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

[Braunschweiger]

It's amazing, you're in the flow, you keep everything moving, it's hard to keep up with the commenting.

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by Braunschweiger

It's amazing, you're in the flow, you keep everything moving, it's hard to keep up with the commenting.

This used to be my normal behaviour.

Thank you.

It feels good.





Progress.

Dusty. Sawdusty.



Person * who was coming to view the green car at 11.00 called at 11.00 to say he is delayed due to flat wheel, I asked how long he would be, 30 minutes he replied. I think he is lying.

I had come in and changed out of my garage clothes.

But I had a coffee at least.

Time wasters.

Speaking of which…….

Fokken Romanians. (Yes I know where he is from, also not first or second idiot who refuses to read and understand an advertisement thinking itd a reality TV show)!

How much is radio?

I send pic of ad he responded to.

He replies 20?

I reply 30!

He says no thanks.

Time wasters.

Saying that, the majority of buyers are good as gold.

Just for some reason, electronics attract numb nuts.





Admit it……..

You are still grinning at my irritation.

Back to work till the car guy arrives.

[Grizz1963]

Journeys of discovery

They are all very different, I recall the first breast I fondled, clear like the light of day, under the mulberry tree.
The first car I drove (a 1968 Mini Pickup my dad owned in 70, 71) metallic green, as he had a thing for having cars repainted. Driving it around our town oval stock car racing track.
The first time I was Shooting a gun (rifle) at someone in anger.

I also remember getting these replacement parts out of a Chevy truck in Arkansas



So the last four weeks have certainly been a Journey of discovery for me

Little by little I have discovered parts for the truck that I have forgotten about over time

And most came off the truck and will need cleaning up and further sorting out

But it is rewarding and fun to some extent

Saturday I got on with all the used parts that came off the truck originally and put them in places, containers and marked them more clearly than before

At one point, @nickwheeler popped in, after his Saturday bell ringing session to cast an eye over my progress. Though he says little, I think he is quietly impressed that I have binned used split pins, toilet tissue and empty Pepsi Max cans

I found my old registration plates and though I love American style plates, and planned to fit some to the truck, these also look good, due to the sheer size of the truck

We will see what happens when the truck is ready for plates



I carried on after Nick left and found more treasures.
Sorting, packing and cleaning some of them.
Resulting ultimately in this…….







There will be a few more things to find, figure out and sort but hopefully they will surface soon. I recall buying some really good quarter windows and rails, much better than what was fitted to the doors, they will be interesting to fit when the time comes

There are newly powder coated Rallye wheels and new trims, center caps etc. All to be rediscovered

I also moved the blower unit that Ian Brown customised for me many years ago back in with all the parts

I remember rebuilding this unit years ago

For anyone who is interested, the blower motor and power switch from earlier Mazda MX5’s are an incredibly easy retrofit here. I used some foam insulation to seal it in






Happy with the result







Sunday was planned for a few tasks as well



Report later


​​​​​​​Maybe ��

[Grizz1963]

Drip feeding.

Too much of a good thing and all that.

Sunday was a slow day after all the rummaging around on Saturday.

But I was onto a bit of woodwork again

Being creative is a lot nicer than just moving stuff around.

I wanted to make a cab lifter again so that I could remove the cab from the chassis when I needed to work on the cab, on its roller jig.

So based on some photos I took years ago, I measured up, then found some lumber in the store.



Cut it all up to size as needed.

Dealt with a time waster who cost me over 90 minutes.
Changing from my garage clothes into jeans, trainers and hoody, before his 11.00 appointment, waiting for him, then getting called to say he had a flat wheel ( I have no doubt he is just a tardy timekeeper) and was running 30 minutes late, which turned into an hour late, ultimately not buying the car after some pretty dumb questions, and going to look at some other cars.

Wood cut up and ready, then assembled it.

Mickey popped in to supervise me and of course help while smoking a couple of smelly roll ups. At 78 he is still going strong.




