December 29

We realized something when we got the cab moved over. Since the seats are so much lower in the Blazer than in the Apache, you can't see out of the windows. So the Cowboy spent the day welding.  He made brackets for the seats and welded the body to the frame. I spent the day making tamales and didn't get any photos of him welding today.

December 28

Cowboy cut apart the cab on Frankentruck. I got to come out when it was time to put it on the Blazer. I would have pictures of the whole mounting process, but he gets upset when I drop the corner of whatever I'm holding to take photo. I can't imagine why that would upset him...

 

After Cowboy cut the firewall, floor, and dash out.

 

 

Interior view.

 

 

Ready to slide it over.

Almost in place.

 

Sitting on the Blazer frame.

Checking out his handiwork. I'm digging his headband. It keeps his ears warm

and makes him look stylish.

December 26

Cowboy was being a good neighbor today and helping Wild Bill with the wiring in his truck.

December 25

No, the Cowboy did not do any car work. He did however let the minions open their presents Christmas eve so we could sleep in Christmas morning. They were just as excited about this rapid change in tradition and we, we got to sleep in. No children sneaking downstairs, no children trying to be quiet at 4 in the morning until we got up. It was awesome. Now, I don't think it will be an every year thing, but he was exhausted from being outside most of the day Christmas Eve.

Merry Christmas to all of you as well.

December 24

Yes, I know. He's outside Christmas Eve day. Seriously, if he's not busy doing something, he's restless and thinking about what he could be doing. We definitely aren't idle at our house. Soon, after he's figured out where the seats are going to go and what height, I'll be ripping off the seat covers. Thank goodness there are only 2 this time.

Today, he was trying to fit the front clip from the Apache on the Blazer. He removed a huge portion of the interior metal sections to get it to fit. By the end of the day it was looking pretty good.

I'd come out to take photos, offer an opinion when he asked and fix him scalding hot cocoa. Seriously though, what did he expect? Cold cocoa?

 

Cutting out the old fender panels. Cowboy is a cutting fiend with his sawsall.

 

Cutting the front of the clip.

 

Middle one trying out his truck. Not bad for a day's work.

 

Frankentruck from the front. Hmm, she's going to need a new name.

December 23

This isn't the day he officially started, but it's the start of the photos. Before I got out there he added a header back exhaust system, throttle body spacer, cold air intake and retuned the Blazer. Then, since it's cold, but not completely bitter the last few weeks, he started taking it apart. I know, once again it's like I have a junk yard in my driveway. You need Blazer parts? We've got them.

Oh, I completely forgot, before this, he pulled the engine out of Frankentruck and helped our neighbor, Wild Bill, install it in his 69 Chevy truck. Well, actually he pulled the cab, bed, front clip and hood off of Frankentruck, then the took out the engine. I came home one day and had a flashback to this. That took up a week of the Cowboy's time.

 

Wild Bill is telling him something, but for the life of me, I can't remember what. I have to add, when I drove up one day, I honestly couldn't tell from down the street who was who since they were both wearing caps and the same jacket. They're almost the same height which made it a little more difficult.

 

 

Flashback. This makes me a little sad, because all I could think of was all the work that we did and now we're undoing all of that.

 

Driving the skateboard into the garage. He put the seats on later in the week and drove up and down the block. It was fun since it's so peppy with no body, but scary. Very, very scary.

What the Cowboy is Doing

This really started officially on the 8th of this month. The Cowboy is working on the middle minion's car. I know, he can't even legally drive for another 5 months and even then he'll still have to finish driver's education. That however, is only a small technicality. The Cowboy is working on turning Frankentruck into a Captain America truck. She'll be two toned silver and  blue with the Captain America symbol ghost painted on her side. We're also going to do red, white, and blue insets in the seat panels with appliqued stars on the blue part. The middle one is very "Go USA!" and plans to pursue his dream of being an astronaut. Besides, the Captain America symbol offers the Cowboy something new to try out.

So, the better question I'm sure you're all asking is, why Frankentruck? The boy loves her, he really does. After we fixed her up he decided she was going to be his. He even kept asking when he was going to get his own keys. Right, like I'd give a 12 year old his own set of car keys. That's asking for trouble.

After the Monte was almost finished we offered him a few options, fix up the Charger, fix up Frankentruck or pick something different. The Charger ended up not being an option since he'd have to not only put in the sweat equity, but also come up with the extra money to cover the difference in restoration costs. There wasn't another car he liked more than Frankentruck so that was what he picked. I know, you're all thinking, but she looks like she was finished. She was, kind of.

