How It All got Started

This three-wheeled beast began my love for all things automotive.  I have a distinct memory of dragging my G.I. Joe with the kung-fu grip from a string behind my Big Wheel.  It kills me because I could probably pay for chopping the Pickle's top if I had just saved it in good condition.


A friend of mine had the Green Machine.  The rear-wheel steering was cool.  You could get it to spin out pretty easily.  I never could get my Big Wheel to do a 360 degree spin like the commercial.




Thanks to VintageTVCommercials.com.

Miranda's Customs

The folks called me yesterday and asked if I wanted to check out a '58 Impala they had come across the day before in one of their day trips in the MGA.  So without delay, I hustled down, picked them up, and we headed out.  On Central Avenue just south of downtown, we came across the Impala.  The '58 Impala has always been an Eyrich family favorite since it was the only year of this body style.  It was parked behind a chain-link fence with several other cars at a shop by the name of Miranda's Custom Cars.

We stood and looked at the cars for a few minutes and Luis, the owner, stepped out of the business.  He was locking up for the day.  He walked over, recognizing my parents from their conversation the previous day.  He talked to us for several minutes about all of the cars parked behind the gate, before offering to open up his shop and show us the cars inside.  We accepted the generous offer, not realizing what we were about to step into.

When we stepped just inside the front door, we were in a small, unassuming room where the interiors are completed.  But when we walked through the door on the other side of the room we stepped into a maze of connected buildings with some of the best Chevy metal I have seen.  The glass-like body finish and paint was nothing short of perfection.  There was lowrider after lowrider with amazing paint graphics, airbrushed firewalls and wheelwells; a sea of custom show cars in various stages of completion.  I immediately whipped out my phone and started snapping some photos.  The poor quality of the photos does a grave injustice to the quality of the body work and paint.

As we finished looking around, Luis proudly told us that no one does bodywork and rust repair like his shop.  And from what I saw, he was right.

Miranda's Custom Cars

706 S. Central Avenue, Phoenix

602-712-1783

They do wire wheels, hydraulics, air bags, custom upholstery, classic restorations, paint and body work.  Definitely worth a look if you are in the neighborhood.

Devil-May-Care Jockeys

It pains me to see the destruction of such beautiful metal, but it would have been great to see in person. There is a funny line in the second one, "Don't call 'em hot rods. Hot rods are home grown conglomerations of this-a and that-a; for amateurs." How no one died in the wreck at the end is beyond me.

The Rock Crusher

I was going to through some photos on my phone for the last post, and I found some photos of the Muncie M-22 that we installed a few months back.  If your not familiar with that transmission, it is pretty rare to find one in good condition.  It is a heavy duty transmission that has been run in race and drag cars over the years.  In 1963, GM began using Muncie four-speed automatic transmissions, favored for its ability to handle the torque in high-performance cars. The Muncie manual transmission came as the wide ratio M-20, the close ratio M-21 and the heavy-duty close ratio "Rock Crusher" M-22, which was produced from 1970 through 1973. An earlier version of the M22 was used in 1965 Corvettes and in the Z16 performance options in the Chevy Super Sport models.

So, needless to say, I am pretty pumped to have it in the Pickle.

The way the gears are cut are unique to the Muncie. This transmission has a distinct whine that is specifically identified with it. You can really hear it in a scene from Two Lane Black Top. Turn up your volume, it is a little quiet.


Ok, for the last picture, I have to post one of my new valve covers the folks got me for Christmas. While I love everything about Ron's engine, these valve covers will give it that vintage feel that I want.

I lied, here is the last photo. It is of the Indian head lit up. Pretty cool.

Back On Track

Well, now that it has cooled off, a decent amount of progress has been made.  It is great to be back on track.  The battery box was hand made by Ron and welded into the trunk.  The battery cables were grounded into the trunk and the the other was run up to the engine.

A steel-braided fuel line was run back from the fuel pump to the rear end where the tank will be re-installed.  There are still some small dents that need some massaging.

We initially were going to go with a 10-bolt rear end, but we were able to locate a '57 Pontiac rear end that was a 17- spline as opposed to a 15-spline with the 10-bolt.  Now, I had no idea what that meant until Ron explained it to me.  I still walked away scratching my head.  But when he said it makes the rear end stronger, allowing me to "light the tires up" if I wanted...that made sense to me.  It is strange to me that I started this project with the desire to have a cruiser, not really caring if it went fast.  But the longer I hung out with Chris Parese (my buddy who helped me yank the original engine) and Ron, the more excited I am about the first time I have to back off the throttle because the back end is getting loose.

In this last photo you can see where we let the exhaust end with just a couple of turn-downs just past the Flowmasters. We left it like that so that we could run the exhaust over the rear axle once we lower it. I will throw a set of 3" lowering blocks on the back, then decide if we need to de-arch or remove some leafs. Then we can run the pipes over the top. But if it sounds cool, I may just leave it.

David Perry

I am a huge fan.  I thought I would put up some of his stuff.  Amazing.

He also has a Pin-Up Girl movie out. Here is one of the many trailers from his site.
Or you can get it from the Gearhead Records site.

