Yeah, lead in gasoline was to keep the temperatures down from what I heard. It would make sense when one of the things done to engines to run on no-lead was to harden the valves, right? I hear gas prices are edging over $2.00 a gallon in a few spots as of today in this area, with no relief in sight. It's a shame.

All the bad weather late this afternoon has hopefully skirted to the south of me. It was pretty close with some tornados and damaging winds, but I think the worst is behind me now. It's heading your way now. No limbs or anything down, just the neighbor's recycling bin strewn all over my yard. I can live with that. I watched the pontoon get buffeted a bit, but she survived her first storm unharmed.

Yeah, restoring a vehicle is all about staying motivated it seems. One has to think of hopping in and firing it up and cruising down the road. That and the fact you've got too much money into it to quit, haha. I didn't even get to look at Doug this weekend --too many other things were going on. I don't have to agonize over modifications, I'm keeping mine as original as possible. But you must be going for a everyday driver by the way it sounds.

 

the storm moved through pretty fast, coulda missed it if they didnt keep interupting the tv...lol..
ol bessie sure is looking purty good with the box resting on it and a few of the fenders on it, nothing is bolted down, but it looks purty good nonethe less. i moved the front shackle up a few inched to the top of the frame, dropped it a few more inches on top of the 4 leafs i already removed to give it a better ride. i didnt want to go tio the modification effort at first, but i figured while i have it apart i might as well do it up the way i wanted instead of putting the money into drum brakes and retrofit kits for the steering and brakes and such. its like a big go cart, cab on the frame with me supplying the rest. i just wish i could decide on what to do about the front end, i got a front sump pan and would have to track a rear sump down for a modified or 400 to run a mii, and if i go with the volare, i might as well get the rear axle also b/c i want my wheels to match and i can kiss my aluminum 5 on 5.5 turbine rims goodbye. although, that olds motor still looks awful pretty, havent finished it yet...lol theres a dodge monaco on ebay parts cars but i dont think it has the same front as a cordoba b/c it isnt listed anywheres. maybe it has the volare?

 

Volare is shorthand for many Chrysler products manufactured during the 70's and '80's, right? That's my understanding anyway. I sure wouldn't be conversant in which ones though.

What kind of a job is it to take the bed off? I'm considering doing it, mainly for the bodywork aspect. If I were to decide to remove it, it would seem a good thing to remove it as early as possible, since it makes working around and under the vehicle easier.

May is a great month for us here in Minnesota. The lilacs are in bloom, always a welcome smell. Recent rains and still no skeeters, it's about perfect.

 

i think on your truck it would be easiest to grind the heads of the lag bolts off and knock them through the box bottom, it is real hard to get to them from the bottom, could be torched if you have one. i am guessing it has a metal box floor if it is the styleside, if it has the stepside like mine, i think the bolts can be tackled from underneath. i replaced the bolts with regular old hex bolts when i put the box back on my 79, and on that one i torched the tops of the bolts, i had to have some one hold a wrench underneath though, but if i was to remove the box from the 55, i think all that wood and slats would be damaged from trying to get from the top, thats if the bolt tops arent covered. i know the same step box was used for like twenty years and eight bolts underneath would do it, especially if the tank is already out. most definitely would torch em though.
some one was saying that since the dodge model didnt make the donor list, that i shouldnt take the chance. i want to find a later model donor that may be in better shape. but i figured it would make a cool bluesmobile...too many projects though as it is.
cant beat spring in minnesota.. its awesome. people who work inside wish they had my job of getting outside...lol.. but they dont when its freezing or scorching....LoL.

 

Doug has a stepside on him surprisingly. When I look at him, it looks like he wants to be a modern truck from the front, but the back half gives him the old, classic look haha. One thing about those 57-60 models, they take a lot of kidding about being refrigerators on wheels. No matter how you dress one up, it's like putting lipstick on a pig. But it's the first vehicle I remember when I was a kid so that's why I'm looking forward to having one restored.

A cutting torch is the next item on my tool list to buy. Have you seen those portable ones with the small tanks? I've been thinking about maybe going that route, but don't know how long the tanks last. I don't want to hassle with replacing them all the time, yet I wouldn't have much use for them outside of the restoration project. I was wondering if you had any experience with them. I'm assuming the gauges and cutting tip and the like are of equal quality, just the tanks are of different size.