Restoring Frankentruck was our first resto-mod and after she was done there were several things that would have been different. This is the chance to fix those and make her run even smoother. Besides, this minion doesn't need something with as much power as Frankentruck has. He needs something with a little less power and better gas mileage. Inside the truck is a Chevy Blazer Xtreme. The next few posts highlight what he's been up to the last few weeks.

And what is the Cowboy up to?

Not taking a break, that's what he's up to. All I can think is the girl minion is going to have to start deciding on her dream car a lot sooner than she'd planned, because someone isn't going to have anything to do this summer.

December 15

The Monte is officially done. Seat covers are finished and installed. It's not bad for my first upholstery job.

 

Cowboy installing the seats.

 

One excited minion.

December 10

Hmmm, it's cold outside, but the Cowboy is up to something. Leave your guesses in the comments section. I'll pick a random winner on December 21st. Winner will get an autographed photo of the Cowboy. You can pick any photo from the Cowboy Customs or Frankentruck blogs. My choice would be the one below, but you can pick your own favorite. I'll also send some interesting car swag things and chocolate stolen from the Cowboy's secret stash.

November 25

The end, almost. We've been doing a the last few things. Cowboy installed the rear defroster. We installed the new windshield, which we found at our local Safelite warehouse. Did you know they'll sell you just a windshield to install? And that they had a windshield for a 1970 Monte Carlo? That was a truly unexpected find.

I finished the back seats which involved much blood, many tiny cuts, and some new creative swear words because I have children and they don't need to hear my sailor talk.

Cowboy and the eldest changed the oil and took it for a wash and we took it for it's first official drive since the swap. We're still finding small things that will need to be fixed, like the gap between the weatherstripping and the windows, some trim on the window fuzzies popped up when the kids got in the backseat, things like that.

The only big thing left is sewing the front seat covers and then we'll be moving into maintenance and thinking about the next swap. Which is going to be a re-do of the Apache or a low rider 70's Suburban. It's never ending here, so keep watching. I'll be posting pictures of the new seat covers in a few weeks and start updates on the next projects. Keep your eyes on the Cowboy, you never know what crazy thing is going to come out of his head next.

 

Adjusting the wipers after the windshield is on. I'd have photos of us installing it,

 but my hands were needed to get it in.

Rear defroster installed. Cowboy got it in by himself even though it falls

 under the "fiddly" category of things.

 



 

Rear seats done. They don't look bad for my first attempt at sewing seat covers. I love the gray and black with a pop of orange.I think the best part though, we got amazing deals on all the fabric. We got lucky and found the perfect gray and orange micro suede on clearance.  It's just too bad the middle one wants a different color sceme for his car, I think I'll have enough left to do another two seats.

 

And finally, Cowboy taking her for the first ride. Look how happy he is!

 

November 11

Headliner is in the Monte. After this the Cowboy and I decided we're doing a new style headliner in the Charger instead of installing more old style bow headliners. It was easier than the Corvair, but still no picnic.

October 30

We're inching towards the end. The Cowboy is mostly left with smaller tasks, while I have one larger one with many pieces and yards of thread.

Today however, we were able to complete two more tasks. The doors are together with all of the power switches installed in the door handle. The Monte is also sporting a new dash cover. Which was challenging and resulted in some slightly salty language from me. Usually the frustrated words and salty air are from the Cowboy.  Our solution to fill the gaps with foam worked well. We however realized that neither of us considered how the side pillars were going to fit once we switched out the dash. Two steps forward, one step back today, but Monte is still closer to being complete.

Door handles with power window and seat controls. Ignore the blanket seat covers.

 

Passenger side of the dash.

 

Salty language side of the dash.

October 23

So where have we been? I was here:

 

 

The Cowboy was here:

 

 

We both ended up having to be on travel the same week. Not cool, but my client rescheduled training for the same week Cowboy was on travel and I couldn't do a thing about it. I did get a chance before I had to be at the client's site, to actually see the National Mall again and take some pictures before I went to their office. If you get a chance to go, go early. It's not nearly as busy and the traffic isn't that bad.

 

That being said, we're home again and back at work on the Monte. I've finished up the door panels and they don't look terrible. They won't win prizes in a show, but they do make the car look better and the eldest minion loves them. We're waiting on switches to come in so we can mount the arm rests and finish up the door panel installation. Tomorrow I'll start work on covering the dash for a third time then it will be sewing. Lots of sewing.

 

 

Passenger door panel.

Driver door panel.

