Falcon Build Update #4 Tailgate Drama

I should have called this “The Good, The Bad and the Ugly” as I update everyone on the MyRideisMe.com 1963 Falcon Wagon build. It no doubt I drastically underestimated the work needed to get ready for paint! Also, my plan for the Falcon changed from a quick paint job to, “I might as well do it right” which of course is the right way to go. I’ve made some good progress on the body work even though Arizona’s held 100-plus degrees making it damn hot in the garage. It’ll be another 20 days before it cools down, so waiting’s not an option. Damn! I’m writing about the weather!

Want the good, the bad or the ugly? OK, bad first. Remember the blog when I showed off my skills filling the back-up lights in the tailgate. Please disregard everything I said! I screwed up that tailgate beyond reasonable repair, at least for me. Luckily, I have Mr. Freeze, (my buddy Rob) backing me up with another tailgate on hand (and rust free!). The original tailgate was repaired (another big pile of manure the previous owner didn’t mention) and had some pretty thick filler in it, so it’s just as well. This big pic shows the tailgate after I filled the backup lights and the Falcon trim piece above the window crank. Then, here comes the ugly, somehow it warped so bad, I couldn’t believe it! The filler required to make it straight was unreal! I ground it all off just to show how bad it warped. Those red arrows show the 1/4″ of gap. (click on the picture to see it bigger) Bad times. I decided to punt. I want to know what the heck happened, so for that, I went back to Doug Jerger from Squeeg’s Kustom. I can’t say how lucky I am to have a professional painter like Doug available to help. He’s already been a big help and doesn’t make me feel like a dumbass for asking simple questions. Doug said that when you weld up a hole like the backup lights, the panel will warp no matter how careful you are with heat. The trick is to manage the warp as you go. Not sure how to do that yet, when I figure that out, I’ll pass it on. (Any advice to add? Leave a comment please)

Call me a sellout, but for the next tailgate, I’m keeping the backup lights and I’m gonna use that Falcon trim piece too! [By the way, did you know that wagon's and Ranchero's use the same tailgate? Makes sense, right?] By looking at the new tailgate, you’d say I’m lucky, and I am, but that’s not the original paint, so this piece too had a few hidden treasures. This tailgate became my mission. If I can’t get this thing straight, I better punt on the bodywork all together!

The good: I did it. Here’s some things I learned making this tailgate straight. I wish I had planned better, or you might say, “I wish I knew what the hell I’m doing!” Moving forward, I’ll apply all these lessons to the hood I started on and the rest of the car.

What I learned: Bodywork 101 continued..

Mixing and applying body filler in Arizona’s heat is tough. I even tryed putting the filler into the refrigerator before I start working. Not sure if that’s helping. Maybe. I’m constantly battling - Not enough hardener vs. Kicking too quickly. Alot of that has to do with my filler spreading skill. I’m slow and sloppy. I’ve pretty much decided to mix fairly small batches of filler and apply it several times. It sucks for productivity, but it’s better then throwing away a huge batch of filler cause it’s kicked. Also, once it does start to firm up, quit spreading. It’ll be a mess, believe me! (learned the hard way)

Next, I started out chasing dings and dents in the tailgate. I think this might be an OK way to start, but at some point, as Doug said, you have to apply a thin coat of filler over the entire panel. Otherwise, you make new low spots filling in other dents near spots you already filled. Makes sense now! In these two pictures, you can see the dent filling and then the full cover I did. I also used some guide coat so I knew where the low spots were as I sanded. The goal is no black spots showing low and now bare metal poking through as high. (Actually “high” usually means there’s low near by) You might say there’s alot of filler on there, but not really. It’s on thin and after sanding, it’s almost see through in most places.

Make sure to clean out any trim holes unless you can reach them from the back. Doug told me after spreading to clean out all the holes then drag the spreader around all edges to clean them up too. You want to let the filler go over the sides a little. The tailgate was low right next to the edge, almost all the way around. If you wait until the filler gets hard, you’ll need to sand it off cause I found that trying to break it off will make it chip off where you need it. Bummer.

Finding high or low spots has really been tough for me. I guess some people feel better with their strong hand and some with their off hand. Really? I think I’m learning, but it’s tough. To check a panel, hold your fingers tightly together, then I run my hand across the panel fairly quickly. I also look away from the panel so I’m not distracted by the color variations from several coats of filler. If you feel anything (vague enough?) there’s probably something wrong. This is a pic of the tailgate ready for primer.

