New build thread; 48 Plymouth

[TooMany2count]

One must die so others may live............

Some folks thought thats what was going to happen to me when they seen the pic below . Then I informed them the body only weighed less then 1200 pounds & was picked up at 4 different points w/pipe ran across 4 trusses at each point && the body hung there for 4weeks w/out problems. I even made it a point to measure the distance from the floor to the truss before doing it to see if it sagged any after the body was up there & there was no difference in the before & after measurement...joe

[falconvan]

Looks like it'd make a cool treehouse for the grandkids, Joe!

[bluestang67]

When you expecting it back from the blasters Falcon . Fall is along way off ya know LOL.

[falconvan]

I still need to take it; there's a new guy in town, I want to go check his prices. Seems like the guy I've used many times before keeps bumping up his price everytime I take something to him. Now another wrench in the works, my daughter hit a deer last night and massacred the front of her car. Luckily she wasn't hurt. I've probably got two weekends ahead fixing it.

[stovens]

Glad to hear your daughter is ok. Sometimes the deer do more damage to the car than the car does to the deer!

[falconvan]

She was cruising at highway speed at night and didnt even have time to slow down. It literally cut the deer in two with half going over the top of the car and the other half going under. She's got a 2000 Bonneville and I have to say, Pontiac knows how to build a car. The hood, fender, headlight, facia, and radiator were tore up pretty bad but the core support and main structure didnt move. The radiator was plastic so the shock put a crack in one of the side tanks but after looking at the size of the deer and figuring she hit it doing 70, it could have been much worse.

[stovens]

Nice to have that big GM car. Those bonnevilles are great rides. And from other postings here get good gas milage for their size. Glad to hear she's ok. In your state is it legal to take the dear, when something like this happens? If it is, it helps compensate for all your troubles if you like venison.

[moparme]

I still need to take it; there's a new guy in town, I want to go check his prices. Seems like the guy I've used many times before keeps bumping up his price everytime I take something to him. Now another wrench in the works, my daughter hit a deer last night and massacred the front of her car. Luckily she wasn't hurt. I've probably got two weekends ahead fixing it.

Have you ever checked out the guys that are using soda ash to blast (Soda Blasting) I just got a flier at a show this past wknd. They come to you. Its a mobile unit. Only prob. he said is it will def. put a slight white stain on the old asphalt driveway. FYI..
Bryan

[bluestang67]

Falcon glad to hear she wasn't hurt . I experienced it once in a 65 catalina it held up great except the hood .

Yep keeping daughters car going allways preceeds anything else in the line up.

[Dave Severson]

She was cruising at highway speed at night and didnt even have time to slow down. It literally cut the deer in two with half going over the top of the car and the other half going under. She's got a 2000 Bonneville and I have to say, Pontiac knows how to build a car. The hood, fender, headlight, facia, and radiator were tore up pretty bad but the core support and main structure didnt move. The radiator was plastic so the shock put a crack in one of the side tanks but after looking at the size of the deer and figuring she hit it doing 70, it could have been much worse.

Glad she's ok!!! I've got a '97 Bonneville, love it..... Any car with that solid of a ride has got to be well built, and no your daughter proves it for me!!!! Tell her thanks????? hmmmm... maybe not!!!!!

[falconvan]

Thanks for all your concern, guys. I'd have kept the deer but it pretty well exploded on impact. That Bonneville made a believer out of me. Almost as tough as the 72 Bonneville I had in high school. I'll have to check on the soda ash blasting. A new blasting & powder coating shop just opened in town but I haven't made it by to talk to them yet. After her car comes the motor in her boyfriends car, then my sons interior; I'll get mine in there somewhere.

[LarryH]

I've hit two deer. The first with a 79 VW Rabbit and the second with an XJS Jag. The one that hit the Rabbit was trying to jump over it and hit the fender with it's knees and then tried to come through the windshield. The concussion inside that little car was tremendous! We didn't see it coming. We were watching the two ahead of it that we missed. Your daughter was very fortunate that she was in a large car. Truly a blessing

[falconvan]

Well, Brittney's Bonneville is back together and on the road. Here's a note: the 2000 Bonneville was a 1 year only production on a lot of the mechanical parts. There were three radiator revisions that year, so you need to go by the VIN to find the right one. But it's back together and other than a little crinkle in the edge of the hood, she's happy to have her car back. She had to drive her brother's Firebird with the defunct A/C so she's pretty happy now.
I gave myself the day off work for Fathers day and got a little done but not as much as I wanted to. I finished getting the body ready for the trip to the media blaster by pulling the rear side windows. Hopefully I'll get it there in the next few weeks; looking foward to seeing how much is left when I get it back. Talk about a major pain! Took all morning to figure out how to get them out without breaking them. I pulled some of the motor apart to get it ready for a cam change and general cleanup. Those GM engineers know their stuff, these LS based engines are the easiest I've ever seen to disassemble.. I sold the original chassis to a guy in Texas. He's coming next weekend to get it and not a minute too soon. My wife isn't digging it sitting in the driveway. That's about it for now, just getting in what I can until the summer ends.

[falconvan]

I will never complain about Rick, my old sandblaster dude again. He's jumped 50 bux each of the last few times I've taken him a car body; now he's up to $250. I checked with the new place in town and they quoted me $800! I used Rick so long I didn't realize what a deal I was getting. I'm taking him the Plymouth body next Thursday, so stay tuned for the results.

[falconvan]

Well, it's back. It's definately going to be a challenge in some spots. Lots of pinholes around the bottom few inches. No old repairs, though, so that's a plus. I guess it's time to put the bodywork skills to the test, I've never tackled something like before. One small section at a time and try not to feel overwhelmed. I'm going to spray the whole thing with some rust inhibitor, it's starting to get some surface rust already and it was just finished yesterday. What do you guys think?