 

i know people who werent too crazy about the small tanks, and i even heard someone say they would rather rent em, but me i would get a small set b/c for how much i would probaly use it, they are easier to port around. though the small torches dont get as hot i think as a bigger set of torch handles. been awhile since i used one and dont recall comparing them.
i like them early 60 trucks but aint too grazy about the styleside full box's. from the back they didnt seem to have much style coming out of a era of chrome fins and fenders and bubble tops. think the stepside boxs on them looked better til 64.
think we all have that one or two autos we wouldnt mind having for one reason or another, my list is pretty long...lol. but one that sticks out is a 1964 galaxie 500 convertable, growing up my best friend and the closest thing i ever had to a father and man who took me in at 17 so i could finish school, he had a couple cars. he would throw me the keys from time to time to the 64 and me and his son would hit the lakes. and i pampered it b/c i didnt want it to be my last cruise....lol... i loved that car. still can think about looking out into the dash and the style and better than life feeling i got. i loved that car. though i got a few good 70's ford thought tucked away. but the other day the wife was sitting in the cab of the 55 all preggers telling me to hurry up and get it running because she wants a ride and to go cruising through porkys....lol

 

HAHA. My first car was a '64 Galaxie, but it wasn't a convertible. I remember picking up my girlfriend and going to the movies, it was the height of summer, so it was still daylight when we got to the movies. But it was dark when the movie ended, and she slid in the seat next to me. I fired it up and turned on the headlights and she commented on how pretty the dash looked with the green lights and gauges. I'd tell you more but I might get kicked off this site. HAHA.

I might have to go down to Toll Welding and pick their brain about torches. I was thinking the portability was a big plus. I wonder if you actually buy and own the tanks then?

So your wife is all preggered heya? Is this your first? When is it due?

 

yep, i remember how cool the green light was in the dash!, i wonder if it is possible to graft a 64 dash into a 55...ha. them 64's were pure style, aint nothing i dont like about them. think my wife rode in it once when we were first dating,. i cant own a truck with out a bench and to this day she dont use the passenger door inless i made her mad...lol. got a lot of memories in my 79...not looking to get kicked off either....lol.. and since she is taking the newer truck b/c she works closer and the oil pressure thing, she is quite the site to see that purty thing driving my truck...lol. there was a time she was driving my 79 more than i did too. i got me a very good woman.
yep its our first bambino, due in the middle of july just after our four year wedding aniversary, it is a true miracle kid i think with all the health issues going around nowdays.
i had a opportunity, at a 2 door hardtop fairly decent a few years ago, someone was selling one a few blocks away. another woulda coulda shoulda.

 

Best of luck to you and your wife. Keep us posted if you will on the progress.

Well, the fishing opener was a success despite the cool weather. My wife's sister and husband came over. We headed out for panfish and caught a mess of them. I filleted them this morning. We caught a couple very large bass too but had to put them back until the opener. I heard MN was thinking about moving bass season up to the opener. It would be nice, I don't know why the extra protection for them.

Do you know what most guys do about licensing these older vehicles? I'm thinking I'll take Doug out on nice summer days, probably pretty limited use, certainly no winter driving. Is a collector plate the way to go here in this state? And how about insurance? Don't get me started on that topic. I'm usually pretty understanding about the cost of things, but insurance gets me rabid. My wife said the last car insurance bill we got made me start foaming at the mouth. I've never had an accident claim and my premium for the 96 pickup keeps going up. I'd be looking for the absolute bare minimum I could get in that department.

 