Then finally, the order of your work is important. I want to use Squeeg’s primer because it’s does not shrink like other production primers and offers the best rust protection. Looking back, I would have followed this plan: 1) Strip paint (either by sanding or preferably media blasting) down to metal or the original primer. 2) Paint 2-3 coats of Squeeg’s primer, then 3) Do the bodywork on top of the primer - this is another advantage of Squeeg’s primer. But, before I asked Doug, I started doing bodywork. So, I’ll follow this plan: 1) Same as above - strip paint, 2) do bodywork, especially the roughest parts, 3) shoot 4-5 coats of primer. Then, for both plans, that’s all followed by tons of block sanding to get it totally straight.

I better quit here before I start sounding like I know what I’m doing! I do feel like I’m getting better. Last weekend, I spoke many words kids shouldn’t hear and I felt like I’d never get this done. Now, I’m optimistic.

In closing, one more bit of wisdom… Doug Jerger asked me, “So how much time do you have in that tailgate?” I said, “Damn, I don’t know, alot!” He then said, “That’s why a paint job costs so much.” I get it now. To get a perfect paint job like the ones he does, you need high quality people and alot of labor. There’s no shortcuts.

Click HERE: All the Falcon Wagon Project Build Blogs.

Thanks to my current sponsors:

• Heat and sound insulation from Auto Insulation
• A great new steering wheel, a stock one from Cesar at Vintique Inc.
• Doug Jerger and Squeeg’s Kustoms for the Epoxy Primer Filler

More sponsor opportunities available!

Bodywork 101 - Patience to make it flat

You can’t expect to learn bodywork in 1 afternoon, no matter how good the teacher is, but one thing’s for certain: You’ll never learn unless you get in there and try it. This blog and the ones that will follow will show some basic bodywork techniques anyone can do (especially if I can do it!). Since I’m starting from nothing, I hope the pictures and videos will help you get started too.

Just starting, that’s where I am with my 1963 Falcon Wagon build. The body’s really not that bad, but after 45 years on the road, a Sherman tank needs panel work before glossy paint. As I mentioned in the “Holman & Moody Boss 429 - (you should read this)” I headed over to Squeeg’s Kustom to get started learning. I hooked up with Matt Vesay and interrupted his work on a stretched Dearborn Deuce body to get started on the upper splash apron (just above the front bumper) from a custom getting painted. The panel was fiberglass, but that didn’t really matter for what I needed to learn which was anything and everything! I told Matt I didn’t even know how to mix the body filler, so he knew to start from the beginning. As the photos walk you through the progress, you’ll see that patience is key and that even when things look really bad, you can fix it.

As you can see, the panel’s already been sprayed with Squeeg’s high build primer. You can also see it’s in pretty bad shape from media blasting. It would be tough to get it back from blasting in this shape, but better to have the loose material come off now then after you’ve painted!

To make sure we were ready to lay down some filler, we hit the panel with a guide coat and went to work with the DA sander and 80 grit paper. Matt said to keep the DA pad flat on the panel for best results. Tilting it on the side will dig into the panel and will also tear up the pad. For the deeper spots (showing black from the guide paint) we used a smaller headed DA sander and tilted it on the side cause we needed to dig in. Towards the end of the sanding I needed to do, Matt showed me how the paper was much smoother now. It was still cutting, but like 120 or 150 paper. He said, “Sand paper’s a lot cheaper then labor” so change it often.

The DA’s not meant to make the panel flat, but it will show high and low spots. Where the primer’s gone and raw fiberglass (or metal if it were a metal panel) is showing, that’s what I thought was a “high spot”. I then learned that it’s not really a high spot, 9 times out of 10, it only seems high cause it’s LOW all around it. That’s typical for body panels that are much more likely to be pushed in than to stick out. But, anywhere the yellow primer’s still there, or black guide coat’s still showing, that’s a lower spot that needs filling. It’s almost like a topography map when you’re finished.

Next, we need to add some filler. I mixed filler 1 time and it “kicked” so fast, I could barely spread it. “Kicked” refers to the chemical reaction between the filler and the hardener. With more hardener, the kick happens quicker. Not enough hardener and the filler will never get completely hard. Believe me, that’s a gooey mess. I made that mistake too. There’s instructions on how much filler to add, but you’ll more then likely have to experiment. We’re mixing outside in Arizona in July. It’s damn hot! In 100+ degree temps, if you add the hardener per the instructions, you better be fast! Matt mixed up just a little filler to show how much hardener he’d use and also, how to properly mix it. The mixing’s really important for a uniform kick and also to minimize the chance for air bubbles in the filler after you’ve laid it down. Keeping the filler on one side of the putty knife only, Matt says to “flatten and fold” the filler until the color is uniform. The hardener color is much brighter then the filler, so you know when it’s not mixed well. After less then a minute of pulling the filler flat, flipping, then repeating, it was ready for the valence. Check the video.