 

I Was Born in the Wrong Era

I always tell my parents that I was born during the wrong era. I think the ideal era in which to live was my parents' era:

They were kids in the 40's- before radio, and electronic toys.  When playing outside was what you did, and not punishment for messing up the house.  Limited only by your imagination, you were whatever you wanted to be: a king, a famous explorer, or a famous radio personality.  Ah, the radio.  I used to listen to Mystery Theater on AM radio as a kid.  I did that because I was drawn by the stories of my parents listening to scary radio programs like The Shadow.  I've never even heard the show and I can repeat this from memory:  "Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men?  The Shadow knows."  Well, they were right; the scary monster I imagined on Mystery Theater was scarier than anything I ever saw on television.  Why?  Because it  was specifically created in my mind and tailored to what I found frightening...not by some tool in Hollywood.  My dad would ride his bike to the Fox Theater to see the Lew King Ranger Show, then would go across the street to an arcade and spend whatever he had left of the dollar that his mom gave him.  Mom wasn't allowed to ride her bike all over hell's half acre, she was probably better off for it.


They were teenagers in the 50's- cruising Central Avenue, Bob's Big Boy, sock hops with The Stroll playing, hot rods and customs, and (what this post is ultimately about) Drive-Ins.

They were in their 20's in the 60's- what a great time to be a young adult.  Politically, there was so much going on.  Voting rights, human rights, the Kennedys, Martin Luther King, the beginning of Viet Nam, the Lunar landing.  The world was changing quickly, and they were old enough to understand it, yet young enough to be motivated to be involved.

They were in their 30's in the 70's- the last of the great eras.  The 70's, in my opinion, was the last vestige of simple and uncomplicated times.  My parents had two young boys by then, and they could let them disappear every summer morning at the crack of dawn, as along as they were within earshot at dusk to hear, "Chris....Matt, Dinner."  Of course that call was always met with a, "Five more minutes, Mom"


One of the things that I really feel that I missed out on was the golden age of the Drive-In Theater.  Sure we went when we were in high school.  But I always felt that I had completely missed the dance.  When my parents went to the drive-in, it was a dollar a car.  So kids would hide in the trunk, hoping not to get caught. Once past the eagle-eyed gate attendant, they sought out their friends and had good clean fun.  And if you went with your girlfriend, it was just such a simpler time...a time when getting to second base was a big deal.

I have two early memories of movies that I saw as a kid.  The first was American Graffiti, released in 1973.  My parents took Matt and me to the Indian Drive-In in Phoenix.  It used to be at 4141 N. 27th Avenue.  Now, there is a sleazy Motel 6 and these apartments on the site.


My other memory is going with my Uncle Red to see Star Wars at the Cine Capri at 20th Street and Camelback Road (also torn down).  I think that was in 1977.


I think that a terrible thing to see is an abandoned drive-in theater.  It really hits home the fact that I missed the boat.  I have posted some of these sad photos.  I have decided that when the Pickle gets running, I want to get with some of the car clubs in Phoenix and see if we can't have some sort of fund raiser/car show at one of the few remaining drive-ins.  Maybe show American Graffiti.

Maybe some day, I will be sitting in the Pickle watching this trailer...or better yet, the movie itself.

The Making of "The Pickle's First Run."

Not that anyone cares, but I wanted to post some of the footage of the ONLY day that the Pickle has been driven since I've owned it.  It hadn't been licensed since 1978, and had only been driven by the previous owner one time in the three years he owned it.

Its a day I remember fondly, and relive in my mind often, but, at the same time, makes every day after that much more unbearable because I can't drive it.  So I compiled all of that footage from September 2nd, 2008, and posted here in a tongue and cheek behind the scenes look at that day.  Any appearance of my being cool will be decimated by the geeky smile I had that day.  But it was a great day....a great day that ended abruptly when I stalled the car in front of my neighbors house and couldn't get it restarted.

The Oldest Pontiac Still in Existence is Found

Well it has been in the 110's and higher over the past month.  Way to hot to work in the garage.  So I decided that my time was better spent having a few drinks by the pool, hanging out with my wife and four Great Danes.  Anyway, I thought I would share this article.  It is always great to see a survivor, no matter what the make of car.  I always think about the fact that we only really borrow these old cars for while, then after we are gone, they are passed on to our kids, or sold to the next lucky borrower.  It is our responsibility to do right by the car.  With some care and luck, it will be here long after we are gone.

We'll be back on the Pickle next month.  We'll get the rear end in, drive shaft, and get it wired.  Then look out!




An article by ALYSSA FORD, Special to the Star Tribune

When organizers of one of the most prestigious car shows in the country found out General Motors was discontinuing one of its most storied brands, Pontiac, they decided they had to plan something big for this year's show.

So the Fairfield County Concours d'Elegance in Westport, Conn. -- a show that routinely attracts the highest-end Ferraris, Porsches and Lamborghinis to be found -- launched a campaign to find the oldest Pontiac in existence.

The organizers peppered the automotive media with notices, tapped their own network of car aficionados, and alerted every Pontiac club they could find, including the Pontiac Car Club of Australia and the Manitoba Pontiac Association.

After three months of searching, they discovered 12 Pontiacs still in existence from 1926, the brand's founding year.

And, based on an analysis of vehicle identification numbers, they found that the oldest of all resided in Minnetonka -- owned by Paul Jaszczak, 49, a distribution center manager, and his father, Roy Jaszczak, 76, a retired bricklayer.

So on Friday, the Jaszczaks' car will be shipped out East and the Jaszczaks themselves will be flying out to New York City to enjoy a complimentary stay in a luxury hotel. Then they'll drive their Series 6-27 five-passenger coach with its classic cowl lamps, wood frame and spokes, and original golden tan corduroy upholstery in the 50-mile Nutmeg Tour for Autism, surrounded by million-dollar-plus sports cars.