October 10

Sometimes it's hard to not let what we do in our 9 to 5 jobs bleed over into car restoration. Sometimes we just have to stop and say, "Hey, that's good enough. Remember it's a restoration, not a show car or a trailer queen."
I'm having one of those times. Sewing the door panels and getting them reattached has been challenging and sticky. I'm typing this now with glue covered fingers. Not that I don't like a challenge, I do. What I don't like is it not being quite as perfect as I'd like it.
That's where I am with the door panels. They look good enough, but if it was for a show car, I would be pulling them off the panels and resewing them. Don't get me wrong, they look good, they really do and so much better than before. But there will always be that perfectionist with her one cocked eyebrow and tilted head saying, "Oh. I guess those look okay."

 

Cowboy installing the panel on the driver's side.

 

Panel on the passenger side.

October 8

Today was one of those government holidays most people have to work. Not me. In another stroke of luck, the kids were in school as well. So I spent most of the day in the garage working on the car. I finished the trunk carpeting, sewed the back arm rest panels, and sanded the bottom dash panel. I also added foam to the dash where it was cut back just a shade too far. We're trying expandable foam as the filler for the edges and it seems like it's going to work.

Cowboy installed the new door locks, screwed the console arm rest down and painted the bottom dash panel. He also installed it and assisted me in gluing the new arm rest panels on. Tomorrow I'm going to tackle the back door panels and try recovering the dash again. That will probably take a good portion of this week.

 

Second round of foam drying. We are if nothing else, inventive in our problem solving.

 

Passenger side arm rest done.

Driver's side arm rest. I know, the top is wrinkled. We'll all pretend it's fine and

you won't mention it when you see me in person.

Lower dash panel painted and installed. You can't tell it used to be a good 6

 inches longer. It will look enen better after I get the top covered, again.

 

Trunk capret installed. It needs a good vacuum, but we'll do that after everything

 is done. Cowboy reinstalled the sub woofer and amp.

October 3

Rockwell colors. Ya'll are hilarious! I laughed so hard when when Cowboy told me that.

On to the adventures of tonight. Cowboy tasked the girl with cleaning off all of the glass in the car, which she was more than happy to do. Apparently there is a doll she wants because it's best friends with her other doll and she's afraid of the doll being lonely. Yes, really.  So she has had plenty of bonding time with the Cowboy as he finds small tasks to pay her for.

The seats are now naked. It was amusing watching Cowboy using his brute strength to pull them off of the foam. Most of the trim has been reinstalled. A heater defrost vent has been made for the front dash.

I covered the console and Cowboy reinstalled it. The back dash panel has been recovered in carpet and the speakers are attached. I think right now it's one of my favorite things just because it looks so nice.

Upcoming will be the door panels, new door lock installation, trunk carpeting and recovering the dash.

 

Console installed. Still needs the vinyl edge and armrest attached.

 

Back dash panel. I just love this!

 



 

Eeee! Naked seats!

October 2

Cowboy kept himself busy today with creating a new back dash panel, installing the rest of the weather stripping and other small tasks. Later that evening he assisted me as I installed the carpet.

October 1

Dash fits and the side panels are coming together. Back seats from the Impala are going to fit. Next the carpet will go in and work will start on the seat covers.

 

Seats sitting in place for now. Bottom seat cover has been taken off.

Fitting the bottom dash cover on. Kick plates have been installed.



 

Better view of the dash sicne the front seats are out.

September 30

The days are filling with smaller things now. Wiring put in place, fitting pieces in, adding weather stripping.

Cowboy got the Impala dash to fit, we'll just have to do some cosmetic work on the ends to make it pretty.

September 24

Badass, simply badass.

September 24

What you don't see in this post is the Cowboy and I back outside the night before sanding the primer to get it ready to paint. We checked the weather and saw we only had one day to get the paint on before it got cooler and rainy. He ended the day with cramped hands and sore wrists. But it looks amazing. (Why yes, I did tape the lines and thank you for noticing it's awesome.)

 

Starting the light silver.

 

Bright silver done.

 

Taping for the Dark silver.

 

 

Dark Silver painted.

 

 

Taping for the orange.

 Orange being painted.

 

 

September 23

Car is all fired up again. Mechanically it's looking good. The computer had to be sent out to be re-programmed. It was throwing a pass key error that wouldn't let it start. Cowboy is out firing it up and roaring down the block.

September 22

Car has been sanded again. More body filler and it's ready for the second coat of primer.

 

Cowboy was not amused when I mentioned his hair was making him look a little "mad scientist".