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November 29, 2010
Merry Mopar Christmas 2010!
Here's my son by the garage door, doing his annual pose next to the Mopar wreath he made after reading the instructions in a 2008 Mopar Collector's Guide. It's been fun watching him get taller and taller in comparison to the wreath each year. This year, he has extra reason to smile, because with my Charger at the paint shop, his 1967 Plymouth Satellite is in the garage, and we are completing some extensive work on it, including changing the driver side door jamb and quarter panel. It is really nice to get to do some of this work with him.
Posted in 2004-present | Family Helpers | link to this page | | Comments (0)
November 12, 2010
Special Thanks to Howard!
I am LONG overdue in giving proper thanks to a mentor, teacher, guide and friend who I have seen countless times, spoken to on the phone, spent hours and hours listening to, but never actually met.
When my good friend the "metal wizard" Frank moved away I was just beginning some very serious work on my Charger. I was feeling lost, and unsure how I would be able to proceed. I went online in search of some more books, or preferably some videos to help me along as I continued to learn body work.
Well, praise the Lord that I found Howard Holland's "Backyard Autobody" instructional DVD's. Right away in a very personable, and down to earth way, Howard's teaching reenforced what my friend Frank had been showing me, and being able to go over and over the DVD's helped immensely. Getting one of Howard's DVD's (there are currently three volumes) is more than just buying some good practical instruction, Howard himself is available via telephone or email to help you through any questions you may have. The only warning I have to offer though is, when you start talking to Howard on the phone, sit down and get comfortable because your not talking to some generic "tech help line" you are about to make a friend with someone who is as interested in your success as you are!
Howard teaches more than "just" hammer and dolly work, but goes into panel replacement, patch fabrication, filler uses (pro's and con's), priming and painting too! In fact it was my having watched Howard talking about, and demonstrating the use and benefits of single stage Urethane paints that allowed me to so easily accept Mopar Ed's suggestion that we go that route on my Charger's upcoming paint job.
I simply can't recommend highly enough that anyone wanting to learn the ropes in the auto-body universe consider giving Howard's videos a try. You may be amazed by what you can learn to do yourself.... and don't be surprised if the phone rings and it is Howard asking you how your project is going!
I get nothing from Howard for recommending him; he does not even know I am posting this, but I do so in hopes that some of you might get your projects a little further down the road (or back on the road!) through the unique kind of help he has to offer.If you want to you can click on his logo below to go to his website.
Posted in 2004-present | RESTORATION | body | primer and paint | rust & rust repair | sanding | link to this page | | Comments (0)
November 11, 2010
Seeing RED... very soon!
Well today was a really monumental day in the "life" of my Charger, and in my life too. A couple weeks ago on Halloween day, I had Ed, the owner and operator of E-Body Parts and Restoration come to my house and look my Charger over. He agreed to come and inspect my body work to ascertain if I was ready to hand it over to him for painting. He rubbed the car over quite a while, pointed out a few things I'd overlooked, and told me "Very good work, especially if this is your first time, that's really great. If you fix those things, I'll have space in my shop to get your car in in Mid November" This was a pleasant surprise, I had not expected him to have time so soon. Well, needless to say I worked every available moment to get the things done that he had noticed. Well today being Veterans Day, I was off work, so I drove down to his shop (a bit over one hour away) and picked up a pair of casters that bolted to my frame at the front bumper mounts so that my car could roll. Then loaded it up for a trip to FE5 heaven.
Here is the car loaded and ready to go in front of my garage.
Here we are after having unloaded the car at Ed's shop,
Here is the car snug in the paint booth!
Ed and his staff will shoot the car one more time in primer, block the body out, fix any minor things I still missed, then he will disassemble the car, paint everything then put it all back together. He promised he'd try to take pictures, but added that my wife and I are welcome to stop by and check things out anytime.
His shop is really amazing! He must have had more than a dozen awesome Mopars inside, with dozens more outside. I will update my Charger web page and this thread as things progress rapidly from here.
Posted in 2004-present | RESTORATION | body | primer and paint | link to this page | | Comments (0)