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

[Palf70Step]

Nice looking furniture Rian. Good saying to!

[clemdaddy]

Originally Posted by Palf70Step

Nice looking furniture Rian. Good saying to!

X2

hows the chuckin' it going. pretty well I hope.
we're here for you bro, reach out if you feel the need... you have friends aplenty on all continents.

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by Palf70Step

Nice looking furniture Rian. Good saying to!

Originally Posted by clemdaddy

X2

hows the chuckin' it going. pretty well I hope.
we're here for you bro, reach out if you feel the need... you have friends aplenty on all continents.

Thanks guys.

Right now that saying is my mainstay reference point.

Hopefully in the next 2-3 weeks my world will be headed in whatever direction it will.


Nothing to report on my truck, but thought some of you would be interested in one of the 11 trucks in the team Dennis works on, photo posted above in prep phase before the race.

Wednesday:



Came back after hitting the wall 10 laps before the end when leading the race.

Sunday:







Strip down to bare chassis, blast and repaint.






Myself? Now actively looking for a girl/lady with similar interests who can make a decent garage sandwich and mug of tea.

Point them my way, and no cross dressers please, I will figure it out some time

[Ta2Don]

Been a bit since I checked in here, thankful for the routine contact and pics shared... Hang in there mate... and I know you are...

[Grizz1963]

Bootfair, then cut grass, followed by clearing some stuff around the garage.

This was followed by cleaning out the blasting cabinet and selectively removing the good part of the glass media from two oil contaminated bags. And then adding a sealed bag into the cabinet....... Ohhh Bollo## !!!
The clean up contaminated bag ended up damp, so now I will have to drain the lot and lay it out on a sunny day to dry and then refit to the cabinet.

Plan was to find my brake hub rebuild kits (which I now have) and to start on them today, but time caught me out.

I have been waiting for a few weeks for some of the guys off Retro Rides down in the Medway Kent area to come around to visit and today was the day, so the plan was a small BBQ and general car related chat.

So by 2.30 Darrenh and Sweetpea (James) got here and we had a great afternoon, the company was very welcome.

By 6pm they left again to get to their own homes and lives.

James in his Toyota.



And Darren in his restored Land Rover. Lovely tool it is too.





And off they went.




Earlier this week I was looking at one of the trucks Clem at www.tubatrucks.com is restoring and realised my truck was not fitted with some parts around the radiator support.
THREAD HERE: http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=648457

I commented and asked if they were standard fitment or custom addition, seems they were standard so in the past those from my truck must have been discarded.

The next day there was a PM from Clem in Fayetteville, Arkansas to say that I could stop looking for the parts as he had a pair set aside for me. Thank you Clem.

My truck without the parts.



And the pair painted blue on the restored truck. Usually they are black it seems, but body colour looks rather smart.



On Thursday evening I got a message from Bret in Austin,Texas to say he has found me a pair of panels with the fasteners for $8.00 which I was happy with too, as he was not aware that Clem had also offered me a set.



Life certainly still is good.

With friends and support coming from the four corners of the globe, my cocked up life certainly feels a lot more manageable.

Weekend over.

[Palf70Step]

Nice to hear you got those parts. Both the MR2 and LR look good!

[chad64chevy]

Rian, it's been awhile since I checked in on you cause of (WORK)! Sorry to hear about Nicola, things will get better for you my friend! life has threw you a few curveballs with the jobs and all! you have came out on top, this will not keep you down! on fb you can see what I have been doing this weekend so no truck time for me either

[uber cool]

wow Rian, ive not been on the forums for a month or so, sorry to here about your split. Not sure what to say other than as others we are here for you and things will pickup soon. take care and hope to see you next year at the auto jumble for a longer period, ie we'll have a coffee and chat.

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by chad64chevy

Rian, it's been awhile since I checked in on you cause of (WORK)! Sorry to hear about Nicola, things will get better for you my friend! life has threw you a few curveballs with the jobs and all! you have came out on top, this will not keep you down! on fb you can see what I have been doing this weekend so no truck time for me either

Thank you Bill and Chad.

Yes, life has been interesting, but I have all you guys about, so it's good.

We all get our fair share of curved balls, just need to his a home run, rather than drop the bat.

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by uber cool

wow Rian, ive not been on the forums for a month or so, sorry to here about your split. Not sure what to say other than as others we are here for you and things will pickup soon. take care and hope to see you next year at the auto jumble for a longer period, ie we'll have a coffee and chat.

Thanks Andy,

Yes, a longer chat, coffee and some Digestives out my backpack will be good.

If you are at Old Warden next weekend, Martin and I should be there too.

Coffee?

[Grizz1963]

Well, Good news abounds this week......

Took a day off on Friday that was really enjoyable. Spent time stuck on the M25 motorway and spent some money at IKEA after having Meatballs and chips for lunch there.