The Jaszczaks themselves are a little overwhelmed by it all.

"When they called and said they were going to fly us to New York and all that, I thought it was a hoax," said Paul Jaszczak, who split the cost of the car with his dad seven years ago after seeing an ad in the classified section of the Star Tribune.

"If you'd asked either of us what a 1926 Pontiac looked like, we couldn't have told you," Paul said. "Honestly, we just thought the car was really neat."

The history of the car itself is a bit cloudy. The man the Jaszczaks bought it from -- whose name they've lost -- said that the founding owner of the Fishman-Holm dealership in Minneapolis died in 1926 and his son, who inherited the dealership, bought the $825 Pontiac as a tribute to his father.
The six-cylinder, 32-horsepower car apparently sat in the Fishman-Holm showroom at 1224 Harmon Place for many years before it was passed on to an unknown number of owners over the years.
The 6-27 is the first and only collectible car the Jaszczaks have owned, and they've taken their stewardship seriously.

Paul has made unsuccessful attempts to find the family connected with the Fishman-Holm dealership, and he's collected reams of old Pontiac advertisements. They've cleaned up the car, given it a valve job and replaced all five tires. "Some of the tires had Lindbergh's airplane on them, they were that old," said Paul.
Roy Jaszczak used to drive the Pontiac to church, to Pax Christi in Eden Prairie, but now father and son mostly take it out for leisurely spins or down to the local Dairy Queen.
As they go, they hit the horn, and the car goes aw-ooga, aw-ooga! As the Pontiac whirs past, people on the sidewalks turn and smile.

As Bonneville Looms...

I was thinking that in honor of Speed Week at the Bonneville Salt Flats, held every year by the Southern California Timing Association, that I would post a few videos I found about the history of the event. The SCTA was created in 1937 to regulate and limit racing on public streets. The SCTA made racing move to the dragstrip and salt flats. This year's pilgrimage to the salt flats at Bonneville commences August 8th through the 14th. I plan on taking the Pickle out there next year (car gods willing). My wife Tammy has already said she will pass on the trip because it involves driving in the Pickle through the Arizona desert with no A/C. Either way, I will be there.

*Note the comment the narrator (Alex Xydias, the founder of SoCal Speed Shop) makes at the beginning of the first video about how kids would take offense to the term "hot rod"; that a hot rod was "anything that lacked fenders and a muffler." These comments are almost identical to the complaints of hot rodders of today when their cars are called rat rods. It always amazes me how things in life are so cyclical.

The Pickle Make-Over

Well, sadly, all of the green house paint is off of the Pickle. The small dents are being worked out. Here are a few pictures.



Ron from Ron's Just Chevy's
was able to weld in all of the new sheet metal for the trunk. It has all been primered. It was originally primered grey, but was changed to black. It just looked cooler.


As the Pickle gets re-assembled, we need to replace some of the missing parts. Because the car is not a Chevy or Ford, the after-market for Pontiacs is limited to California Pontiac Restoration. And if you can't find it there you are screwed. So, I was off to Deer Valley Auto Parts, which is a salvage yard in Casa Grande.

I needed a hood release and found ONE on the very last 1950 Pontiac we came across.

So now all of the new bushings for the front end are on order and probably within the next couple of weeks we are going to fire up the engine for the first time. Stay tuned.

Just Because Its Not Original, Doesn't Make It Custom

There are custom things added to cars. Things that make sense and add to the lines of the car, for example these Packard taillights.

And then there are those, like reverse lights added under the headlights, that detract from the vehicle.

When I removed the light it left three holes. Two of which I knew I could fill with MIG. The other needed to have some sheet metal cut in the shape and size of the hole and welded in.

I have never done anything like this before, but I have seen it done on TV. I got a piece of paper and I traced the hole.

Then I went back to my busted up fender that I practiced my welding on and cut out a small piece of metal and then cut it to the shape of my tracing.

I sanded all of the green house paint off. It is a small piece of sheet metal and I knew it would be nearly impossible to hold into place. So I grabbed a small nail and tack welded it to the patch piece. This way I had something to hold on to.

After a few touch-up trims, the piece fit well.

I didn't want to have the metal overheat and warp since I was working with such a small piece. So I made a series of tack welds spread out until they eventually joined.


I filled the two small holes next to the big hole and ground everything down. As you can see, it is not perfect, but the patch is strong and a very thin coat of putty will make it look really nice.

Fillin' Holes

Well I have been procrastinating for some time. There is a "Silver Streak" emblem on the side of each of the front fenders. I want the front fenders void of anything like that, but the emblems are really cool and I wanted to keep them. So I decided the emblems will be relocated to the interior door panels.

Removing these would leave two large holes in the fender. I had read somewhere that holes of these sizes could be filled with MIG weld. I have seen it done once on some TV show, so I thought I would give it a try. I was a little nervous about over-heating the panel and warping it. But I still figured I would try it.



My cousin Rich was nice enough to loan me his Lincoln Welder. It is a wire fed MIG that allows you to use it with or without gas. The wire that comes with it has the gas as part of the welding wire/flux, so gas is not needed. I have never welded before and didn't know any of this until I watched the VHS instructions that came with the welder.

The first thing I did was to retrieve my old wrinkled fender from the side of my house which I saved for this specific purpose. I wanted to practice on that fender before I put the torch to the good fender.

I cleaned a small area free of paint and debris. I then drilled some holes in the fender to practice filling them. I also practiced laying several lines of weld.