The next lesson was applying the filler. Not too much to this, really, just make sure to push evenly as you pull the filler across the panel. The key is to fill the low spots so don’t push too hard and scrape the filler back out once it’s in there. Go any direction you need to get it smooth but don’t worry if it’s not as smooth as Matt’s work. If it’s rough or has a few more ridges, you’ll just need to do more sanding! These are pictures of Matt’s work and my first shot at spreading filler. Can you guess which is which? Each and every time you spread filler, make sure to clean up. Use a another putty knife if you need to like this. Here’s a video of how Matt spread the primer. Smooth easy is the key…

I skipped a few steps with that video. We had already done one other key step to getting a panel flat and ready for paint. That’s board sanding. Any time you use a piece of sandpaper on a panel, you need to put it on something FLAT. That can be a body man’s sanding block, or as simple as a piece of aluminum stock cut to length. Even professional shops like Squeeg’s use this simple tool. It helps to buy the sand paper with the sticky already on the back. The DA paper’s usually like this, but the the sheets of paper may not be. I bought a roll of 80, 150 and 220 paper with the sticky on it.We put on some filler, blocked it, more filler, blocked it again, then more filler again. See the pattern here? As much as we’d all like to get it right the first time, that’s just not how it works. Patience is KEY. The last pic shows a closeup of what the panel looks like. It’s pretty rough, but we’ll handle that later. Here are some steps that you missed.

Going back to the block sanding, here’s a video of how it’s done. Matt simply says to “cross your corners” and you’ll notice that the sanding motion is typically NOT along the length of the board. It’s held at a slight angle to make sure the edges don’t dig in. Another video:

At some point, the panel’s looking flat. Especially to me the guy that’s just trying to figure this out. Matt could run his fingers over the panel and pic out low spots and plan his next move, but for me, I’m kinda lost. Matt suggested another guide coat so we could easily find the low spots and fill them again, if needed. At some point, the lows can be filled by the filling primer. That’s where we would stop. These pics show the guide coat applied, then what a low spot looks like after block sanding. Like before, anywhere the guide paint is, that’s low.I probably should have mentioned, up to this point, we’ve been using 36 grit sandpaper. If you’re like me, you’ll be tempted to skip to a lighter grit paper cause that 36 stuff is like rocks on the paper. But don’t. Stick with the plan. The next step Matt showed me is how to apply filler to fill-in the 36 grit scratches. After that, you hit it with 80 grit sandpaper, then you can fill in those scratches with the filling primer. I keep mentioning “filling primer” which may not mean much to you. I’ve been getting a lesson that too. Later on, Doug Jerger from Squeeg’s will fill us in on what to look for in a filling primer. Check this last video.

So from here, we were done. Matt made alot of this look easy, but when I tried it myself (blog past due, sorry) I had trouble mixing the filler, applying it and sanding it. I sucked. But, as we did in this example, I mixed again, applied again and sanded until I got it right. I can’t over emphasize: Patience. I hope everyone got something out of this. I’ll be showing you my attempt soon. Please let me know what you think. What am I missing?

Falcon Build Update #3- The Roof

I think it was Earl Sheib who said, “Body work is glamorous!” He was lying! Ok, I made that up. Body work’s dirty and you have to use a bunch of tools that make noise. I like that part! But, it takes so much time. It’s hard work. This week, I enlisted another friend, Joe Nagy. He came over to hit the roof of the wagon, and that we did. (for a good laugh, check out the Earl Scheib home page and the endorsement from Danny Boneduce)

On the left, you can see where we started. For some reason, I really like wagons, but I guess that was before I wanted to paint one! The roofs, as they’re known, are LONG. I’m pretty lucky that the roof’s straight and basically trouble free except for more of that black primer filled with that strange oil the previous owner used to keep it sorta-shiny. (I already said, please don’t do that…)

Joe and I fired up the wire wheel and DA sander only to find that sucked. From there I decided to go back to the paint stripper to ease the pain some. Does anyone know of a stripper that actually works? I’m sure it doesn’t help that it’s 90+ in the garage, but still, as much as I put on, you’d think some more of this ratty primer would come off. Not so. Even the “Aircraft” quality stripper I had wasn’t that hard core. I want the paint to peel off in one big sheet! But, I also want my kids to have clean air and clean water. I bet in the old days, paint stripper got it done! Here’s what the paint stripper did. Any paint that does peel off is still paint I don’t have to force off.

