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".

September 18

First round of sanded primer and body touch up is done.

September 15

First round of PRIMER!

September 14

Work is at a fever pitch. We have a few days coming of perfect temperatures and humidity. After that, it's cooling down and raining. It's going to be hard to get the car primed and painted before then.

 

Old paint is gone and the car is ready for primer.

September 12

Bondo. More bondo. More sanding. Have I mentioned that I hate sanding? Every time I see a classic or hot rod anymore all I can see is the hours of sanding the paint jobs take.

September 10

Bondo and sanding. That seems to be all that is ever happening right now.  We're hitting that point where I wonder what on earth we were thinking.  Right now, we're in a rush to get the car prepped, the season change is going to be working against us soon.

 

Bondo sanding making it look like it's snowing.

Fixing the seam lines from the new quarter panels.

September 8

Minions have been removing paint and old bondo.

 

Progress slowly.

 

Eldest minon removing paint from his hood.