Mid April, time to get some painting done!

Well...not much work these last few days, as I've caught an early dose of coughs/colds/sneezes/wheezes etc....thank god for tissues, my poor nose is nearly cactus!

Thankfully, earlier in the week, I managed to get the body on a roll-around frame and take it over to Glenns workshop.......

Where he took charge and went to work on my poor excuse for a bog job.....I'm still debating about a colour, and he wants to know...soon!...the frame is being blasted this weekend, so undercoat next week......can't thank Glenn enough for the help he is giving.

This was my first choice.....flat army green

Then I saw this....and loved the gloss finish

Then this popped up, and I'm confused again

And nobody does maroon..why?

B.R.G. is always a favourite...decisions..decisions..

Good friends Doug and Robyn just managed to score a steel 34 5 window....swweeet!!.....run a bit of Col Chapmans expertise over the body and wait and see...this will be a great match for their 34 Tudor...first they have to sell the 57 Chev Hardtop...anyone want one?

As you can see, I look after myself when I'm sick, a hearty meal of Sardines on Doritos should cure any ailment I have!!

Gettin' close to paintg decisions,

I found 4 litres of dark blue paint left over from my Tudor project, so maybe...I can flatten it and add some black, rather than the shiny finish like this one....watcha think?

I've also looked at Cream, Maroon, Grey, Light Blue, Mid Green, Matt Black, and Orange...so confusing.....

Last minute jobs before I forget...ran a few earth straps to the body/chassis/engine.

I'm using the donor XE Falcon Borg Warner rear brakes on the 9", so had to make this little adapter in the X member to hold the cables....now all I have to do is open the centre hole on the backing plate a little, so the 9" axle will go thru.

Just need to finish welding the bracket on the scattershield for the XY slave cyl., and then make up the hydraulic line.

Need to "Sikaflex" all this tubing to the body, then it can go out for prep and paint.

  

Love the colour on this 37 coupe...might even go for that on the roadster

Or maybe the colour on this rat rod would be good as well...like the drab olive./army green sort of look!!

 

As per this year in Queensland, the weather has turned nasty, so I don't think I will get to Sundays big day at Willowbank for the Auto Spectacular...but I sure hope it fines up soon!!

Remembering the past...old faces at the Nats will do that!!

So, every Nationals, I seem to catch up with someone from my past, and we talk about the early (good old) days of hot rodding....I got into it at about age 13, (1963), and helped start Rods Inc. Hot Rod Club in high school, 1964....Myself, Peter Crain, and Tom Fulton sat together and did as much hot rod stuff as we could, when we were supposed to learn Algebra!!...I mentioned thatI had some old club cards somewhere, so this is my dog-eared collection.

Who knows when I got them...the Vic. ones probably at the 1st Nats in 1973, but the NSW ones could be from our many trips to Roselands/Bankstown/Mattara hot rod shows, or the early Coffs/Port McQuarry/Kempsey/Tamworth runs.

The Bill Warner one came from a trip I did to Sydney in 1965 from memory...think I bought a foot gas pedal and a three carb fuel log.....which I sold to Gentleman Jim Reed!....Not sure about the Dave Andrews card, but the West Coast one has Vince Berrimans name on the back.

Here were the main clubs from Brisbane...well, at least they all had cars and licences....and they helped organise a lot to do with the formation years of rodding in Queensland..

Here's a trio of early Rods Inc cards, and who remembers the United Drag Team?..This one had Elwyn Bess on it..other members from memory..ChickenMan Ricky Stapleton..Nigel Cresser maybe...don't remember any more.

These 4...who rembers the Yankiwi Wanderers...wonder where they ever ended up, I remember the highboy T tub they were building.....top right was the Mag wheel centres pricing for wheels..cheap enough!!..bottom left was Stomper leaving a message on a Hustlers card for Tom Fulton....and I found this one and only dodgy photo of when I ran the mechanical fuel injection on my 283 powered A bucket....talk about over kill, it went 12.30 with a single 600 Holley, 12.70 when I stuck a Tunnelram and twin 390s on it...and 13.1 with the stupid injector..wouldn't pull a greasy stick out of a dogs clacker!!.go figure!!

