January 5, 2011 The Reveal

Well , I never thought the day would come. We showed up at Blair's to await Denise who was on her way back from College Park with one of my little helpers.
Becca was stuck stalling Mom until I could assemble the folks who helped make all this happen , at the shop.
I quick impromptu visit to Grandma's and a little belly ace helped stretch the time it took to get home. It gave us enough time to dust the car one more time.

Dani did a great job getting it ready.

Hard to believe we actually surprised her.

It is hard to sum up all the Thanks that are due but...

Jeff Boswell...Thanks for a great Primer shoot and teaching me how to get these kinds of results

Leo and Brian...Thanks for a great place to work on the car and preform the nastiest part of the job in a great environment and carting the car back and forth to Plaza Ford.

Jeremy...Thanks for the GREAT paint selection and the prep help.

Jeff, John, Larry and Tom Walls (Plaza Ford) ...For a great paint job.

Dani and Becca for running blocker for me when Mom wanted to know where I was all the time.

Eddy for the engine work

Ramsey Muffler for the exhaust system

Most of all - Lisa and Mark Blair ( Blair's Auto Care ) I can not even start to put my hands around all the time you invested and the resources that you spent to make this happen. It was your idea to do it ( so it is all your fault!)...I would have never tried this without you and I could not have finished it either. You are great friends. A bit crazy...but great

It is done. Happy Birthday Dee.

January 5, 2011 Detailing with Dani

Clean up night. Danielle went with me to detail the car while I did a few final things.
There will be more after Dee gets the car back but it will be at my pace.

The after market scripts and the emblems were a pain in the butt. The fasteners do not work very well. The originals had bolts on the back to fasten them. These came with the expanders that go into the hole with the post. That was not working well and the emblems and scripts did not have the contour of the fender. I ended up using the 3m trim cement and it worked fine. I found out that is what a lot of the body shops use now. I did not grind off the posts. I used them to help secure them.

Dani cleaned the sealer of the lettering. I love the way the wheels look. She also cleaned the trunk and interior. She detail the engine and then was stuck moping the floor when we got done. We tried not to make a mess. Lisa spent time cleaning up the shop today and it looked great.

The rocker trim was another after market accessory that could have been made better. The clips are poorly designed. I will have to go back after and find a better way to secure them. The top of the clip shows above the trim itself. I would rather pay more and have a nicer product then to have something cheep. You get what you pay for.

All she needs is a big red bow.

January 3, 2011 Back to Blair's

Well, we are back at Blair's. There is a lot of detailing to do.
Dani has offered to help.
I also have a short punch list of things left to do then I can be done with it...for now.

After a project like this , you always have things that you wish you would have done or things that could have been done differently. Notice I did not say "done better" ?

It is good as its going to get with my wallet and time budget. I think she is going to enjoy it.

At least, I hope so.

January 2, 2011 Reassembly

On the road again. Leo and Brian went with me to get the car back to the garage.

I wanted to see what the new wheels would look like but I still had to clean up the wheel wells first.

Good bye old...hello new

I was not around when Mark un-assembled the grill so there was a bunch of time spent tiring to figure things out. Having new trim kits did not help any. They did not match the original.

I put the valance and base of the grill assembly on first.

Then started laying out the other parts

I was nervous about working around the fresh paint so I taped off the areas that could be scratched .

Denise has always liked the look of fog lights. It would have been nice if there was better documentation on the installation of the fog lights. It look a while to figure it out.

I like the look too.

Moving on to the rear. M U S T A N G , thank God I checked my spelling first

The fender extension trim looked like poop. I had to replace that too.

The door and rear window gaskets were replaced too

O.K. Mark, last time you have to look at that door panel

I am not really sure why this paper was on the original door but I thought I would replace it too.

I painted the red portion of the doors. The paint was odd. It took three coats to cover the primer

With the new panels and fresh paint , the doors look great

Now to the other parts of the rear. The new bumper and the small rubber guard the goes behind it is going to be replaced. Wonder what the heck that rubber thing does??

The reverse lights are new too. The old ones were in bad shape

Tail light time. I replaced the bezels and it made a wonderful difference.

The rear arm rest and the front kick panels had to be freshened up.

The old speakers always sounded horrible. These should make a nice difference

The trim went on well. I took a bunch of time because the new carpet was not easy to work with. I did have to cut the carpet to size. It was very stiff.

I also replaced the door jam trim and suffered the first injury. The edges are very , very sharp. HINT*** Sand the edges of the new trim parts including the outer rocker trim. That will have to wait till tomorrow.

I like the way the new carpet looks

I got the seats back in before calling it a day. The seats are in great shape. There is a bit of fading at the tops but I did not want to replace the seat covers at this time.

Getting Closer!...