I have a feeling that this blog might get a little too personal, so I should control my emotions a bit. However, I am sure that I am not the only one who feels very passionate about their wheels. Ah, the dream! Won't it be so great if every talyer we go to has genuine concern for our rides? I have to laugh when I think about that, though. There are only a few shops that I know of that actually really care. Welcome to the real world, man.
If given the chance I would spend as much time as I can with this wagon at the shop, but free time is very hard to come by in my profession. When we last left of, I was complaining about how my parts were being treated. Hah! However, I think I should just take the good with the bad.
The last time the wagon saw any body repair was back in the '80s, so there was sure to be an issue with rust. Before starting work on your project, first decide if all the parts have to be stripped out at once. There are hundreds of little bits and pieces that might get lost. Do you know where I'm getting at? Oh well. Lesson learned on my part.
This is what the wagon looked like from March to May 2009. That's three months, but at least every rusted section (no matter how small) was repaired.
[caption id="attachment_355" align="aligncenter" width="550" caption="Stripped and ready for some major surgery. The engine was pulled down."]
[/caption]
[caption id="attachment_356" align="aligncenter" width="550" caption="The love wagon is now bare."]
[/caption]
[caption id="attachment_357" align="aligncenter" width="550" caption="Sections have to be cut out and replaced. I’m glad that the metal worker Marco really took time to fashion the metal bits to match the old bodywork. Keeping reference photos handy is a big help."]
[/caption]
[caption id="attachment_358" align="aligncenter" width="550" caption="The leaky roof has been repaired! There was a huge hole here. When it rained a waterfall streamed on my shoulder right from this spot."]
[/caption]
[caption id="attachment_359" align="aligncenter" width="550" caption="There are so many sections that were fixed. Wish I could post all the photos!"]
[/caption]
This was only the beginning. As the months wore on, there were still a few issues that had to be addressed. My doors were heavily rotted and needed to be rebuilt as well. Let's take a look at that problem (and the lessons learned) in the next post.
