Midget
Red Exterior with a Black Interior and a removable top....a nice affordable sports cars.
Fun to drive with the 4 speed on the floor, 4 cyclinder with dual Weber carburetors. This car was a full repaint and polish.
Pigeon Shit & Cadillacs
I owned two 1960 Cadillac Coupe de Villes...beautiful, elegant cars in their day with the perfect styling and stance - probably one of my favorite years of Cadillac. I had bought them many years back with the intent that one could be completely restored between the two cars. I had them stored in a neighbouring barn over winter, not thinking any harm could come their way. The following spring I found them covered in heaps of pigeon shit like I never thought possible.
It pained me to see them in such condition...so I sold them as a pair shortly thereafter. I hate pigeons.
The International "Disaster"
It is one thing to work on a vehicle that you like...it is a total separate thing to work on a vehicle that you don't like.
I like most vintage cars and trucks. One can always find some unique feature to admire, but vehicles from the International Harvester Company - not so much. They were very utilitarian and plain, never real head-turners. They made a few nice ones in the 30's, but the brand took a turn for the worse in the 50's all the way up to their financial struggles in 80s.
The business eventually turned to a dedicated farm/agriculture product supplier.
For this 1954 International truck, I repaired the paint finish...it's tough to polish a turd.
....and of course why not work another one!
...it all starts with a $0.97 car
I built these Hotwheels display shelves for both Nash and Slavik. I tried to find something already available but I was not satisfied with all the cheap and flimsy plastic products on the market. These I welded from left-over steel pieces treated with base-clear paint. The chrome "V"s were replated as they are from my Chevy back in high school. I custom made the vinyl decal...each shelf holds about 160 cars and the boys love displaying them.
"Before & After": 1940 Chevrolet
I bought the truck for $300. It was a skeleton when I started and required a full restoration as well as an extensive search for a number of period correct parts for the 1940 year, including the hood ornament.
It took me 2.5 years but I finally got the truck to better than new condition. The body and paint I applied in the restoration were excellent with a period correct Chevrolet red and 6 coats of clear...wet-sanded & polished to a finish. The deck was treated with White Pine with 9 coats of lacquer finish.
Every nut and bolt replaced and polished - the truck through this restoration is the best of its kind anywhere. I didn't keep track of the total hours but every weekend, holiday and late night was spent getting it back to perfect. There wasn't a piece left untouched.
The paint color in those bulbous fenders and the re-chroming with that towering grill makes for a prominent and distinct look.
You always get surprises along the way in any restoration. In this case, the $1500 bill for re-chroming just the grill alone was a big one. The most challenging part on the entire restoration was probably the headliner. It is a solid piece of black press board that is re-manufactured to original size. It comes as a flat piece and needs to be molded to shape the concave dome of the roof line. To soften the press board it needs to be moistened with liquid Ammonia and about 5 hands worth of help. You got one shot to make it work...or its a mess.
Chevrolet only made this style of truck in 1939 and 1940 and remains as one of my favorite pre-war designs.
![IMG_1446[1].JPG](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/ec5539_867cd62af5ab4c9396d1cd290f9806a0.jpg/v1/crop/x_65,y_316,w_3199,h_1665/fill/w_528,h_263,al_c,q_80,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_avif,quality_auto/IMG_1446%5B1%5D_JPG.jpg)
"BADAS59" Bird: 1959 Thunderbird
I wanted to build a car with two colors: Black & Chrome- Badass.
I bought the car from a fellow in St. Albert, Alberta. Car was in a million pieces when I bought it as the guy had everything apart on the car and nothing labeled - just a mess of boxes and parts everywhere. The car looked like a wreck.
Body, paint, engine, chassis, wheels, electrical, chrome/emblems, interior....the works I did on this car. And yes the gas tank, brake lines, leaf spring U-bolts are all chrome...the underneath has as much chrome as the topside.
Wrought Iron Acreage Gates
This was a winter project i had building automatic gates for my property entrance. I sketched out the gate design and got to work welding the pieces to form two mirror image 8 foot panels accompanied by 2 additional wing panels. After welding and sealing all joints and I had the panels powder-coated with high gloss black and mounted them at the entrance of the property.
I built the stone pillars by fabricating concrete columns and purchased the ball finials from Montana to add a final touch.
Bird Hunting - 1960 T-Birds
Found a good deal on a project 1960 Thunderbird hardtop and a 1960 Thunderbird convertible. Since restoring the BADAS59 Black 1959 Thunderbird....the boys are bird lovers now. Met a great fellow east of Edmonton with unfortunate health issues and he was looking to see these two birds go to a good home. The hardtop is in fair shape but the convertible is a mess and likely only good for parts. 1959 and 1960 were based on the same body design with subtle differences in trim, suspension and interior. This era (58-60) is known as the "square bird".
Took us most of the day to 'extract' these gems from the bush where they had been parked since the 1990's.
I'm always cautious in these T-Bird years as Ford used a uni-body (no frame) design and the floor pans and undercarriage can be a rust haven presenting many challenges....so you really have to find a solid car.
1937 Cadillac Series 75