After throwing almost every wire from my low-buck Harbor Freight wire wheel, this is what was left. The original color of the car was burgundy and a cool one at that. Once I hit color, bare metal or the grey/yellow primer, I moved on to the next spot. I wasn’t trying to get all bare metal, just get all that oil off there. Looking back, I think it would have been worth it to have the entire car blasted. I would have done that, but I didn’t want to find any major surprises. Small ones, ok, but from what I’ve seen on Overhauln’, some stones should be left unturned. Speaking of Overhaulin’, check out this “Overhaulin’ game“. You can customize a car. I think Chip probably threw up a little bit when he saw it.

After the wire wheel, I broke out the DA sander with 80 grit paper. It’s amazing how much better that works when it’s not trying to gum up with the old black paint. It didn’t take long at all, then I was ready for some primer. You can see in the picture above there was only 1 spot with any filler. The DA smoothed that out nicely so I can put a little more on.

3 cans of primer later, the roof finally looked like we had done something! The solid gray after looking at the spotted mess of paint, steel and primer was a great change. I used a long board for the first time to do the first bit of sanding. Or maybe I should say, I tried using it. Wanted: Dude who can teach me how to use one of those without undoing all work from the previous step. I did get some advice tonight, but I’ll have to wait to give it a try. You can see that one spot with filler. I learned how much hardener is too much tonight too. That stuff kicked so fast I threw half of it away. Time to wrap it up for the night/week.

Just to catch you up completely, I also got most of the passenger doors stripped and ready for the DA and primer treatment. Then, here’s a picture of where the rear door handles have been filled in. That area’s smoothing out nicely to get ready for Squeeg’s filling primer. I learned from Doug why his primer’s the best and I’ll blog it all soon.

Much more later, we’re just getting started. Stay tuned. Any comments on the progress?

Thanks to my current sponsors:

• Heat and sound insulation from Auto Insulation
• A great new steering wheel, a stock one from Cesar at Vintique Inc.
• Doug Jerger and Squeeg’s Kustoms for the Epoxy Primer Filler

More sponsor opportunities available!

Falcon Strip Party Update - What not to do…

In case you missed the last story, I’m rebuilding my 1963 Falcon Wagon. Originally, I just planned to put some paint on it and re-do the interior, but after inviting a bunch of friends over (here’s the story), my wagon’s now a stripped hulk sitting in my garage. Borderline panicking but not quitting, I’ve still got great friends helping out. We’re making progress. It’d be easier to get out to the garage if it wasn’t 112 today!

The first thing I should mention is the “How-to” I wrote in my garage. In addition to adding pics of your ride, you can also use your garage to help others by showing how you did something… like a tech page. I filled in the backup lights in the tailgate of my wagon and wrote a “How-to” about it. If you ever need to patch a small hole, it might be an interesting read. Click HERE to see it.

First off, I have to mention the tireless help I’ve been getting from my friend Ken Ford. (perfect name for the project, right?) Ken’s a body guy and was looking for a reason to get dirty on a project. He’s got a Harley at home now has built several VW’s in the past, including a few vans, so he knows how to get body panels looking good.

It’s a good thing too! We’ve been moving around the car looking for disasters. We really only found 1. The previous owner decided to fill the cowl vent. I guess it looks a little smoother, but I’d leave it. (too late now!) I wouldn’t mind putting it back either cause it might be easier when you see the mess he left. We knew there was a problem there because the bondo had cracked. When we got to work cleaning it out, this is what we found. It’s hard to see from this picture, but there was about 1/2 inch of bondo covering this patch panel. He didn’t finish-weld the patch, so I think some moisture got underneath it and cause the cracking. This is gonna require some minor surgery to repair. I think it might actually be easier to find a new cowl and put it in. What do you think?