Now, anyone who knows anything about welding is cringing at my welds. They are ugly, I know. But I kept the heat down and didn't warp the surface. It worked, so I was happy. After filling the holes, I ground down the welds, saw some pinholes and filled them with more flux. I had to repeat that process until the holes were completely filled. But it worked, the panel wasn't warped, and it looked pretty good. I was excited.

Weld then grind, weld then grind.


I then went and got my good fender. I cleaned it up and with a knot in my stomach I set the welder up.

I am not embarrassed to tell you that each time that I had to switch between welding and grinding there were times that I went a little faster than I probably should have. Two separate times I started welding with the welding mask on top of my head and my eyeballs intently focused on the small hole that would soon burn my retina. I was only blinded for a few minutes. You would think that would be a mistake that someone would make only once. Nope, not me.

Then this is what it looked like after it was ground down.

So if you are like me, and you want to try new things and work on your car yourself, don't be nervous. Unless you catch your car on fire and it burns to the ground taking your garage with it, there is a professional somewhere who can fix your mistake.

The Rise and Fall of a Few of Custom Cars

"The earliest hot rods (called gow jobs or hop ups at the time) evolved in Southern California in the late 1920's and Depression-era 1930's, and were mostly Model T's and A roadsters that were stripped down to bare bones for lightness and streamlining, then hopped up with racing engine parts left over from the heady circle track racing craze of the teens and early 20's.

"...the newer (1935 and later) 'fat fender' cars just didn't look good with the fenders off. But since the owners of these newer cars had grown up in the hot rod culture, they couldn't leave these cars alone. They had to fix 'em up, alter them, modify them, personalize them."
-from The American Custom Car by Pat Ganahl.

Thus started the an incredible tradition of altering cars by customizers like the brother teams of Barris and Ayala. All across America, shops were opening up to service this growing demand.

True metal artistry set certain shops apart from the rest. These works of art would flow from these garages out into the public. It is what happened to these works after they were taken home that interested me. I have posted a few photos of some great cars and "what ever happened to..." them photos. Some are alive and well, and some met with tragic ends.

* * * *

* * * *

* * * *

* * * *

* * * *

* * * *

I have no "before pictures" for this one. Just looking at the car makes the imagination wander though, doesn't it?

* * * *

* * * *

* * * *

This car first started out as a project by Barris. But soon after it was started, it was seen parked out back behind the shop, and was ultimately never finished. Its whereabouts are unknown, most likely scrapped.

* * * *

* * * *

* * * *

There are numerous custom shops around these days, but the shops of the 40's and 50's were arguably the pinnacle...originality in its infancy. Oh how we all long for the days in that dirty little shop in Lynwood.

I would like to thank Rik Hoving for letting me post several of these photographs. They are just a minute part of a huge library of images documenting hundreds of past custom cars. Please visit his site if you would like to see many, many more images.

The Cool Hot Rod....A Lesson in Rodding Courtesy

This is an educational video that was created in the 1950's to help improve the rodders' image. In the mid 50's, hot rodders got a bad reputation because of the street racing and the perception was that they had become a general nuisance on the road. There was a movement to try to change that image. Car clubs would assist stranded motorists and get involved in other philanthropic endeavors in an attempt to change their image.

Eventually, hot rodding moved off of the streets and to the drag strip, beaches and salt flats around this great country of ours. This two-part film was part of the effort to try to change the minds of the rodders as well as their image in the community. The narration is my favorite part, it is straight out of the fifties: corny by today's standard, but still cool after all of these years. Enjoy.

PART I





PART II

The Best Easter Ever

I could not have asked for a better Easter than the one I had this year. A couple of days ago I went over to Ron's to see how the pickle was doing and I was amazed. The engine and throttle arm are completely installed. The throttle arm was fabricated from scratch as will be the clutch arm. The clutch arm had to be fabricated because we switched the stock column shifter and tranny with Muncie M22 with a Hurst 4-speed floor shifter.

As I stated in one of the first posts, the floors were one of the things that really bothered me about the car. Ron, being the jack-of-all trades that he is, had replaced the old worn out floors with a skillfully patched mosaic of sheet metal. I could not believe it. It had been made with 22 gauge steel and is much stronger than the original floors.


The entire passenger compartment is going to be sheet metaled in, even behind the rear seat upright. I plan on dynamatting the entire thing since I am running Flowmaster 40's and functional lakes pipes .

Ron welded in sheet metal over the firewall. The firewall is very clean and smooth now.



The entire exhaust system is done. There are just some turn outs just past the muffler. This is temporary. We have a 10-bolt rear end from a '62 Nova that will be installed. While that is being redone, I am going to take the leafs to Dunbar Spring. I will see if they can de-arch the leaf springs to get the rear end lowered. After that is done and they are reinstalled, we will see where the ride height sits and determine if we want to go with any lowering blocks. Then we can run the exhaust over the top of the rear axle to make sure there is enough clearance.

For the front coils, I have been talking to Coil Spring Specialties.
I have ordered a 3" custom spring to drop the front end. I am trying to avoid having to install the dropped uprights. Although these are great to drop the front end, they are about $300 and you have to heat the steering arm and bend it into place to fit the dropped spindles. I have no idea how to either install the uprights or heat the steering arm to fit. The steering schematics is a little intimidating to mess with. But like before, I guess if screw it up, there is someone out there who can fix it. So we will see.

