Wayne's '49 Ford

Wayne let me drive his '49 Ford to Springville on Saturday. It was pretty sweet to get to drive it around and get a feel for what it will be like to drive my own soon.

We got the opportunity to meet Jeff Decker and visit his studio in Springville. I have been looking forward to this chance for a long time. Decker is a very very talented artist with one of the most impressive motorcycle collections in the world. It's almost unbelievable that stuff like this exists right here in Utah, and Springville of all places. I'll be posting more about the visit to Decker's Studio later this week. He and his wife also own the Art City Trolley Restaurant in Springville.

More Ford Progress

This car has become my life as of late. All my free time and weekends have been devoted to finishing the chop on this car. I picked up a TIG welder for the first time this week. It's a lot more difficult than I thought it was going to be. Good thing for me is there is a lot of welding left to do so I'll have plenty of practice. Here's some more progress from the last few days...

Ford Progress Update

A quick Ford update.

The roof is now 4" shorter than before and 85% complete. Still have a few area's to fill in yet but coming along nicely. Hoping to have it sitting back on the ground on the new wheels and tires in the next couple weeks.

2,050 Miles

My good friends Jerry, Adam, Larry and Joe traveled 2,050 miles to Bonneville this year, all the way from Lewiston Ohio. That's some real dedication. Not only did they drive that far, they did it in a '34 Ford Coupe and a scratch built '32 Chevy Roadster. It was great to see these guys again. Here's a couple pics of Jerry's '34 Coupe. They started their journey back home early this morning so I wish them best.

'33 Ford

Here's another photo project I've been working on for my buddy Chris. This is a 1933 Ford Tudor sedan that he converted into a Vicky. There are many many hours of metal work in this car. Nothing looks better than bare steel.

1968 Mustang Fastback Custom

Here's the latest photo project I've been working on for Kindig.

Desiree

Desiree's first photo shoot. How do you think she did?

More Ford Updates

Here's a look at what got done on Saturday. I had most of the club show up and pitch in so it was a good time. I have to thank Tyler, Shane, Maggie and Wayne for coming over to lend a hand.

Here's Tyler lighting the torch.


Tyler showed me the ropes with welding with a torch. So after I watched how it was done for a while, Tyler, Maggie and I all took turns welding and switching off with the hammer and dolly. Basically one person lays down a small stitch of weld and while it's still red hot the other person hammers the weld to flatten it out and shrink the metal back down after it stretches from the heat.






Road Devils

Ford Update

Basically for the last 2 months my weekends have been almost entirely devoted to working on the Ford. This project is so much more time consuming than I ever imagined. We have made huge strides the last few weeks and a lot of the major custom work has been completed. We still have more to go but I can see the light at the end of the tunnel for once.

Yesterday we started working on the headlights. This is the first time the actual headlights have ever been in the car since I've owned it and its amazing how much little things make such a big difference to the appearance. We still have some custom work to be done here but we started with frenching some '52 Mercury style rings to the fenders. They still need to be welded up all the way but you get the idea. Once they have been fully welded to the fenders we will use lead to smooth out the transition so it will look like one piece.

Ford Update

I had the day off on Friday so I had a chance to take my new Firestone tires in to get mounted on the new gold wheels.

Fresh Paint

GJ dropped off my freshly painted wheels for the ford last night and I couldn't be happier. Way back when I started this overwhelming project I had the wheels powder coated in red. This was back when flat black cars with red wheels were just becoming the trend. That trend has moved on and so have my plans for the ford. So in keeping with the new direction and color scheme the wheels were expertly repainted gold. GJ did a fantastic job and his attention to detail never ceases to impress me. All I had to do was explain to him what I was looking for and he took care of the rest. The color he choose was spot on and I didn't even have to look at color chips. My new Firestone whitewalls will be here next week and then the new wheels and tires will finally come together.

Let the cutting begin...

So Saturday was a big day for me. I spent a few hours working on the Ford over at Lavery's shop and luckily my buddy Chris was there to provide some motivation. I got the rear window removed from the car and we got the gas tank out without too much trouble then the fun began. I have had plans to french the tail lights with some custom stainless steel bezels that I purchased from the HAMB, but didn't think I had the know how. Well Chris said let's go for it so go for it I did. It was a little nerve racking cutting into your own car for the first time. I just keep thinking what if I mess this up...am I going to ruin the whole car??

So I started by sanding the paint off the tail lights.


Next I actually cut out the opening to make room for the new bezels.


After a little clean up with a grinder it was time to place the new bezels. I had James hold it in place so I could take a good look and make sure they were level then Chris tack welded them into place.


While we were at it I decided to remove the pinch seam on the body where the rear quarter panel is attached to the body so I had to grind the seam down to expose the joint and weld it back together.


Chris finished welding the bezel in place and then I started sanding down the welds to smooth everything out.


Once Chris tacked the 2nd bezel in place I took over the welder and went to town securing it in place. I still have some smoothing to do and finish welding up the body seam but overall I'm pretty happy with how it's turning out and a great learning experience.

Quotes From Jason

"The invariable mark of wisdom, is to see the miraculous in the common."

-Ralph Waldo Emerson

Quotes From Jason

"Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities have crept in, forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day. You shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense."
-Ralph Waldo Emerson

Rough Edit of 1st Glovers Garage Feature

This was the first little project I shot with video. This took place last summer and just never got around to putting the footage together. I used my brother's Canon GL2 which is pretty sweet but I had no idea how to use it. I have a much better idea of what I want to do next time so hopefully these features will improve with practice. I'm using Adobe Premiere Elements 4.0 for the editing which is another steep learning curve. I was hoping since it was an Adobe product it would be a quick learn but the interface and tools are completly different from any of the other Adobe programs. I'm hoping to add 5 or 6 of these GloversGarage features over the next couple months.

Falcon Motorcycles

I came across this amazing Triumph bike built by Falcon Motorcycles earlier this week. The attention to detail on this classy bike is hard to beat. Falcon has a very clean asthetic which they liken to "the tailoring of a fine suit".

Practice practice practice

It's been a while since I've done any pinstriping practice so I finally broke out the brushes and here's the results. I'm still pretty rusty but I plan to start practicing on a more regular basis and hopefully by the end of the summer I'll be ready to actually lay down something permanent on one of the cars.

Chris's '49 Cadillac Sedanette Series 61

New Acquisition

With all of my brothers talk of fancy collectible art prints I caught the bug and picked up this lovely signed and numbered print from Adam Turman. It's an 18x24, 2 color screen print on fancy blue 100lb french cover paper. I hope to have it framed and displayed very soon.


Here's one that I purchased a while back from Dwayne Vance and is already framed. Dwayne is a super cool and talented guy. He's got some amazing illustration work. If I had the money I'd buy one of everything he's put out so far. I also purchased one of his first T-shirt designs and wear it proudly. I highly recommend checking out Future Elements.