VIDEO OF PROCESS.

https://youtu.be/W7P0pxKO3Eg?si=8jFOl4LZQFLaigjh



Shut shop by 4.00pm as I had dinner being cooked and needed to spend time with Bonnie.

I also decided not to paint the lifting tool.


Famous last words.


By Monday afternoon I was on it, having dug out some old paint. One metal tin had rusted through the bottom before and was stood upside down on my paint shelf. And a plastic tub of what was left over of a purple/blue made perfect volunteers for random mixing



And done.

Pretty stupid but hey……. Makes me happy.




In the evening I took a look to see if there were any of the Little Tykes Woody cars for sale online.

A few popped up.

Clearly valued by some.

Me included.

And then some dreamers.

But of course if someone paid the price, I would be wrong.



Back to Bonnie.

Loves a ball.

Nonstop.

I try hiding them……

Not a stupid dog.



Wednesday today.

Hump day.

[Grizz1963]

Seen at my local food shop.

No….

Not Walmart or ASDA.

Morrissons.



Be interesting to see the check out process.

[Grizz1963]

​Well it seems spring is here.

The Rapeseed Canola is already in flower.

Time for pretty car pictures.

But also started my yearly 6 months of non sedative antihistamine

Went looking for my left over pills from last year as I start on them and get a repeat prescription which unfortunately takes up to 5 days. NHS at it’s most efficient.

I rediscovered a steering wheel that I bought from mate Darren about 8 years ago for a big wad of cash.

And tried out some checkered vinyl in the rear. This used to be fitted to my 1963 Ford Transit van.



I don’t think so.

Conversely, the steering wheel has still got the same appeal.

For the C10.



Been a busy week.

Not a lot to show, but certainly productive.

Weather still is not done with winter.

Last night rain and wind.

Thankfully moved the van by 18.00

Woke to this today.

The neighbours own that fence, thus responsible for replacing it. However, they sold or are trying to sell the house so no interest in spending money on anything.



Good Friday.

Public holiday in England.

Lots to do today.

[Grizz1963]

You know those days where you are busy all day but have nothing to show for it?

Couple of them this week.

Some of you may recall that I built a small raised sandbox for Sallys grandson during Covid.

Sand was super expensive but my time was not.

Harry her older grandson always plays in it when he visits.
He has been joined by a brother, Alfie now, about a year old.

So the rime had come to replace the plywood lid and to repaint it more appropriately.

I used some checkered vinyl that was in the back of my 1963 Ford Taunus Transit.

Painted it all.

Then headed to Sallys place and painted the box.

Also made a new name and redecorated the step.

I will tackle the paving with my pressure washer some time in the next few weeks





Box done



New name plate and step painted.



And put together yesterday.



Sallys younger son, Ryan, was 24 this week.

His choice for a birthday dinner was a kebab and chiips from the kebab shop 200 meters from home.

I passed on my normal choice of fish and chips and went for a lamb kebab, salad and chips.

We also watched Topgun. Maverick on Netflix and Sally stayed awake for the whole movie.

Today is Saturday so shops are open.

I have a parcel to post.

The excess from the garage continues to sell out in fits and starts despite the number of illiterates not becoming any less.

Still, despite the irritation, cash is king.

[Grizz1963]

Every time you think it’s all over, you trip over something else.

A 14 year hoard of nuts and bolts, washers, brackets, hinges, wood screws of every conceivable kind, and many more small items was a full day’s worth of sorting out. Hard to believe?

You never saw my hoard.

Ask any previous visitor to Grizz Towers.

Cake tin after cake tin of imperial, metric and unidentified fasteners and random stuff was poured out and sorted through.

Keep in mind that I also ha md to create and rearrange all the storage space and containers.

One thing I did, with a heavy heart was to jettison all the traditional wood screws that were stored in various locations and containers. Modern Pozi-Drive type, self cutting screws are just so much quicker and easier to use and I certainly don’t create artisan level work any more.

I didn’t take any photos of this at the start, but trust me……

It was a lot worse than that.





Eventually I also cleared the “electronics table” where most of the Rezin Rockit nuts, bolts, washers and electronics plus paints etc lived for three years.