While Ken’s been hitting the outside, I’m inside cleaning the floorpan. It looked pretty nasty at first, especially in the pics. Really, it’s not that bad. Everything all rusty colored, but there was only one small spot of cancer rust. I’ll write about how I handle that in another blog. Here’s the before, during and finished pics of the floorpan. I’m going to use POR-15 to seal the floor up, then insulate the hell out of it with the insulation from Auto Insulation. I removed about 20lbs of muck and filth from the car. Ever wonder where that “old car” smell comes from? I can tell you! I’ve also included a pic of the rear floor. I hit this thing HARD with a wire wheel and it still looks pretty nasty. I’ll cover it with carpet anyway, so it’ll get more POR-15.

So here’s the progress on the rest of the car. We had to strip off all of the old black primer. The previous owner used some kind of oil or something, (I thought it was Armor Al) to keep the primer looking somewhat shiny. Whatever you do, don’t do that. Ken was using up DA sanding paper like crazy with that crap loading up. The cars all spotty, but when Ken throws down some primer, it looks good. I hit the front fenders with some paint stripper and then with a wire wheel to get all the black off. It’ll look worse before it starts to look better.

I also included a shot of the first of many paint supplies I’ll need. The guys at ARS, Automotive Refinish Supply in Chandler hooked me up a little and are going to try and help get PPG to sponsor the build. Brandon at ARS didn’t mind waiting a bit since I came right from work, even on a Friday evening. Its nice to work with good people. Rather then buy this and that from a swap or an auto parts chain, I’m buying all quality supplies. With all the work we’re putting in, I want this to be nice.

Brandon also started helping with colors. That’s gonna be a tough choice. I know it’ll be blue cause that’s what my kids want. I know the car was originally Heritage Burgundy. It’s a cool color, but it ain’t blue. A friend said that Ford offered a light blue similar to what I’m looking for in 1963. Brandon said to look at www.AutoColorLibrary.com to find the color. Glacier Blue or Peacock Blue might be cool. Brian from Problem Child Kustoms Studio might have to make the final choice for me. I’ll trust his expertise.

That’s it for now! Thanks to my current sponsors:

• Heat and sound insulation from Auto Insulation
• A great new steering wheel, a stock one from Cesar at Vintique Inc.
• My current paint supplies and those to come: Automotive Refinish Supply
• Doug Jerger and Squeeg’s Kustoms for the Epoxy Primer Filler

12 wrenches are better than 1: Falcon Strip Party

A lifelong family friend told me, “The funnest part’s over.” On Saturday 6/7, I had a “Strip Party” at my house. Sounds more fun than it was cause we were stripping a 1963 Falcon Wagon. Including me, 12 guys took apart this wagon Overhaulin’ style. (Chip, are you seeing this?)

Imagine a guy with big dreams about a cool cruising wagon that can carry his family to cruises and shows in style. That same guy has said family out of the country, in Japan, for 7 weeks. What to do? I got the idea to invite my buddies and fellow MyRideisMe.com members over for a party to kick-off the disassembly of the wagon. I supply beer and pizza and my friends, new and old, got to dive into some 45 year old dirt in my garage. Sound like fun? Then you’re in the right place. This is My Ride is Me at it’s finest.

The tear-down thrash started when my friend Mike Schnur showed up. He was early, but I was thrilled to see him over. Mike’s the undisputed “Falcon God”. In case you forgot the car we’re working on, here it is in my driveway after a good cleaning… The car was a running, driving 4 door wagon with a later model 200 6 cylinder and the original Dagenham 4-speed. It’s got some pretty nasty black primer on it right now from the previous owner. He used to spray it down with Armor All to keep it shiny. Don’t do it. It eventually turns into a black paste that just won’t come off! That’s what you’re seeing in the darker streaks in the picture. (Click on it to make the picture bigger). I drove the car into the garage for Mike and I to get to work.

Since Mike’s owns a flat-out bitch’n 1960 2-door Comet wagon and has removed and replace more trim (sounds like the start of a bad joke) than anyone else coming to the party, that’s where he started. We still need Mike to add that Comet to his garage (CLICK HERE) so he can say more about. But, it’s easy to see, Mike knows Falcons, Comets and no doubt, wagons. Here’s Mike getting started. It’s about 1PM. The car could have easily taken us to buy the many-many ice cold beverages we had ready to quench the Arizona heat building up in the garage, but instead, I choose to tear it apart. Mike handled the delicate work while I chipped in with photos… not really, I did get into the mix too with some of the bigger items. I’m an engineer and son of a Ford Mechanic, so I can mix it up a little in the garage too. Here’s me triumphantly holding the first piece I pulled off. The not-so-good bumper. It’s still early in the day so the glassy-eyed-ness is just a special camera effect.

