Naturally

Waking up yesterday and looking outside was just incredible. The snow laden trees with the sun just coming up through them was something to see. It was all gone in a few hours, those who slept late missed out. After working a bit in the shop on Saturday I wasn’t much up for going out to dinner with the rents. So when they wen’t out to dinner I went outside where dad had some brush piles he had burned during the day and got them going again. It was nice to be outside in the snow with a nice big bonfire to keep me warm. Sometimes just an hour or two outdoors is enough to recharge you for a while.

What it looked like off the deck

In the shop today it was more screwing…there are quite a number of screws holding the TC timbers together. I have about 10 more screws to put in on BlownTC then the wood is back together, YEAAAA!!! Today I sandblasted the rust off the inside of the ¼ panels, front and back, where the felt was. I put Rust Mort on it to stop the rust and tomorrow I’ll give them a few coats of black paint. They should be fitted back on by tomorrow. I hope! Now I’m beginning to know what dad meant when he said it isn’t as easy as it looks…

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The red sprite is gone so we gained a little breathing room! The welding repair on the one TD’s body tub is done and the bodywork is starting. Hopefully we can mate it back to the chassis soon and gain some more room. But with two more cars coming in April it won't last long.

Dad has a new toy, a drill doctor, which was sorely needed. I think there was more dull drills in the shop than sharp ones. This machine works well, it sharpens a drill in about a minute. Dad has been practicing and his mission is now to get everyone to buy one! Everyone that comes into the shop gets a demonstration and a lesson on how to use it. I really feel we should get a commission on any Drill Doctors that are ordered as a result of the demos.

Work is progressing on BlownTC; I actually worked on it today for a bit. The wood replacement is pretty much done. The wood fit real well after some cutting, grinding, sanding and manipulation with at least 3 sizes of hammers!!! But I’m real happy with the final fit. Monday the metal will probably be back in place and if nothing else is pressing in the shop I’ll probably begin stripping the paint off the body and see what surprises that offers.

I haven’t put up pictures for a while so here are a few.

I had no idea it was going to go this far!

This was the bad corner which prompted the rear rebuild.

Where we are now

Here I am!

I know I’ve been incognito lately. I had a lot of things to do last week with a physical and dentist appointment etc. I skied Monday and I play darts on Tuesday. No excuses but…

I’ve been waiting for a piece of wood to come in (it had to come from California) for BlownTC, yeah I know another one. I was final screwing the wood around the left door when I noticed a small crack where you bolt through the scuttle side rail, that’s the small piece of wood at the top of the front quarter panel between the dash paned side and the firewall. When I gave it a poke a hunk (right where the screw goes) fell out. And for a 16 dollar piece the work stopped again! I had a few other things around the shop to do anyway and with the things going on outside the shop… Friday I took the parts off the firewall and stripped the paint off of it so I did get something done. And the piece of wood came in on Friday. So this week should be a productive one…I hope, I’m not making much money this way!!!

We got the holes in the body tub for the other TD in the shop welded up and ready for the finish bodywork. Hopefully it will be ready for paint next week. If it gets painted it can go back on the rolling chassis (which is finished) and that will give us some breathing room. That won’t last for long I believe two more cars are coming in sometime in April, one for a restoration!!!

RacerTC is looking good the chrome came in and the seats will be in this week. Not too much longer and it should be back on the road. Hopefully it will drive well for a couple years, this is a car that neither the shop nor the owner knows that well. So a few shakedown drives should tell us if there is anything major wrong with the mechanicals.

Well so much for a quick update, sorry no pictures the camera was left in the shop and with the snow and ice there was no going back for a while.

Back Home

I got back to NH yesterday. It was a productive trip to Buffalo but now it’s back to work. There was good progress on RacerTD, not looking so much like a racer anymore. The interior is almost in and the rewiring is going along well. A new top and a few other goodies were ordered and should be in soon.

The new interior almost done.

I got back to work on BlownTC; I had set the new wood in place before I left to see how the fit was and it didn’t look bad. That was proven to be true today when I put in the main beam for real and screwed in the pillars for a test fit of the sheet metal tomorrow. If all is good I’ll put in the pillars permanently tomorrow and tear, sounds a bit rough, remove the rear wood that needs replacing.

The replaced wood