Could be cleared of a few more bits.



Looking at this lot, it is hard to believe that this is the result of a days work unless I mention that stuff found it’s way to possibly as many as 10 destinations from the sorting table.

​

There still are jobs to do as part of the clear out and preparation for the C10 build but it’s not easy to understand unless you’re actually here on site.

The cash fund that started with an imaginary target of £500.00 in junk sales has made it up to £1670.00 so far.

Yesterday I spent just over a third of it on two new mattresses for my lodger’s bedrooms.

Possibly a better investment than buying another car for now, especially that red Camaro.

It still blows my mind that despite low prices and cheap selling of excess junk, this amount of money has come in over four weeks.



Coming back from town, I had offered Salky our usual 3-6 monthly treat of a quick cheap Turkish lunch, she declined and asked for a McDonalds Biscoff Frappe and something random to eat.

Now McDonalds is something I don’t eat as a habit but I have to remind myself once a year why I don’t eat anything from these “restaurants “

Crispy Chicken Ceasar wraps and caramel Frappes eaten in the carpark like the common people.

Dodged a bullet with the heartburn too.



Came home after this and Sally went home to work in her garden and I started on a two day job that I do yearly.

Spent 4 hours out there hurting.

[Grizz1963]

Like Prozac the Beelingo, the VW Caddy continues to earn its keep.

Every time it does a new job, it ticks a mental bank account box for me, justifying its existence throughout igu “man maths “

Two double bed mattresses, two TV’s, a wooden TV stand, some other random junk.

Tomorrow it fetches a wooden double bed frame and disposes of a double bed base.

Yup…….

Function over Form.





Caddy delivers.

And at an average of 43 MPG (imperial gallons)! I think it’s a bit more special than it looks.

Almost the weekend too.

[Braunschweiger]

You are hard-working and have the right tools at hand.

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by Braunschweiger

You are hard-working and have the right tools at hand.

Thank you.

I am feeling more and more like myself

I used to have so much drive and energy to get jobs done.

I am pleased to see change on my builds.

[Grizz1963]

So the Caddy continues to deliver great service both as a cheap daily (cost me £1200.00 as it stands) and as a load lugger and functional tool.


Amazingly I saw it early, and bought by it mid October.
Making it 6 months ago.
So in doing basic man maths, (which usually includes insurance and fuel) the car as it stands on the driveway cost me £200.00 per month. If you include insurance pro-rated to 6 months and diesel it probably comes to an unscientific £250.00 per month.
The longer and more it works here, the cheaper it effectively becomes.


So a tip run to dispose of my two lodger spare room double bed mattresses and two large TV’s, two TV stands, cardboard and polystyrene resulted in me scavenging out of the metal disposal bin (with permission, in the UK where I live, you can be prosecuted for removing a paperclip.) a small rotten kids size cast metal garden bench.


Bench as seen and into the Caddy before I got rid of the mattresses.





Back home I quickly unloaded my treasure and took stock of what I had.
Hmmmmmmmm……??


Why do I do this every time?








Coffee and a digestive, chat with a buddy, check email etc

Then headed out to go play

Disassembling with caution as its old and I really don’t like breaking stuff like this

Also headed into my secret wood store to find some correct wood. Something the right thickness, texture etc I love old bed frames, IKEA shelving and such as its already planed, smooth and usually good quality, so the Caddy could pick those up when you drive by







After preparing the wood I cleaned up the rest of the frame and proceeded with etch primer and then painted the parts

Originally I had some dull blue to use but the can (was 50p years ago on an end of production sale) kept failing

I eventually switched to a can of burgundy, which actually turned out to be a good choice









Overnight the paint dried nicely.

So yesterday I continued with assembly

And this was the loose assembly.






And finally completed.

Looking a lot better than 18 hours before.





Stepping back, I noticed that there was more to do.


So another piece of wood liberated from the store.


My £20.00 bootfair router from a weekend away about 10 years ago came out, along with a sander Mickey threw out years ago.