Noooooo, I did not get any truck time in. BUT.... Nicola did exchange contracts on Friday, and should complete in two weeks time and then be able to move out. The rest of the divorce will follow as soon as I have loose funds to do a simple DIY divorce.
Thankfully, at this point there still is no malice or great spite. I guess drifting apart since three years ago, and her telling me she wanted to leave a year ago has helped. To date we have not shouted at each other as seems to be so normal.
Of course it sucks etc, but she has long since left this marriage and been dating other guys a while.
So I registered on Plenty of Freaks three weeks ago and became quite despondent at the ladies on there (Nicola and I met on POF, so there was hope) So last week I started chatting to a rather lovely, intelligent and funny lady, and at this point we are on the Whatsapp stage which is very slow and old fashioned, but she makes me laugh a LOT and I prefer to let it run a slow course, she is also 50 miles away from here.
I know it's early days, but happy to have a good new friend in her at this point.

So on Saturday we went to do some measurements at. Nicola's new house she bought, I am keeping it nice and will help her along, as it should make the divorce smooth...... Let's hope so.

She is turning her third bedroom into a walk in wardrobe so I am making some serious wall hanging space like in my house.

Harley has been all over me recently, obviously sensing I need help in the garage etc. So when we got back Nicola went off with the new boyfriend for the rest of the day and we decamped to the garage.



Having to think slightly abstractly I had to work from where I knew I had to get to, to prep all the parts.

Wood dug out of Mickey and my wood pile down the side of the garage, it was clean out handfuls of screws and some nails with my new to me Makita cordless drill, one of two CraigRK gave me a few weeks ago....... Even just using this tool left me with a mad silly grin on my face, realising my life is actually really good and that I have a bunch of very supportive friends out there, plus now Katy who makes me smile and look forward to her next text or reply. Funny that.
Measured the wood, cut, processed and recessed for supports, managed to cut one recess the wrong side...... Yup, measured once and cut..... No welding a piece back in there curse word!!! Anyway, fortunately it was an easy fix, cutting the one support back and then screwing in from inside the recess.

Used some 1mm plate I had under the workbench and made the wall plates and fitted them.



Ending with these, broomsticks for illustration.

Full length will be 2800mm of which half will be two tiered and half at full length for dresses.



That wrapped up my Saturday.

Spent some time chatting to guys from around the world and of course Katy making me laugh.

Woke at 04.30 on Sunday and by 05.00 was on FaceTime to Paul and Brandon in Ada, Oklahoma for 50 minutes, giving Brandon a tour of my place. Those guys are building some serious trucks at the moment...... 3 trucks bei built in one shop by the two of them.

Bootfair by 06.15 and we did 4 of them. A record.

Spent £61.00 on stuff calculated to value around £620.00 much of it new with labels.

Back home I started to paint the frames up and also a pine mirror that cost £2.00 but needed to be white.





Happy with the results.

All of this stuff just means I am getting close to getting my life back fully in two weeks time, then I should be back on track.

I managed to get some good video link chat time with Dennis in St Louis as well.

He sent a pic of the speedo of his Hemi Challenger that he had given a special waxing for its 13k miles anniversary






I am so looking forward to this break in the USA and spending time with various friends.

Still feeling massively privileged and honoured Dennis is trusting me to look after his baby.

Back to work today.

[clemdaddy]

seems you had a full and complete weekend… that's a blessing in itself. the truck will wait, just keeping mind and hands busy, that's the ticket.
RockOn Rian...

[Palf70Step]

Wish I could figure out time to get up to Clem's to meet with ya. Keep on roillin bud, things will come together.

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by clemdaddy

seems you had a full and complete weekend… that's a blessing in itself. the truck will wait, just keeping mind and hands busy, that's the ticket.
RockOn Rian...

All true Clem.

I am sure the truck will give me a great buzz when I am back on it, for now I am just keeping busy with work and home stuff.

And trying to find some joy out there too.

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by Palf70Step

Wish I could figure out time to get up to Clem's to meet with ya. Keep on roillin bud, things will come together.

That would be awesome Bill, pity someone does not have a private jet on here to ferry a bunch of guys over.....

And yes, keeping busy the best I can.

I think in two weeks my life may be a bit more together.



Quick n dirty posting.

I know we have some farmers, weirdos and interested parties on here.

Last night when I got in from work they had just started to harvest the rear field, usually I get to go in the Combine harvester with Charlie, but I had stuff to do, so decided a quick look would do me just fine.

This stuff always makes me smile.




There are two tractors and four trailers that run non stop.
The guys work till about 11.30pm with lights, at which time I guess the moisture content of the air rises.

A bit of tractor noise.........

Harvesting 2016 - YouTube

I wonder how many loaves of bread, muffins, bread rolls to a trailer.

COMBINE HARVESTER BEING SICK:

Combine harvester August 2016 - YouTube

Sorry it was a bit long, did not know how to shorten it without losing my pleasure.






And this morning that was the view at 05.30am

By this afternoon it will all be round baled and by the weekend, stacked and stored, ready to be sold or fed to the local beef crop.



Life is good.

Did I mention that before?

[uber cool]

Cant make Old Warden but looking to got the Hot Rod Drags at Shakespear Country drag strip 9 - 11th Sept

[flashed]

That is a beautiful view there ,I love to see fields being harvested ,no big farming like that nearby .Saw a lot of that in Michigan last year in our travels .The truck will still love you when the time comes to get back on it .