Ron, while doing all of this incredible work, has also built seven engines for customers. Just a little history on Ron: he did two tours in Vietnam. When he came back to the States, he borrowed a few dollars, and started his own machine shop in his garage. At some point after that he started driving a Catepillar earth moving machine. He built freeways for 30 years and is now enjoying his retirement. He builds engines now- from the basic Chevy 350, to high-performance 800 HP racing engines. He is an amazing guy, I am fortunate on many levels for having been introduced to him, and having him be a huge part of this project. Here he is next to his beautiful engine.

Its Official, The Pickle is a Lead Sled

About a year ago, I purchased the Basic Lead Filler kit from Eastwood. I wasn't sure if that was something I wanted to tackle. I thought about it, and figured the worst I could do was to overheat the hood (which was the body part I wanted to work on) and warp the crap out of it and ruin it forever. So, Why not?



The first thing I had to do was to brush on some tinning butter to get the lead to stick to the metal. I then heated it to cure it.

I used a propane torch to melt the lead and spread the lead while inadvertently setting fire to my wooden paddle. But it spread out pretty well.

Since the product is actually a lead-free solder, I could have used an electric sander. After trying it, I didn't like the way it came out. So I used the "cheese grater" that came with it.

After some deep burning in the shoulders, the soldering began to take shape. I was pleased.

New Engine Is In

I went over Ron's to check on the progress, and make the final payment. He had the engine and the Muncie 22 tranny all mocked up. It all looks great. All of the motor mounts and tranny cross-member were all fabricated from scratch. He had a mock engine in there and was measuring it all up.

And finally, here is a picture with the new engine in it. I can't wait to fire it up...

Tin Man gets a new Heart

This morning, Chris Parese and I loaded the Pickle onto a car hauler that he was able to line up for me. It was off to the home of Ron Deneke of Ron'sJustChevys. Just when I thought I had people figured out, someone goes and surprises the hell out of me. During a previous conversation with Ron, I had mentioned to Ron that the Pickle was a project with my parents and that not only the car, but the project itself, had a lot of sentimental value to me. So Ron surprised me and said he would measure everything out, weld it all in with a mock engine then pull it all out. He said he wanted me and my parents to be able to drop the motor and tranny in ourselves, so that it was still "our" project. Unbelievable. My pansy-ass had tears in my eyes. Needless to say, Ron has a life-long customer in me. Here are just a couple of pictures as it was dropped off at Ron's house.

Cart Before the Horse

I got some cool stuff for Christmas. Granted, they are a little premature since the Pickle is not even running. But I am still excited.

I got my shifter knob. It was a gift from my parents when we went to the Good Guys car show in Phoenix last November. It is a drag racer with a German army helmet and some old school breathing/fire gear.

My brother, Matt, is an amazing painter. He painted this miniature of Wyatt Earp for me. He won second place his first time out in a huge modeling show in California.

So Matt already has some cool ideas for the knob.

Additionally, I got a necker knob, suicide knob, or Brody knob...whatever you want to call it.

Here in Phoenix, back in the 50's and 60's, there was a Bob's Big Boy at Central Avenue and Thomas Road. Cruisers used to start at the Phoenix Public Library at Central and McDowell Road. They would cruise northbound on Central. Just past Encanto Boulevard the curb lane traffic used to come to a stand still as the cruisers patiently waited their turn to pull into the parking lot of the Bob's Big Boy. Once in the parking lot, they would slowly drive through to see and be seen. Then it was out the other side and southbound on Central towards the library parking lot, which was the turn-around point. So to commemorate those days, I got the Bob's necker knob.

Front Clip Frenzy

We had to remove the front clip to make room for the new engine. With my lack of even a basic knowledge of how the front end was attached to the frame and body, this was a daunting task to say the least. We took a lot of photos and tried to keep as much ot the interior structure together as we could (a great idea by Dad).


Numerous bolts and screws were so old and/or rusted that they had to be cut out or ground out.

But ultimately we were successful. I am just not sure where to put all of the parts. Thank God I have an understanding wife. Luckily, her hobby includes showing Great Danes, which means we have four Great Danes. They are all inside dogs and they take turns sleeping in our bed with us. So, although it is not needed, it provides me with a little bargaining power.


So we were able to get the front clip off. We took our time with some putty knives and screwdrivers to try to get the 58 years of road grime, grease, and God-knows-what-all from the suspension and undercarriage.


We started out early in the morning, and when it was all done, it made for a long day.

Some Vintage Slide Shows I Put Together...

Phoenix
_______

And some 50's Hot Rod and Customs Shots
_______________________________

With Progress comes Forfeiture

In 1989, I was a sophomore at the University of Arizona. That summer, my neighbor was selling a 1967 Piaggio Vespa 125 Super for $50. I was excited, and bought it as fast as I could. The engine was stuck as it had been sitting for several years in a garage. I took it to Dave's Kart and Cycle in Phoenix. For $250 they got it running. I rode it the following year down in Tuscon. I transferred to Northern Arizona University the following semester. After the first heavy snow came, I knew that Flagstaff was not place for my Vespa. So it got trailered back to my parents' house. There is stayed for the next 20 years. I rode it to my summer jobs. After college, I moved to Los Angeles. I didn't take the Vespa with me. It was kept in the shed at my parents'.