Les Winter brought Ralph Stapley over to meet me at the Nats, he was another that I had forgotten about that went on my honeymoon...haha..65 of us off to USA, and I knew about 30 or more, so in one way, Anita and I got little peace.....(however, I did get a little piece!)

Customline + smoking + drinks + power pole = crash....1971 was the year that I rearranged the front of the car, as well as the 4 of us inside...thank goodness for the solid frame, or we might not be here..ended up with two broken legs,two broken fingers, but that was fun, girls felt sorry for me..(aaaw Taylor St Camping, Toowoomba )..Normie Dean used to carry me to his 57 T Bird to go up to the pub, with my leg sticking out the side...I still have the s.s. pin that they shoved down the centre of my leg.

Quick Sat morn up[date before Rodney comes apart!

Well, it finally comes out...Rodney Roadster is ready to be pulled apart for a lick of paint. Still unsure of colour, as the Nats got me thinkin' about all different styles......

The body is reasonably good, but just in case, I've got Readymix coming with 5c/m of bog.......the pain in the butt job still will be to finish Sikaflex-ing the steel inner structure to the RHS...gotta fix the screen as well, and lean it back another 1".

If you can read this....here are the 2013 Nats winners....

And a few more.

And if you didn't know...this is the 2013 Top Hot Rod as well as Top Roadster.

After this months coffee morning, I also intend going up to this Speedway display at Rocklea...I love the old speedway cars, spent my pre-licence days at the "Ekka"

Expect to see cool engines like this V8 60, and usually, plenty of Offys!

One of the best looking engines at the nats.

Hmmm...engineering 101....haha..just incase you want to go back to a 4 bar...lol.

21st Nationals at Parklands, 40th anniversary since our first Nats!!!

Our club gave away some awards for "just cars that we thought were cool"

Loved Scott Thomas' stock-ish Tudor...."DON'T TOUCH IT"...haha..perfect the way it is......

Neil Popes pickup has always impressed!

Duvall screened roadster of Darren Wood had a big #3 on the door, and LS power.

Can't beat a black Vicky with Halibrand style wheels! Bayden Gardham did a terrific job with this.

5th choice, this new-ish roadster belonging to Brett Homann had the "look"!

Hmmmm...ideas for my tudor...don't sell it, build it!

Always loved Cusso utes...wish I had one of these to drive 'round town.

Someone has too much time and money....but it was superb...think it came from Thunderbirds club.

This tub just sat so perfect....and the paint and trim choice...dam nice!

Here's the one from Vic. that I saw at Geelong two years ago, and it got me to thinking about doing my own in the matt black style....so mine will be similar.

All the way from W.A....built for Butch by Armadale Speed shop, it was good...the hemi was so quiet....mexican blanket interior, bare metal exterior...just leave it as is.

March...too many events..not enough work time!..now it's April.

I've had second thoughts about my rear end...I intend changing the indicators to the Harley style ones, and will mount them on the frame rails somewhere near where they are positioned now....the LED 39 lights have come...and gone...they looked butt ugly....I was also going to fit a cut down roll pan to cover the sides of the body/gas tank area, but think that won't happen either.

My interior had to have at least some form of door cards to pass TAC, so these have now all been made in plywood, and a coat of exterior matt black will suit the look I want...all the floor steel is now cut and fitted as well.

This was taken last Tuesday, (26th March), just before I headed down to help at the Street Rod Nationals....I was itching to get Rodney back on the deck.....just need to tweak the windshield back about an inch....couple more minor jobs, and it can come apart to finish weld and paint!!

"Lluukitit".............will be great to see it apart and painted, lots of bits to start organising now.........surely it will be done for Yamba this year...actually, I might even try for Sept 22 Elimininators show ....seeing as that will be my 63rd. birthday anyway..

Next blog, (probably tomorrow)...will be a bit of coverage from Parklands...it was a great weekend, except for the late Sun storm.

My Two Tudors ...I took a similar snap at Geelong , here they are together again at Parklands.....sort wish you could keep all your old cars, hey... 

Tried to get all the Deuces Limited members together for a photo shoot by the lake.