A Few New Pictures

I've gotten a ton of work done in the past month or 2 that I have not really talked much about. So for this post I thought I would just put in a few pictures to show all the work.

Here you can see the running boards. They went on last night. I bought these 20 years ago for my blue 56 so they needed a bit of polishing but they turned out quite well.

Here you can see the 1956 license plate. This plate and tab are both from Benton county which is where I believe the car was originally sold. Some day I may do a title search, but it did have an Overturf Volkswagen sticker in the door jam when I bought it. They don't keep records back that far though, so they were not able to confirm they sold the car.

Here you can see the seats from the 1995 Acura Integra. You can just make out the seat belt on the driver side as well. The covers on these are in great condition for their age. The car these were taken from was in a wreck and the driver side needed some work on the seat back because of it. I have the back seat from the same car and I'll work on fitting it this summer so the whole family can go for a ride.

The dash and steering wheel are nearly complete. The glove box door needs some adjustment so the paint doesn't get chipped when it's closed. I have the latch but I want to color sand the door front before installing it as well. I also picked up a new pedal cluster that I will clean and install with a new aluminum roller pedal. I have not figured out what brake and clutch pedal pads will go on it though.

Finally you can see the reproduction swan neck mirrors. I plan on making a stainless piece to fill the hole where the trim is supposed to slide under the mirror mount. I have not figured out exactly what I want that piece to look like yet, but Hook had the idea of putting an LED in it as a turn signal side marker. Not a bad idea and I just may have to do it.

Seats and Restraints

Tonight I was able to weld in a set of seat belt mounts at both the top and bottom of the B pillars. Since I used the seat belts out of the 95 Integra, the center point is already mounted to the seat so I only needed to do the 2 outer mounts for each belt. I also bolted the seats in and installed the rear windows. The windshield and wipers were done on Sunday night.

More Assembly

I was able to get quite a bit more assembly done between yesterday and today. The gas tank is clean, installed and filled with gas, the heater channel bolts are all undercoated and installed and the wiring/cabling is all hooked up.

My favorite part of the past 2 days is the restoration of the original Formuling wheel! This thing used to be hot pink with a black center. I started by dyeing the vinyl cover and painting the aluminum. Then I replaced the screws with stainless allen head screws.

With all that done, I was finally able to drive the car for the first time tonight. Since it is not licensed or insured I only drove it around my cul-de-sac but it still felt really good to get it out of the garage.

And the 2 Became 1

After 1457 days the body is finally back on the pan for good! It has taken a ton of work over the past couple weeks but it's starting to look like a car again. I had to cut the flange off the header and weld it back on correctly so the muffler fit right, install the engine seals, lower the rear end, align the front the best I could and wrap up the wiring. At this point the front and rear has been bolted down but the heater channel bolts are not in place yet.

Assembly

Since my last post I have gotten quite a bit more done. Paint on all the little parts and pieces is finished. I have the tail lights and ashtray installed. I ordered the inside lens for the license plate light tonight. Once I get the plate holder I can install the plate and light. Notice in this picture the tail lights are on. I have a battery charger hooked up for testing the lights and wipers.

I have also installed the wiper assembly and wired it to the switch in the dash. I've cleaned and undercoated the back sides of the fenders. I still have some undercoating to clean off the lip of the fenders as well as the horn grills, but that is easy. I have also installed 1 of the 2 engine compartment seals and the tar board on the firewall.