I met my wife in Los Angeles. When we would come back to visit my parents, we would ride it around the neighborhood. Fond memories. My wife, Tammy, has a younger brother named Patrick. When he would come to visit from Missouri, we would ride the Vespa around the neighborhood. I have a great deal of nostalgic affection for the Vespa. That is why it killed me to sell it yesterday. We needed the money to pay for the things we want done to the Pickle. It was the logical decision, but I can't help but to feel a little sad. Well, more than a little sad.

The good news is I sold it to a guy, Boxcar Chris from the HAMB, who is going to leave it in the original condition, not part it out, and ride it. That made it all worth it...


Patrick and me, circa 1996...

The new motor has been located!!

Well thanks to Chris Parese, I have found an engine builder. His name is Ron Deneke of Ron's Just Chevys

Ron has been building engines for a long time. I would much rather buy an engine from someone who builds engines in his garage, than a crate engine from some big company. He is a jack of all trades and is definitely going to be an asset throughout the rest of this build. There are a lot of things that I do not know how to do. Ron will be able to fill in those gaps.

I am putting in a Chevy 350 ci, with 315 hp. There should be plenty of get-up-and-go with this motor. The one stipulation from my Dad was that the Pickle NOT have an automatic transmission. "No self-respecting hot rod had an automatic transmission in my day." So we located a Muncie M22 "rock crusher" 4-speed manual transmission. Although this was a large financial investment, it was agreed that the drive train is not the right place to cut corners. So I have attached a copy of two photo graphs of the new motor.

Goodbye to the mill

Well we had a couple buddies come over and help us pull the motor. Chris Parese and Rob Bolvin, fortunately, knew more than I did about pulling motors. So Chris brought over his engine puller. After we finally assembled it correctly, we were off...enjoy the vintage Beasties...

Some Good News and Some Bad News

Well, we shipped the Pickle off to Greenway Auto. It is a small neighborhood repair shop down the street. We drove by it one day and saw numerous old cars in the front bays. So we went in and were initially taken back by the hundreds of photographs of hot rod and customs they had worked on over the years. We knew we were in the right place.

So they looked the engine over, got the stuck rear break hub off, machined a new one to fit, wired the brakes and a host of other things we had neither the tools nor the know-how to complete.

They called a few weeks later and said they had some good news and bad news. They were able to get the inline 6 to run but the compression was crap. I guess that shouldn't have been surprising since the Oklahoma license plate that was on the vehicle was from 1978.

It needed to be rebuilt. And after it was rebuilt, there was no telling in what condition was the transmission going to be. So we were forced to make the decision to put a newer engine in it or keep the old one. The cheaper and more logical choice was the newer engine. So that is what we are going to go with.

It saddens me to lose that stock engine, but the I think the real issue is the ability to reliably drive the car. So, the decision was made.

Below are some photos of the Pickle before it went off to the mechanic. And the video was the brief time we had to drive it as it limped home from Greenway Auto.

New Body Parts

I bought some paint remover to see how that would work. It only took off the house paint that was the last coat hand brushed by some previous owner. What it did do, though, was expose the original sea foam green that was the original color of the pickle. Pretty cool.

href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_Go6AcNf8jgo/SA66HQHnc3I/AAAAAAAAAM4/DRZzEBfNNhQ/s1600-h/IMG_2462.JPG">

Well the front right fender of the Pickle was not salvageable. It had been in some previous accident and hammered out by someone who had as much hammer and dolly experience as I have.



So we went to the junk yard down in Casa Grande as seen in an earlier post. We didn't find the fender we were looking for. So I found the web site for East West Auto Parts out in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

They told me they had a 1950 fender and bumper filler. I asked them for a photo since I didn't want to buy it sight unseen. They sent me back an e-mail saying, "No photo, fender is straight and solid."

So I was a little pissed with the reply, but it is hard to find parts like fenders, so I went ahead and bought the two items. About two weeks later, a giant crate arrived with my fender and bumper filler. It was like Christmas.



We opened the crate and the first thing I saw was a giant patch of bondo,



and a dent under the light. I also noticed that the bumper filler was very different from the one we had. I knew immediately that it wasn't the right year. I looked at the fender and saw that the hole for the running light was different. I then saw the part number on it. It was about a 6-digit number that ended in "52." my Dad remembered that the part numbers from the Casa Grande junk yard all ended in the year of the car. So we pulled out the shop manual and discovered that the chrome on the fender matched that of the the 1952 Pontiac. We were pissed. Mom was the cool one that kept us from hiring an assassin in Oklahoma. The "straight and solid" comment pissed me off as much as the parts being the wrong year did.





We broke out the tape measure and started to see if things lined up. They did, with the exception of a few holes that could be drilled out anyway. I still called to raise hell. They offered to take the parts back, but said they would work. I don't think that they saw the "point of my argument."


The fender is held on with a combination of bolts and screws. The screws all came out relatively easily. All of the 58-year-old bolts snapped off. There were a few rivets that we took the cutting wheel. That was pretty cool. Sparks everywhere.






The fender did end up fitting. There are some slight differences. Most of them will be hidden. The only really noticeable one is on the length of the fender that meets the hood. That part of the seam is angled back a little more on the '52, but we decided we could live with it.

Rebuilding the Generator

One of the next things we decided to do was to rebuild the generator. I ordered the rebuild kit with all of the others. The great thing about these kits is that they do not come with instructions. So for the operation to be successful the three of us must combine an examination of the parts from the part to be rebuilt and the bag of new parts, to see what similarities exist between old and new parts. Then the exchange is made...and then...hope the car doesn't explode when we try to start it.

The generator rebuild kit seemed simple enough. I was composed of two new brushes and two new bearings.