So I made and detailed a name plate for the grandkids. Sally’s, not mine.
Harry is 5 years old and Alfie 9 months old.


After a quick practice session I free handed the names.





drilled holes in the sides just for detail

Painted…….



​​​​​​​



And finally the 24 hour turn around

If I were to value my time, this becomes an extremely expensive bench for a couple of kids that are not even related to me






Delivered to Sallys place

Now she wants one in adult size as well

Looks great with the sand box I fixed last week



​​​​​​​Not sure what to do today

[Braunschweiger]

Wow, that's a real gem, you really have talented hands and imagination for what you can do with it, the Caddy is amazing, my neighbor, who is an electrician, bought a new Caddy second hand and says: he doesn't know how he ever got by without it, the car offers so much space.
So everything was done right.

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by Braunschweiger

Wow, that's a real gem, you really have talented hands and imagination for what you can do with it, the Caddy is amazing, my neighbor, who is an electrician, bought a new Caddy second hand and says: he doesn't know how he ever got by without it, the car offers so much space.
So everything was done right.

You are very kind Harald.

Thank you for taking the time to write up your replies.

Many people have no clue how useful these small vans can be.

I love this Caddy.

[Grizz1963]

Cut the grass at number 1 position yesterday.


I tend to keep to setting number 2 throughout winter to keep it tidy.


I also washed and polished the Astro van as I was heading out to a late afternoon (4.30 onwards) car gathering about 30 miles from here.


I also had some multi ton lifting straps to deliver to mate Darren, so the van was being used as a van.


I keep saying it but I do love this thing



Pleasure to own, drive and look at











Got to go fill it up before leaving, despite still showing a 1/4 tank of petrol. My dad brought me up not to leave on any trip with less than 1/2 a tank and to replace a battery the first time it refused to start a car.


Do remember that this is an American commercial vehicle that would have been destined to do loads of long distance work so a 30 liter fuel tank would not have been needed







The trip there and back was pretty good, van loving to hover right around the legal speed limit,

I have had this dancing Elvis for years and he made me chuckle when the road conditions made him move about erratically as only Elvis did

Sad reflection on the state of our roads

And also points a finger straight at local councils who continue to squander our taxes on non important things while allowing the infrastructure to fall apart





I made a short video, including some pics of the cars that came out, despite the crappy weather

There was a relatively large contingent of Toyota Celicas and Corollas. Mostly rough, but all someone’s pride and joy

VIDEO LINK


Today is Sunday, not yet decided what slow job to get going in this morning



Thanks for checking in and any comments

[Grizz1963]

Summer is coming.

Antihistamines and cutting grass.

Also parts of the garden waking up, bringing once a year beauty in the form of certain flowers and plants making their reappearance.



I just couldn’t get going yesterday.

Opened my woodwork shop and started dragging parts out to build an oil can ukelele with.

Mickey popped around, twice.

We had coffee, chatted, I enjoyed the distraction as I really wasn’t feeling the shop.
I searched for a small cheap, working ride on mower for him. Unsuccessfully.
I am sure Wolf tools used to make an extremely simple one, but finding something that works is not that easy.
Then went around to his place to help him lift some stuff in his garage.
He is 78. Years old and forgetd that he is slowly getting older.

He offered me a gazebo frame, before he scraps it.

So I now need to order a 3x3 meter canvas roof for it.

Could be useful when working on the C10 outside in the sun, if we have a summer.



Of course after all the wind and drizzling rain the van once again looks like a step child, grubby and neglected.

But I did take a few pics and took some measurements……

Based on a conversation I was having with a long time friend.

My Suburban comes in right around 80 inches to the tyres, The ##### is 79.5(ish) to the widest point on the arches and the K5 Blazer is about 79.5 too (not including mirrors on any of them!). Makes the Jag and Merc look positively skinny!

Always something brewing.



When I reverse (the only way I park cars out back) down the alley, the mirrors both have to be folded in.

You can’t get down there unless you have done that.





Measurement of the alleyway.

