Back from the upholstery shop.

[Itoldyouso]

This week Don and I were able to pick up my Son Dan's RPU from the upholstery shop, Dan had to work. He was having a top made, the bomber seats covered, and carpeting done. Because he is doing this car along the lines of something from the past, he wanted the top to not look too modern. The upholstery guy did a nice job and it has the look Dan was shooting for. We used Murphy snaps at the bottom rather than button snaps because they hold better and look a little more oldtimey.

Bomber seats are not exactly comfortable, but the seat and backrests he made up make them very nice to sit in now. I was even able to get my old bones inside and get back out again. Dan wants most of the floor metal exposed, except for the area where your feet would scratch the finish, so he had carpeting put there. It is VW square weave material and snaps out for cleaning. Now he has to install all of the alumimum interior panels to finish it off.

The back window zips out so he can run either with glass in there or not. We trailered the car at 60-70 mph and didn't see a lot of effect on wind on it going down the road. I think it changes the look of the car and makes it look like something from the little books. The guy did a nice job . Here are a few shots from yesterday.

Don

[Bob Parmenter]

I saw these earlier this morning, he sounds real happy with it. He's got good taste.

I'm re-thinking the color on the wheel stripes now that I've seen these. I think the maroon would still be an nice accent, but Wimbledon white might work too. Might be worth a test in vinyl stripe first to see if the white pops too much.

[Itoldyouso]

Yeah, I saw your birthday greeting to Dan, thanks Bob. He is going to have some striping done on the body when the car is running, and we have discussed the wheel thing. I know that the striper has to know how to do them perfectly round or they come out wobbly when the car is going down the road. I guess in the old days they had some jig that applied the stripe as the wheel was spun?

He is going to send his rear wheels off to have them reversed to give him some clearance for the top of the bed where it flairs out. The car is so darned low that the tires are close to the top of the bed when it bounces. We are also going to have to build a new front spring as the one in the car settled further than anticipated. Not sure if it was the heat from the powder coating or just the fact Dan built this thing like a Sherman tank. We need to get it up another 1.5 to 2 inches to ride right.

Don

[roadster32]

Looks real great Don, I actually really like the trim on the seats, Where did Dan get the bomber seats from ???

[Bob Parmenter]

..... we have discussed the wheel thing.

Enough with the discussion. If Billy F. can run with the idea, so can Danny.

[Itoldyouso]

Bob, Billy has more money than us. We talked more about it today and Dan says he has seen threads where guys use a swiveling bar stool to turn the wheel while the stripe is applied. Our luck we'll get a striper with the shakes.

Steve, there is a guy in Georgia (I think) who does aluminum work. I forget his name but Dan knows and I'll find out for you. He does top notch work and will custom make parts to your design.

Don

[Dave Severson]

Upholstery looks great, Don! The top is very well done and the removable rear window is really great for cruizin'!

[Itoldyouso]

Thanks Dave. The guy did good for us.

Steve, here is the aluminum guys website. His name is Mike Mercurio.

http://www.hotrodalleyspeed.com/

Don

[406Rich]

It looks great Don, makes me wish I had built one..envious at least.

[Itoldyouso]

Thanks Rich, I've envious too. The upside is that every time Dan changes his mind and redoes something on it, I grab the cast off parts and move them to my part of the shop. I can probably build my next project with hand me downs.

Don

[Itoldyouso]

We got a lot done this weekend. Spent Friday all day cleaning the shop, it was worse than a disaster. Now we can find stuff and the floor even got scrubbed.

Saturday, Dan spent some time doing fun stuff to his car while I sorted out our tools. He bought some fog lights at Turkey Run and wanted to see how they looked on the car. After he mounted them we sat back and decided we really like the look, so they will probably stay. We powered them up to see how much light they put out, and liked the extra illumination too. He still has some work to do before he paints the 32 grille shell and gets that mounted.

He also bought a 40 Ford style wheel that we adapted to his quick release and got that mocked up to see how it fit. It will work fine. He is going to paint some of the wheel the same Wimbledon white as the firewall, and leave some areas black. He also decided he doesn't care for the Genie shifter handle in the picture (too much bling) so tomorrow I am going to order him a round handle from them for one of his Xmas gifts. That should fit the look of the car better.

Here are some pictures he took.

Don

[falconvan]

That's gorgeous, Don. He's got to be really proud of that one.

[Ken Thurm]

Looks really good! The rest of the detail work you are talking about will really go well. The top and the fire wall really go nice together. I think he really nailed it. Nice job!
Ken

[stovens]

Don, the upholstery came out great. The roof stiching looks great. I also really like the retro steering wheel too. I have to agree with Ken that the roof and firewall white really go well together. I hope Dan is enjoying it now, after all the hard work and decissions. I think it came out great.

[Itoldyouso]

Thanks Falcon, Ken, and Steve. Being that it isn't my car, I can say that I like it too. He's put a lot of blood, sweat, and tears into this one for a lot of years, and I am really proud of his dedication to trying to make it as good as he possibly can. If it were me, I would have had a string hooked up to the carbs a milk crate for a seat a long time ago, and taken it for a spin, but he is hard to convince.

Don