zel.
Thanks for your patience mate.
We headed home to see me off to the motorway and going South on M1 and M25, followed my A2/M2 till I got to the Medway area.

Leaving and mileage as purchased.



Then went via Halfords to buy some VW Reflex silver paint for repairs already in mind.



Then home, and a big grin all the way.

This little van really was proving to be way more than the sum of its parts within the first 100 miles of driving in town and on the motorway.

Got home and parked up behind the outgoing company car.

Happy.



Door to door first trip 104 miles, so just over 160km



Then indoors, pee, coffee, gloat, walk around, gloat, smile.

And then the big decision, like buying your kid his/her/its first beer/cocktail.

The Caddy got its own front door key.

Not only that, a key ring.

Found in the gutter outside the house.

Honestly.



Later I went over to Sallys for dinner as she cooked.

100% gutted that she took no notice and was not interested in the new little lifesaver.

Well, she does not care for cars, does she?

Went home and to bed later with that stupid grin we have when buying a new to us, car.

Little did I know there was pain ahead.

[Braunschweiger]

A nice story, I'm curious to see what happens next.
As far as insurance goes, it's the same with us, it was tiring trying to find an insurance company that would insure a historic truck and not rob you, some didn't even need to respond to inquiries.

[realvc]

I like the new to you van.
On your trip to pick it up, how long were under ground on the train and did you go under any water? I hate tunnels and really hate the ones that go under water.

The van adventure updating and cleaning has begun.

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by Braunschweiger

A nice story, I'm curious to see what happens next.
As far as insurance goes, it's the same with us, it was tiring trying to find an insurance company that would insure a historic truck and not rob you, some didn't even need to respond to inquiries.

I think it is a global response to fraud, and the innocents pay for the rest.

Ever see a parent open a packet of candy, banana for a screaming child in a shop?? Then put the empty container on a shelf before checking out their groceries…..

Yup…..

That is theft, and we pay a premium to replace the stolen goods we never touched.

Originally Posted by realvc

I like the new to you van.
On your trip to pick it up, how long were under ground on the train and did you go under any water? I hate tunnels and really hate the ones that go under water.

The van adventure updating and cleaning has begun.

No idea Vince.

It’s dark.

Yes, Grizzification has begun







RESTLESS.


Side glass, great, BUT…..

Security, privacy, Grizzification……

As usual I have/had a few things in mind before even buying the car.

So I ordered dark @95% limo tint for the side glass, and some black vinyl for the small strip of silver between the glass panels.

Only the side glass to go Limo tint, the rear doors will get 35%.

Ideally it gets done on a warm day to help the tint and vinyl relax. So right now may be too much of a hurry.

But I will try later.

Because

May need extra hands to place it on the glass as well.



And my dirtiest of attempts at photoshop.

Just edit with a black marker.

Get the idea?




May or May not get to it today.

Lucky to have loads of other jobs to get done on the Astro and Caddy.

[Grizz1963]

I know my young friend @nickwheeler will agree and look me straight in the eye, winking knowingly, when I say some people should never be allowed within six foot of a rattle can of paint.

Exhibit no 1



So on the way home from collecting the car, I picked up a couple of colour matched cans of VW Reflex Silver.



By Thursday I had already started to disassemble the car.

Prizefighter look.





And Ugleeee……



Cleaned off, then repainted Simoniz chrome.



Mehhhh….. Fail.



So the rest of the grille was cleaned, scotch pad prepped and then plastic primer added.

Cold, wet day out there, so I used a paint stripping gun to add some heat and dryness to the paint drying.

Followed by silver all over , then cut out masks for the grille bars, and painted black.





Looking like this up close.



Tried out together.

Not quite.



Also repaired a tab that was broken before I dismantled it all.

Two pack epoxy.



So I fixed the wrong sized, curse word grille badge.

Not able to find one yet.



And next day when red paint dried, I tried it on.

Liking that.



So glued in place.



Following day, reassembly.




And of course a short video on the badge getting done.


https://youtu.be/ntRQT9w1wJw?si=RKs4lJavhKxhgCTL


Little things.

Bigger changes,

Whatcha think?

[realvc]

That looks so better than the all silver grille.

More Grissification is on the way.

[realvc]

That looks so much better than the all silver grille.

More Grizzification is on the way.

[Palf70Step]

Nice work on the grill. Looks way better!

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by realvc

That looks so better than the all silver grille.