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by flashed

That is a beautiful view there ,I love to see fields being harvested ,no big farming like that nearby .Saw a lot of that in Michigan last year in our travels .The truck will still love you when the time comes to get back on it .

Thank you John.

I agree, the truck will be there.


This will be another quick n dirty post, a bunch of pics, few words, but you should be able to figure it all out by yourselves.

So Nicola's new home she bought went through on last Wednesday and she got the keys.

Unfortunately, the brain surgeons that Barclays (my bank) retains, dropped the ball repeatedly, and to be honest...... I am tempted to do the feedback on experience, but asked Nicola to do it on our behalf as she is 100 times more brutal and unforgiving than me.

Needless to say, it took a lot of anger management between us not to throw a demonic hand down the phone line and rip out the throat of the brain surgeon who was my case manager.

Still, after much frustration and misunderstandings, which were clearly all my fault, we managed to close Nicola's deal by Wednesday.

So when I got home from working in London, I went home, emptied out my car and loaded it to the point where I was sliding pictures in above all the other stuff, up against the roof. I then took this load to her new place and unloaded it all, then proceeded to paint till late in the night.

Thursday I took a day paid leave and spent all day painting and doing other jobs after taking another load of stuff over for her from Grizz Towers. Finishing and heading home after 22.00

So this is what we started with.

The previous owners must have had shares in Dulux experimental division.

Colours like you won't believe, the dining room had a Nasty Orange, covered by one coat of magnolia etc.

The purple bedroom was chosen to become Nicola's walk in wardrobe. So the colour had to go.

She will be recarpeting the house ASAP too.





And the frames I had previously built for all the hanging space, with shelves incorporated, fitted.



Done.






Main bedroom had this delightful wallpaper as well.



I had bought a wallpaper steamer for £3.00 at a bootfair to deal with it, but on the day she said, lets see what it does when you paint some of it.

So one coat of Magnolia later.......

She still has to deal with the green, wanting to make that white, I thought the green looked OK.



The new colour for the main bedroom will be one wall with this Tuscan Terracota and three walks with a lighter variation.



Bedroom number two, also dealt with in the same random way as the rest of the house will be a teal and white affair.



The lounge and dining room walls were all grubby and needed fresh, different colours too.

So I just kept going, Friday night and then of course Saturday as well.



Finally resulting in this look.



I between there was shelves to fit, make and also the loft to be sorted and again shelving, floor repairs etc to be done.

By Saturday afternoon we were both knackered and tired of each other's company, so I came home and rested.

After all, Sunday was going to be a bootfair day.

[Palf70Step]

I was just getting ready to PM you to check on ya since it has been quiet across the puddle.

Glad to see things moving along. You have been a very busy dude!

[flashed]

You have been quite busy and it all looks much better .

[clemdaddy]

You are a bigger man than I could be. Getting Nicola set up in a new house is over the top 'good guy status' that few people could ever achieve. Hope that you will soon pass into the next big wonderful relationship and find yourself again saying, 'chuck in' it into the bucket on that one.
We have a saying in the Southern States 'If that dog won't hunt...'

[Bomp]

You are A true gentleman.
Me not so much.
See you in October.

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by Palf70Step

I was just getting ready to PM you to check on ya since it has been quiet across the puddle.

Glad to see things moving along. You have been a very busy dude!

"MULTI QUOTE" function seems to have disappeared so now single quote replies.

Thank you Bill, yes, been quiet, mainly due to just being a bit busy with the day job and getting the whole move sorted as simply as possible for Nicola.

Loads of stuff has been going on behind the scenes. I have been collecting furniture, using a neighbours van, storing a load of stuff for her at another neighbour two houses up who owns the house next door, that is empty, that has helped us massively.

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by flashed

You have been quite busy and it all looks much better .

Totally agree.

I have now completely Spring cleaned the upstairs floor.

The new lodger moves in on Friday.

He is 47 years old, works for a large supermarket chain in their online business managing a team. His day starts at 02.30 when he gets up , leaves at 03.30 for a shift that runs from 04.00 to 12.00 or sometimes a bit later.

So we will probably live last each other a lot.

His contribution will take the sting out of the mortgage going up by 150%

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by clemdaddy

You are a bigger man than I could be. Getting Nicola set up in a new house is over the top 'good guy status' that few people could ever achieve. Hope that you will soon pass into the next big wonderful relationship and find yourself again saying, 'chuck in' it into the bucket on that one.
We have a saying in the Southern States 'If that dog won't hunt...'

Hey Clement.......

Thank you for the comments.

I agree with you, this will go into the bucket once fully dismantled.


I think the negative energy spent on an acrimonious breakup outweighs the energy I have spent and gained, remember there is still a formal divorce to come and I want that to be smooth sailing too.
Also remember that some people are more loyal than others and there I guess I fail big time....... Too loyal. But we had 8 good years, and still to date no fights.

Rather this way than making some knob head solicitor rich.
I have great friends and support of varying levels around me.

And a USA trip I am looking forward to massively.