Not too much later, more of the crew showed up. Brian Stupski from PCK Stuido (www.problemchildkustoms.com) is there chipping away at the window with Mike lending a hand. That stink’n window did NOT want to come out. Chances are, I’ll have to replace it cause of some fairly deep scratches from a missing wiper blade (insert nails on a chalkboard sound here) but still, I didn’t want to bust out the hammers, not yet. Luckily Brian’s a patient guy. He has to be to turn out the sick designs he does. Dave Kiesel’s also hard at it. If you’re a Division 7 drag racer, you might know that name from his runner-up in Super Street at this year’s Fontana race. He busted out by 0.054s to the other lane charging at 140+ mph. He was that far away from a Wally! (Dave’s garage) Dave’s a mechanic at heart, so he got to work pulling the engine and trans. Rob Zoller, my partner for the drive to the LA Roadster Show this weekend, also jumped right in. (Rob’s Garage) Rob and Mike have turned out some sweet suede Falcons over the past few years. Between Rob and Mike, we had our Falcon knowledge completely covered. The windshield finally came out, but Rob thinks we missed a spot. My left over “Christmas Jack” is riding shotgun.

Before the engine could come out, of course the radiator and all that came out, but rather than trying to wrestle the engine and trans out together, Dave got good and greasy with the leaking 4 speed underneath.( Believe it or not, this is Dave’s good side!) One of the coolest components going back into this car is the replacement Dagenham 4 speed I have. My new trans has some history! The Hurst competition shifter with the semi-rusty stick and scratched white shift ball are staying right where they are. If that ball could talk… (Oh no, another start to a bad joke)

This next shot almost puts things into perspective. 6 buddies all making short work of snatching out this engine. Dave Young and Joe Nagy fellow Nissan tomodachi’s and Joel Nelson from 1320designs.com are in this shot. Dave and his lovely wife came over for some moral support before heading to a (surely more sophisticated) graduation party. Cut Dave and he bleeds A/T fluid from all the trans rebuilds he’s done. The end goal of the “Strip Party” was to get the engine and trans out. Little did I know that we were just getting started!

Things were going great. Time to ramp up the consumption. With this many guys helping, the front and rear bench seats came flying out. I had the guys take a garage tour driving our imaginary wagon. (Or was that a magic school bus ride?) At this point, it was still light out, but we’d already gone past what I thought we could do in one day… And, some heavy hitters had just arrived.

Without a doubt, the coolest part about starting MyRideisMe.com is the people I’ve met. Last week in Michigan, I stopped by American Speed Company and grabbed a shop tour (blog’s on the way!) and before that, I had stopped by Squeeg’s Kustom in Mesa, AZ to write a blog about them. Doug Jerger was putting the finishing touches on his AMBR contending roadster when I was there. He didn’t win, but that is a world- class hot rod. I invited Doug and his crew to my house to help, mostly to give advice on the project, and to have a few coldies. Doug along with Sammy and Moose from his shop and Melissa Jerger, his wife, all arrived at the same time. Doug in his bad, slammed dually and Melissa in her wicked black 32 roadster. Melissa’s launching a new line of apparel for women rodders call, “Hot Brod”. I’ll be running a blog on that later.

Doug had just returned from picking up a Woodie in California, so when he asked how he could help, I told him to just relax. He could see we had already made alot of progress. I asked a few paint questions and he helped out like the pro he is. Then, not 20 minutes later, Doug let me know he’d had enough of standing around watching without pitching in. Now I had guys from a professional shop tearing off the front fenders just cause they are hard workers who dig hot rods. As I said in Squeeg’s blog, these are the people you want on your next project.

Finally, Mike, the first guy there, wrapped up the tear down by removing the under-dash harness. Wow! At this point, only the 4 doors and the tailgate shell remained on the rolling car. I’m glad I caught this picture of Devin Squire (Devin’s garage). Devin and I had only met briefly but he showed up and did alot of work nobody likes but needs doing including tidying up and making sure my tools made it into a single pile. This is about the time when I realized what a big can of worms I opened. Here’s what was left.

Don’t worry! This isn’t the end of the story. I’ve got more blogs to write, so I better keep working. I’ve already finished the all important Project list and even finished a few projects! I’ll be featuring the folks who help me in each blog. Want to get involved? Own a Falcon Parts shop? Let me know! Leave a comment and I’ll see your email address. For now, special thanks to Mike and Kelly from Auto Insulation Specialists Lo-Buc-Rod. Much more later, stay tuned!