You need to subtract 3 inches from the 80 inches to accommodate the boiler pipe and windowsill on the one side.



Life’s challenges ehhh??

Saved by the tape measure?

Have a good week.

[shp4man]

Some of us Americans have an appreciation for British machines. This one comes to mind:

[shp4man]

Some of us Americans have an appreciation for British machines. This one two comes to mind:

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by shp4man

Some of us Americans have an appreciation for British machines. This one two comes to mind:

I will guess it’s a Spitfire?

Iconic for sure.

[Grizz1963]

Jobs that I really hate.

Pressure washing all of my concrete surfaces every year.

Then sanding in all the joints with kiln dried sand.

For those who have no idea, a lot of my hard standing surfaces have what is known as block paving.
Small individual bricks laid and compacted as driveway.
Pretty, but a bastardo to clean up yearly.
Those in sunny climates like Africa, Australia and lots of the USA will never understand.


Moss and fungus, weeds and whatever can germinate will grow there in the grooves, so you need to spray poison like Roundup or pull the weeds twice a season as well.

When you then come with the pressure cleaner, and I buy the most powerful one you can get for the money, you blast all the sand, moss, roots of weeds out.
Keep in mind that every brick has four bevelled edges to deal with plus the flat, mossy green top surface.

Yup………

I hate it.

Takes me three days to do all of it.

Keeping in mind you cover everything in a 10 meter radius in sh!t and constantly have to go back to clean where you left off. The amount of debris from the cleaning builds up so sweeping it up, collecting the dirt etc is more time consuming.


LAST THING.

I am 1.83m or 6 foot tall.

The lance or sprayer is made for a 1.65m or 5’5” short person. So you are bending over all the time to get the nozzle working 80-100mm off the ground. Don’t tell me about those sexy round brush things. THEY DON’T WORK for my application.

So I started at the garage. First job…….
Clear all my junk, left after the big clear out the last few weeks.
Clear a years worth of leaves and dirt under the hedge.

Then start the torture.

What you have after a year.

Junk moved.

​

The target.







Takes time.

The before and after images give an idea of how important this actually is.

Never looks that bad, till you start.



Two hours to do this section so far.



Next day some more.



Once it is dry, the idea is to sweep and brush kiln dried sand into the grooves.
This prevents stones moving once you drive over them.



Wet sand is not ideal.
But I paid for it, so I would use it. Right?

Garage area done.



Concrete strips next.



Video shows it a bit weird but trust me…… horrible job.

Then area behind the kitchen, followed by alleyway and out front.

Kitchen parking done.



Front area.

Bloody storm winds were not helpful.





Almost done.

By this point, I was cold, sore and tired.

But I finished the rest of the drive.





Next job was to grab the VW Caddy and go fetch a massive wooden double bed frame.

The rest was good, but I almost couldn’t get out the van I was so stiff and sore.

Loving this van doing it’s job.





So next job is to go buy some fresh kiln dried sand for the driveway block paving.

Till next year.


Three days worth of work in 6 minutes video.


Enjoy.

https://youtu.be/-WhOu6tTYkg?si=HbIVrREXmGkTbMP4


Thanks for watching.

[Grizz1963]

Final part of the pressure cleaning job.

Wait for a sunny day, wait for pathways to be dry or even warm this time of year.

Slow, systemic and meticulous spreading of the sand, and cleaning away all the excess.

Gaps up to 7mm where heavy stuff like a loaded Transit van used to park daily for years, creating grooves and movement of the stones.



Then start high, spread the sand in a way you can push it about with the large yard broom.



Done.

Till next year.



Short video for those who like it.

https://youtu.be/mVWgthHIQdc?si=rodrWZA-pbllDy1r


Friday evening was good, typically beautiful sunset as we have this time of the year.



Perfect weather for my first BBQ or Braai of the year tonight.

Summer soon.

I hope.

[Grizz1963]

Weekend is over.

Sleep sucks.

Life is good.

I will Copy and paste a single write up.

So apologies for duplicate pics, but you love pics…… Right??


Saturday I washed the van in preparation for Sundays breakfast meeting.

