June 26

It's summer in Kansas once again, which means it's a blast furnace outside so our work time is limited by the heat. In addition, a good portion of our weekend was used when we built a ramp at church to make the building handicap accessible.

Progress has been made even with these factors working against us. The Cowboy has taken off the front clip of the Impala, removed the shifter, dropped the gas tank and started disassembling the dashboard. I don't have pictures of all of these but will be adding new ones as more parts come off the Impala. This weekend we will be building a new rotisserie for the cars so expect more welding pictures.

June 22

Ah, finally the Impala is here, but not for long. Once again all the minions have been enlisted to dismantle a car. I jokingly told the Cowboy that they would have a job in a chop shop as they're getting faster at dismantling a car.

The 1996 Impala. It drives like a dream, but not for long.

Cowboy and minions dismatling the front end.

Girl minion working on the interior.

End of day and the Cowboy is test fitting the Impala seats and console in the Monte. Yes, yes he is driving, shifting, and making car noises. Really.

June 18 & 19

The Cowboy has a few more weeks of travel for work this year. We were finally back to working on the car, but decided to put up a new section of fence to corrall the auto projects. We happen to live in an amazing neighborhood with many muscle cars and fellow gearheads who wouldn't complain, but felt the fence would keep the city from having an issue. Which reminds me, if you get a chance, ask the Cowboy about his "hotrod fan".

Fence after the posts are installed.

An almost finished fence.

 Cowboy finished the gate the next day.

May 30

Getting the body off the chassis is always an exciting event. Removing the body today was more challenging due to its size and the weather.

Getting ready to lift the body off of the chassis.

This second picture is just an hour later.

We'd managed to get the body off of the chassis with some clever engineering and some extra muscle power from our friend Thom and a bystander. We missed the full force of the weather but were forced inside because of the rain and hail. Cowboy was working on the engine in the garage through it all.

May 29

I find myself once again up underneath the dashboard. Today we unhooked the steering column and photographed the current electrical wiring.

The Monte without it's engine and transmission.

The wiring mess underneath the dashboard.

May 27

The front clip is off and the engine is out.

Minons surveying their hard work.

Enlisting some more brute force to get the engine out of the Monte. We had considered rebuiling this one, but when it was apart, the cylinders were too scratched to rebuild.

May 26

No Monte work today. The Cowboy instead, is welding on a trailer bed for one of our friends. I even got to weld and wasn't terrible for my first time. Taking pictures when he's welding is one of my favorite things.

May 24

More progress on taking apart the Monte. The driver's fender is off.

Eldest minion and the Cowboy taking off the fender. This was proving difficult as there were multiple wasps flying around.

Fender off.

The source of the wasps. They were nesting inside the fenders.

May 23

The first day shows good progress. The hood is removed, a good portion of the front eletrical wiring has been disconnected and the front fender is off.

 The girl minion contemplates with her duct tape goatee. She was in charge of labeling parts.

 Middle minion being entrusted with the hood springs.

Removing the hinges.

Not bad for a few hours of work.

Summer Resto-Mod Time

If you were with us last summer, you watched the birth of Frankentruck. This summer is a resto-mod for the newest driver in the house, our eldest son.  His car of choice is a 1972 Monte Carlo.

The Monte will be going on top of a 1996 Impala SS. We expect some challenges as the body work on the Monte was done by the gentleman that worked on our 1970 Charger over 15 years ago. While we don't expect the bondo to be a half inch think like it is on the Charger, we do expect some bad metal work underneath that paint. The summer should be exciting as we make an old car new again and give the boy a beautiful and unique ride.