Well what a difference a month makes!

 Well, what a difference 4 weeks make.

4 weeks later...The builder came down and had a good long look at the project. He said his workspace was not much bigger than mine and that he would need to take it off the chassis and work on the cabin on dollies. Personally, I had a huge question mark over this, because how can you possibly line up things like the guards when it's not on the chassis? I think he had a long look at it and began to realise he needed to take the entire truck with him, and with that he changed his tune. He said he has been overwhelmed with jobs since starting back up again at his place and he wouldn't be able to accommodate the truck into his suddenly heavy schedule. I even told him he could work in our garage. I had everything he needed, but reading between the lines, I knew he had enough work to keep him going and he could afford to be choosy. A far cry from when he first turned up all excited like.

Anyway, I decided to get stuck into at least one of the jobs I thought was too hard for me: aligning the doors. And, surprising even myself, I was able to get at least one of the doors lined up enough for me to call it an achievement. That gave me a whole lot of confidence, and now I feel ready to tackle the bad side, and who knows, maybe I can even do the rest of the body work myself. Maybe it's meant to be like this...

It's too late to turn back now. And one of the reasons is; we're knocking out the centre pillar of our double garage and installing a wide single door JUST for the rotten truck! How spoilt is this thing?

So I will be fully welding up the cab front now that I believe it is in the correct place and if the door doesn't fit, I can adjust the door, weld more metal on it or grind some off as needed. I also hop to fit the front fenders correctly and align them with the stone guard, and after that, repair the fibreglass guards and hit them with a couple of coats of 2k epoxy primer. That should be enough for this weekend. 

I'm chasing up a part that connects the rod from the firewall to the radiator support. Doesn't look like an easy part to find, and nor does it look easy to make.  Still, the search goes on...

Good news! The radiator shroud is nearly done and I should have that back by the weekend. Happy days. Gotta be happy about something. 

9th Romans Car display Kiama 8th September 2024

 Well, what a great day! Thousands turned up to the little seaside town of Kiama, home of the biggest blowhole in the world, to see hundreds of righteous hotrods with a small smattering of old Holdens and Falcons, and even a couple of non American cars turned up. The weather was about as perfect as you could hope for: not too sunny with plenty of cloud and no rain. and no flies. Great fifties tunes were playing (not too loudly) and there was food on offer and some other goodies in a few stores I didn't get to check out, although, I must confess I did check out the pizza, and it was very nice.

But today was all about the vehicles...and the Romans. For those that don't know, the Romans are a hot rod club formed in NSW in 1960, so they are celebrating their 64th year! What an amazing achievement!

Here are just some of the cars that we saw on the day.

Kicking myself I didn't spend more time in the company of this grand old girl, and I didn't get a front snap, either. But this was a beautifully restored Chrysler Imperial coupe from 1956 (I believe) 

Just check out that stunning dash! Who doesn't love chrome? This car was lavished with it.  Hard for me to pick a favourite, but this one would be right up there. 

Thunderbird for GO! (that is, for sale)  This one looked very nice. 

Had to trim this pic as someone's big schnozz got right in the way.

Stunning looking rod. Just check out the beautiful interior! 

Here was another one with a very stylish interior. Some sort of two tone leather. 

Sittin' back watching the people go by and lovin' it! 

Just beautiful! 

Not many sleds there, but this one was a standout.

An absolute peach!

A few Chevy pickups from the 60's but surprisingly next to nothing representing Ford. 

The ever photogenic XA GT Coupe. If I'd just seen this car and walked away I would have had a satisfying day. 

Tastefully two tined and looked very effective. 

Anyone else go weak at the knees when they see a Camaro? Oh SS! 

A Scottish guy called Jack owns this. Jack who? 

Lil' buttkickin' Morris looking great. 

GT 40 was surprisingly sedately sounding when it cruised in. I never understood why they would put a wheel well in the front of the car for the spare tyre. Must make it hard to see. Good to see the owner opted to leave it out. 

Gotta love these old girls. Must cost the owner a lot of money in new number plates, tho. See it under there crushed to oblivion. 

It's well known fact I am a Ford fan, but you'll never hear me say anything derogatory about a gorgeous old '54 Chevy!

Like a beauty parade without the headlights! 

A nicely understated 34 Ford. 

Yes, that's my wife, the obsessed Cronulla Sharks fan! Deep in contemplation here, probably thinking why don't we own something like this beautiful hotrod instead of that POS I'm trying to fix. She'd have a point. Go the sharks! (Had to say that) 

Sorry guys, I wasn't allowed to get a close up of the mural on this WB ute. I got dragged off quickly to the next car. This was the best I could do. 

Coffin shaped trailer. Not my cup of tea, but did overhear some woman saying she'd happily get driven to the cemetery in that. 

Wee wee, as in very French...Frenched headlights...get it? 

This pickup was bloody beautiful. The shine on the paint was something else, and the dull day didn't do it justice. Check out the interior!

A very tastefully done interior incorporating modern styling cues, like modern gauges, seating and door panels.  A high quality build. But just keep looking, dudes, and check out that tub! 

Like, what is that floor made of? I don't think they were individual strips, and I don't even know if it is wood, but it looked like you could just do a big bellyflop on that and slide all the way to the mural headfirst. 

How do you know this show was not in the Bunnings car park? Answer: just one dog all day. 

Wendy's favourite car. I think we came back to this three times. I told her we'd have to go otherwise they'd call the cops. "Calling all cars, look out for the car shark!"  Gotta say I loved it to. The owner's weren't very talkative, but it was hard to talk with a face full of burger. You have to concentrate when there is beetroot somewhere in that roll. I get it.