And although the generator appeared buried in rust, it was easy enough to remove.



Any kind of model number has long since faded away. But it was out, and that was good.


The brushes are held in place by a spring loaded arm that presses them against the copper coils of the doo-hickey that spins in the middle of the generator. Those were easily replaced once we figured out that the metal sleeve around the generator needed to be on to affix them to those arms.


But to replace the bearings was another story. The face plates needed to be removed. To do that we needed to get the pin that held the pulley on off of the shaft in the front.

On other cars, the pin just sits in the slot. We used a vice, vice grips, liquid wrench, a hammer and an F-16 air strike to try to get the pin out. The pin actually started to have small chips begin to come out of it, so we cried, "uncle."


Fortunately, the generator has little holes covered by latched that allow someone to drop "8 or 9 drops of oil" down these holes so that the bearing could be lubricated. So we just oiled the old bearings and that was the best we could do.

This last week I continued to shed the pickle of its green coat. And look for a new green with which to replace it.

Milner's walk through the junkyard

We are in desperate need of some parts. The front right fender is trashed. The Pickle was in an accident at some time and the front right fender was smashed and crudely repaired. I don't think its salvageable. Also, we took the back-up lights off and found that the bezels were completely rusted through. Also not salvageable. So we took a trip to Deer Valley Auto Salvage

We drive to Casa Grande since, we later discovered after a wasted trip to the north Phoenix location, that is the yard that has the pre-1959 cars.

There were thousands of cars all in some state of disassembly. As I walked with my parents, we had instantaneous moments of excitement as we would point and call out the different makes and models we recognized. I was besieged with numerous stories my parents had about specific cars and their life experiences they had with them. They would also point out the differences in body styles from year to year. It was great.

As I looked at the rows of vehicle lying in this yard slowly rotting away, I had a moment of nostalgia, thinking about how each car had its own story. I would imagine the original owner buying the car off of the lot, and being so excited to get it home and take some loved ones for a ride. I would even think of different life events that took place in those vehicles. Now they are left abandoned in that yard. I felt somewhat responsible as a human being for their current plight.






We came across an old panel van. It had "Whiting Bros." on the door. My parents became excited and said, "That used to be a gas station, God, I haven't seen those in a hundred years."


They also had motels. This is a drawing of one from Flagstaff, in Northern Arizona.


Unfortunately, all things pass, die, and fade away....




And from the yard....

Putting a Face with the Car

One of the days when I was working with my parents on the Pickle, they told me about the time of year when all of the auto manufacturers would release all of the new models of their line. It was a really big event. Entire families would get dressed up and head down to the local dealership. There would be spotlights that lit up the night sky to attract people. Folks would go down to the dealership just to LOOK at the new models, to see what changes in body styles and features there were.

Those days are long gone. Gone also are the days that car owners took pictures with themselves next to their car. My parents explained that everyone took a photo of the car they had with themselves standing by it or sitting in it. They said that people just don't do that anymore.

I thought about what they said. It took me back to my very first car, a 1975 VW Bug. I couldn't have been more excited. I took a ton of pictures, but none of me with the car. How sad.

I did a little search on the internet and here are a few photos I found. 'Seems there is a long history of people taking pictures of themselves with their car. When did it end? I am guessing it coincided with the first plastic bumper.
































Some traditions need to be kept alive...

Back At It

The Holidays were a killer on the Pickle's progress. But we are back at it. The last time we worked on her, the grill was stuck on the front of the car. All of the screws that were securing the grill were rusted on. I got a 30-gallon compressor for Christmas but I didn't have the one thing I needed to get the grill off, a cutting
wheel.

My wife shows one of our Great Danes in dog shows, so I stole her Dremel tool which she uses to grind the dog's nails. Its a high speed one that has a cutting wheel. So we took the Dremel to the grill. We pulled the grill away from the body enough to get the wheel behind it and cut through the screws.


We were finally able to remove the old grill.



We were also able to get the bumper and that pan behind it off. That wasn't too bad.






The old grill is really rusted and I found another one on eBay. There is only a little spot of surface rust on the side of one of the teeth of the new grill.

One of the previous owners removed the back up lights and placed them in the front fenders under the headlights.




Then the brake lights went out at some point and they put red lenses where the back up lights used to be and had that jerry-rigged for the brake lights. I ordered new lenses for the brake lights and after Mom polished the rings up, they were installed.

Though not wired, I was really happy to get them in. It was the first aesthetic thing we did to the car. We were probably more excited to see that than we should have been, but it was really cool to see them in.


And finally, I continued to sand the driver's side of the car. I finished the door.
I found some small pin hole of rot under the paint. I think those can be filled with MIG.

Rust and Dust

Just worked on cleaning the gas tank. But my parents got a new 1962 MGA this week. They took it for a spin as the tank was cleaning itself.




When I was a kid, I thought that my stuffed Monkey, that was like my teddy bear, had feelings and was alive. I (unfortunately) outgrew that as I got older. One thing I never outgrew was the belief that old cars have feelings because they are living entities. I have always felt that when a car, specifically an old car made of metal, blood, and sweat, was fired for the first time, it equated to a newborn baby being swatted on the butt as to take its first breath. So when I see old cars just rotting away, cast aside in a field or someone's yard, it affects me. Cheesy, I know, but it does. I get caught up in the history or nostalgia of the old car.