More Grissification is on the way.

Originally Posted by realvc

That looks so much better than the all silver grille.

More Grizzification is on the way.

Originally Posted by Palf70Step

Nice work on the grill. Looks way better!

Thanks guys.

Small jobs, but all take time.

Ultimate result will be a car I want to drive.

It has a load of Prozac feeling to it.

[Grizz1963]

Back to paint……….


It will be an ongoing theme here, for some time I suspect.


https://youtu.be/uXfRv_4nBcw?si=tC35J9Du-CIh8rxn



Funny how small things can become big things.

Sometimes a fix can lead to a second look, and reward the fixer as well.

When I first saw the Caddy on Zel’s advertisement, the one photo that made it look a bit tired (well, a few really did) was this photo……..

Posture and front wheel…. The wheel just looked tired, but my first thought was that a bit of silver would improve it.
Walking around when I went to look the first time, the rears were just as bad, in a different way.
Someone had smeared some silver over the rust scales with a brush, badly.




So once on my driveway, one of the first jobs to do was to get the wheels all looking the same.

Albeit also with a brush and Hammerite.


So I got straight to it, in fact the first job I got to, 36 hours after collecting, on the Thursday morning, even before the front Grille.



Up in the air.

Axle stands yes.



Sanded them all back, removing flagged lumps of old paint and rust.



Closer up, ready for the next step.



Trusty old Hammerite paint.

Not as good as the bad old stuff, lots of chemicals, carcinogens and poison removed now.



While I waited for the paint to dry, I also tried the Scruffy Micra’s wheels. After all, they cost me £200.00 get looking this good.

Not at all impressed, they are 14’s so the decision made to sell, and sold within an hour of listing for the asking price of £150.00 and collected next morning by 08.00

This meant the door was wide open to start looking for some other wheels to fit as well.

Of course…….. yes, a cheap runaround suddenly escalating and my wallet draining noisily like a bath in a horror movie.



Once I got over the disappointment of the copper alloy fail…….


I crawled around underneath while the van was up in the air.

I was not shocked, I was more than shocked. Zelandeth had warned that the structure underneath was in a crappy state, nothing was hidden, and even peeping under the van when in Milton Keynes was fine to my eye. Now I thought……. MOT Fail?

Flakes of rust the size of my hand waiting to drop off the rear section that had been added into the floor 21 years ago……

These conversions are clearly done at a budget.

Almost non-existent quality control and certainly no long term pride.

Like the saying “If it’s on, it’s gone”

I suspect the builders motto is “Get it done, grab the cash and run”

So another big job may lay in wait, I did not want to go prod with a screwdriver or hammer.

I also could not really figure out how the rear bumper sections will be removed if I can find an intact, undamaged one to fit.

I really do want to fit a decent one to the rear, currently it sucks to look at.







So I went to make a coffee when the paint dried.

Coffee and ginger nuts.

Life savers.

I was pleased with the result of the brush painted steel wheels.

When good enough really means good enough. A temporary fix.




Once refitted to the van I swapped it and the Chevy Astro around.

Took a pic, stood back and smiled.

Small improvements.







And of course opinions are welcome.

I had considered other colours.

Silver is just so, well, silver.

[Braunschweiger]

Rims are like shoes, when they are clean they look great.
The subfloor really needs love, you sprinkle a lot of salt on your roads, right?

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by Braunschweiger

Rims are like shoes, when they are clean they look great.
The subfloor really needs love, you sprinkle a lot of salt on your roads, right?

Thanks, there is a lot more to get it the way I like it.

And yes, the English salt their roads.

Also….. people do not care about cars, so it is driven on salt roads and parked, year after year.

Cars will die.







Two small jobs done.

Due to the new to me, Caddy vans arrival, focus was lost for a bit.

So yesterday afternoon I got a couple of minutes in there.

First job, wrap up the rear carpet retainer strip refit, with new screws.

Looks loads better.





Then proceeded to mess with the piece of Mazda Bongo trim I got from Bill @oxb1l in Scotland

Wish I had the original trim, that would be better.

But we can make it up as we go along.



Just needs a dry, warmer day and some tiger seal to make fit.



Marked, cut, ground, repeatedly till it was a decent fit.



Heat gun action to reshape and get a curve into it.



Well, sun is out, now may be a good time before the next lot of rain drowns the ducks.

More small jobs to get done.


.