Cleanliness is next to godliness I hear.







Making a fire earlier in the day to burn a load of broken furniture wood (non recyclable) it became apparent that the crack in the structure was growing.
I possibly caused this a few years ago making a massive fire in the middle of winter.

I made the decision to smash this down after 13 years of service.

That will mean another job.

More money.

Buggerr.





Dinner was good.

https://youtu.be/d2glX9aZ3KQ?si=GbrW5mmeUFxd_Bzl





Sunday I headed out in the van.

Made a video of the day.

Met some nice people.

Had an offer to buy the van.



https://youtu.be/49Tf7UnY8Pk?si=2avF4Vy002_JP3Hh



All the cars at the meeting.

https://youtu.be/iCkqrX8dV2U?si=gn5LgDBs0sP82Nr8


Afterwards I headed out to Uncle Bob’s yard to see him and Uncle Peter (86 year old retired builder) about buying some “new” recycled, cleaned bricks.

I did a rough count of the face-bricks used above the preparation area.
I plan on leaving the concrete foundation and cabinets plus cast, reinforced floor of the chimney as it all seems intact.
Approximate count is around 500 bricks to replace what is there but I am going to change the design a bit or a lot.

Smashing down the rest of it, the rubble will be processed into another job.
More about this later.

Uncle Peter was busy pointing the brickwork of one of the barns where he had rebuilt the corner that was smashed by a truck, years ago.
So I dragged him away from his mortar and we spoke bricks.
He has about 800 cement style, pressed bricks on some pallets that could be for sale.
At 50p per brick it’s not as cheap as free, but finding something where the price, look and availability cross on a sweet spot it not that easy.

So I agreed to taking the 800 and fetching and transporting them myself for £400.00 unless he changes his mind.

The excess will be used on another job which is planned for the short term future.




Lastly…….

I looked at this again, not easy to access as it is stored, if you can call it that, in the rear of a massive, disused, damaged greenhouse with loads of junk in front of it.

Uncle Bob the Hoarder owns it.

Wants very strong money for it.

But I do like it.

Think re-body.




Eventually I left them and headed home.

Moved to green 206 CC down to the workshop as I have done nothing with it and getting the roof to open since weeks ago when I walked away to get on with more important things.

Parked the van and headed to Sallys place to use her broadband to upload my YouTube videos that I can’t do at home due to Sky and Openreach’s terrible service.

Have a great week.

[Grizz1963]

So today the Astro, which was professionally lowered a lot, if you look at some photos from the side etc, got to work for real for the first time.

550kg is not a lot, bug when you place it over and behind the rear wheels and diff, it certainly affects things.

There is some stuff about to start happening at Grizz Towers soon, so I am getting a lot of peripheral stuff done, prepared and planned.

The fuel tank was about 40mm off the drive if you zoom in under the rear.
​Luckily I only had about 1.5 miles or 2.5km to drive.
Including a hill, two roundabouts and my crappy road outside.

I have one more load to collect tomorrow morning from Uncle Bob the Hoarders yard and Uncle Peter to pay.








This part of the story will unfold in a slightly different way depending on how many people complain, compliment or question.

So make some noise.

[Grizz1963]

Right

A quick explanation and illustration for those who want to add all sorts of suspension modifications to the van.

Some of which would double the price.

I rather do four trips and spend £10.00 on fuel than modify the van.

Part of its appeal lies in the stance and how low it was built.

It is no longer a commercial vehicle.

You cannot see it in the photo but the tank never touched the road with me driving it at up to 35mph. Limit here is 40 in parts and 30 mph.









In other news.

The photo and video clip will show you my little win for today.


Yup……..


Sesame opened without a fight.


So back up for sale, just in time for summer.


Check out the short video clip.


https://youtu.be/_hV8J4FBHgI?si=v1M1qpWJHrgnuw-u






Right.

Headed out to fetch another load in the Astro.


Later.

[Braunschweiger]

The Astro is not only beautiful, it can also work.
Great news about the convertible. Summer is coming.