Take the pickle for example. I think of the first dates that may have taken place in that car. Maybe someone lost their virginity in her. I picture a dad picking his son up from the bus terminal after returning from Vietnam. All of the family functions and life-changing events seem to be discarded along with the the car when it is left to rot. An old car to me is more than just the sum of its rusted parts. I am probably making too much of this, but I saw this video on Youtube and I thought the videographer may have felt the way I do.

By the way, I still have my Monkey too...

How many pieces does this thing have?

Not being incredibly mechanically inclined, I was very nervous about tackling a Carter Carb rebuild. We got the kit from Kanter. It looked easy enough, some gaskets, some screws and some pins.



How hard could this be, right?

Well the instructions were a joke. They actually said, "Disassemble the carburetor. When reassembling the carburetor, do so in reverse order after replacing the parts in this kit."

What???

There were no other instructions, so we took a million photos and took everything apart. We were looking at the linkage thinking, no way are we going to be able to get this all back together.



Slowly and methodically we took it apart.







We went picture by picture to reassemble this thing. There were times we thought there was NO WAY. But when it was all said and done....



Now hopefully it doesn't set the car on fire.

Goodguys

We took this weekend off and went to the Goodguys Southwest Nationals in Scottsdale. Here are a few pictures.







Here are my parents, Fran and John. They are the most important members of "Team Pickle."








We will be back at it on Tuesday.

Stripping the Parts

Last Tuesday we removed the master cylinder and replaced it with one purchased from Kanter. After having a little difficulty reattachng the brake lines, we found that the master cylinder had a leak. So we sent it back to Kanter for "evaluation." (?)...

So we shall see.

Today we pulled the gas tank and removed the sending unit. It looks like one of the previous owners bottomed out and smashed the bottom of the gas tank. No holes though. It may have just lessened the capacity of the tank.



After removing 57 years of crap around the sending unit cap, we got the screws out and we were able to remove the unit. It was frozen solid and immovable.


"What the Hell is THIS??"


When we got it out, we soaked it in parts cleaner. My parents swore by the parts cleaner. Sure-as-shit after about an hour, the float moved freely up and down between "full" and "empty."



We also removed the oil-filled air cleaner to get to the carb. This stock air filter is in great condition. Maybe I could get a few dollars for it on eBay. We removed the carb so we could rebuild it and clean it. So I have no way of knowing how that will go....

First Inspection

There was a tremendous amount of surface rust. But I bought the DVD instructional set of Paint-u-cation. I quickly learned that that this rust wasn't anything that an angle grinder and a cup brush couldn't handle.



And on the trim as well..






One major fault with the vehicle that was left out of the original description was that the floors were rusted and crudely patched. Since we weren't technically going to "restore" the car, I wasn't too concerned.



We even discussed leaving the floors and spending the money on moor important things...like taking 6 inches out of the pillars.

I took off what was left of the rear fender gravel/mud guards.



Behind that was rust, rust, and more rust.



I figured this would be a good place to start with my cup brush.



And what about that first ficture of the roof? Here it is after I took the cup brush to it. The grinder is time consuming, but no mess from chemical strippers. Nice.

Some Ideas

I have collected a few ideas on what I want to do with the Pickle. Here are a couple of pictures of '50 Pontiacs. They've been shaved down. I like a lot of what they have done, but I am going to keep the silver streak chrome and illuminating Indian head. I have received mixed opinions about leaving some of the chrome. But I figure that if it doesn't look good, strip it and fill it.



I really believe this is the same car, Just photoed at two separate times.

My dad, growing up, had two '32 Fords and one '34 Ford. I heard many stories about how they were chopped and channeled. The interior compartment was so small that they had to sit on a crate to see through the mail slot windshield. After years of hearing this, I decided to that I wanted to customize the car as he and his friends would have when he was young.

Dad said the first thing he would have done was to take every ounce of chrome off of the car. But I want a little different of a look. But everything else will be as it would have been in 1956, when my dad was 16. To lower it, we are going to cut the springs in the front, and in the rear we are going to have the leafs de-arched and maybe a leaf or two removed. If that isn't low enough, we are going to add some lowering blocks.

So that's the mind set. Of course I am not too set in my ways to change, but that's our starting point.

The Pickle Finds a New Home

In August of 2006 I was at the end of my rope. My parents and I had been looking for a project for about a year. We had always been in the VW world, fixing up Bugs and Karmann Ghias.

We had really decided on a hot rod, but because of the whole "rat rod" scene, the market for any type of rod was laughably expensive. Mercs, Fords, and most Chevys have been arguably overdone.

So we wanted something a little different. We looked all over the Phoenix area. Didn't have much luck. I looked all over the internet. Sites like Classic Car Trader and eBay weren't much help either.

I was aware of a site that may be the answer I was looking for. It is almost a mythical place where the members still revere the classic car and sit at the hub of hot rod culture. This was going to be my savior.



Jalopy Journal's Hokey Ass Message Board would lead me to a guy by the name of FunHater who was a member of the car club Them! out of Tulsa.

He had a 1950 Pontiac Silver Streak. It was rough, but had a running flat 6 in it. That was huge to me. Even though I am not going to "restore" the car, I wanted to customize the car as my dad would have done in the 50's. Putting a boxed LS1 in it just wasn't the route I wanted to go. The current paint job was a paint brush coated lacquer that was the worst looking PICKLE green. FunHater had affectionately nicknamed the car "The Pickle." And so she was named!



So off the money went to Tulsa. I hired a small shipping company and two weeks later, The Pickle was mine....