no kidding about the insurance. any type of it seems to be a scam to me. i move 5 blocks and my insurance jumps 100$, figure that. i never use my medical and it jumps 80$ a week. i dont know where it ends or where it began but as a god believin man i know its all wrong....lol. but i did get hit in the side last year taking out my 79. it was raining and the lady came over the hill at fast, or at least enough to put the box of my truck on the hood of a oncoming car. but to make a long story short, since i had the sign they said it was my fault because i had a yield even though i think it was just a bad situation. i had no full coverage and got nothing for it but a lot of hassle. , it was a accident and just being at the wrong place at the wrong time. but i find it funny that everything that is on my record is from the burbs and since i moved to st paul and work in minneapolis and drive 40+hours a week..... but i continue to keep full coverage, i am not going to get hosed again like that.
technically you can only drive the collector plates to and from car shows and on sundays or something like that. that was to keep anyone from putting them on their beater and skipping out on registration. but i have seen them on beaters from time to time. we used to cruise n such as we pleased without any hassle. guess it all depends on if the local sheriff is a car nut or not. guess the rule of thumb is if its nice enough or old enough to get you a few good looks or a compliment and impress, then to the law, its nice enough for collector plates? ....lol. i dont know yet, my mom has reg plates on their 65 olds starfire b/c they never wanted to be told they couldnt drive it, not that they do anyways, but thats another story. i would hate with all this legislation going around to not be able to drive it all summer. heck in some states they wont title 20 year old cars. the cities are going around threatening to tow cars right off your property if they are not licensed and driveable. makes sence for many reasons but i think they take it too far. i have a nice 1955 plate i want to utilize though. i take it to the main licencing office downtown and it becomes my plate.
nothing like frying up panfish like bullheads n such. makin me hungry...lol.

 

You're kidding? You mean a guy can take an old plate to the courthouse and get that number registered for the vehicle?

You should come out and wet a line.

 

sounds like i need to get a license...lol, i haven't dropped some bait in some time and i dont know how a guy keeps his sanity by not doing that from time to time. , and i probaly wont get much time after the baby is here...lol. . i want to get out that way again to go to french lake again yet also.
about the plates, thats the way i understand it, i see a lot of cars cruising the strip with the vintage plates, mostly seen a lot of 60's ones, i see them on ebay all the time also. i picked up a cherry one at that last swap meet for $5. i had another one i repainted to almost perfect but it still isnt the same.
i think i have been tossing the idea more n more of just keeping the straight axle, but a disc brake and p/s conversion are a must for me. i was trying to figure out a way to make a bracket to maybe put a aerostar rack behind the axle. i can get all the steel by the pound at ambles for next to nuthing. but everytime i start adding up parts, i want to just get a crossmember..lol.. i really want a old school type build, so the cheaper and original i do it the more i pull it off i guess. i was thinking some lake pipes will make it look a bit lower also. i could do a drop axle later or something. the straight axles really dont ride all that bad, i have driven the trucks at work that have them and didnt think nothing of it. i think a home made sway bar will help some of the body roll and then beef the shocks with coils since i removed half the leafs already.

 

Yeah, if you and Mrs. Preggers want to wet a line, let me know. I'll guarantee you fish on your hook, or your money back! Course, I haven't seen no money. HAHA

I think you're right about the straight axle. It works. It reminds me when I was visiting a Polaris dealer and they had just come out with independent suspension on their ATVs. I was trying to get the salesman to tell me more about last year's model and price, but he kept trying to sell me on this new advanced machine. I finally asked him what was so great about this suspension, and he said, "Well, you don't want to be going through the woods getting tossed from side to side". I said, "Yes, I do." It's part of the fun, IMO. I'm looking forward to taking Doug out and getting rattled a bit, and hearing the sloshing gas in the tank behind me.

 

yea its too easy sometimes to get sold on the latest or snazziest thing. i would like to corner on rails sometimes but all in all its a cruzer. i will put a sway bar on though, body roll drives me nutz sometimes....lol.. like you are saying its all part of the driving experience. i have a newer truck and the wifes car if i want a quieter drive... its too easy to get hooked into what we see in the magazines and bolt on stuff sometimes too, a lot of the stuff can be done through fabrication or parts scrounging, though bolting it on is so much simpler...lol.. i came accross this website of a companies book i picked up some time ago at a show. www.thenightprowlers.com, they had a cab viser and lake pipes and some other cool old school stuff. if i get real motivated i could be cruzin this summer, not too much to do yet but putz stuff.
thought the whole point of fishin was to get away from the women?.....lol.

 

My wife says I can't talk to you no more. She says you're a bad influence on me. HAHA

Yeah, I looked at your link above, cool cars. I made a prediction about ten years ago that auto manufacturers would begin creating new designs that were modeled on classic lines. It's been one of the few predictions I've made that appears to be coming true. First there was the PT Cruiser, then the Thunderbird that looks retro, now I see Chevy has a classic-styled car whose grille looks like a '52 Chevy pickup. It must be catching on, although I'm a bit tired of the PT already.

What a washout this Memorial weekend is becoming. We've got people coming over but it looks like indoor activities will be needed. My dock is nearly underwater.