hey mr. sandblaster!

Tim tricked me with this, because I had no idea this was going to be an a-l-l-l-l day affair. He did say I would get dirty, and get dirty we did. After breakfast at 9 o'clock, we arrived at the sandblaster and quickly unloaded the car. I got to "drive" it off the hauler, which was fun, but quite hot. It was a little like sitting in a rolling tomb with windows, a funky smell, and seats that aren't quite bolted down... oh, and no brakes whatsoever. So it was me with Momentum as my back-seat driver, who I'm pretty sure was heard laughing the whole time. We masked the chrome and windows, put the car on barrels, and had the fellas suit up by 10 a.m. -SB









The sandblasting place is Consolidated Stripping and Derusting, which is in Plainwell, MI. Their link is here.....

http://www.consolidatedstripping.com/

I'd like to start by saying that Don, one of the owners, is one of the most helpful guys you'll find. You'd think that for 35.00 an hour to rent the blast room, with full gear and media that you probably wouldn't get that great of service from the guy - think again. Don will give you advice on how to blast, taylor the equpiment to suit what you're doing, show you how to use it, and...he even offered to lift the car up with the forklift and put it on barrels just to get the underside. Anything you need...he's there to help. If you ever need anything sandblasted, they have small booths, the room...everything you need. Total cost to blast the car was less than 200.00!! -TH







I look like I'm ready for the HAZMAT radiation team! The respirator is sweet, because the room gets up to about 90 degrees with all the lights...the respirator pumps in cool air (the helmet is airtight) so your head stays cool and the dust stays out. -TH





They were rollin' by 10:30 a.m. and after a few glitches and a couple of breather breaks, they were done around 4:00 p.m. -SB



I sandblasted a few of the miscellaneous parts, mostly to kill time & so I wouldn't have to wait longer for the boys to do it once they were done with the car. The reload onto the car hauler went quick as can be, seeing as how we're old pro's at it by now. At the end of all this, Betty may just load herself on. -SB





Surprisingly, we didn't find a lot of body damage. There's some rust on the rear quarters, in the wheel housing, the rocker panels...oh, and sometime in the car's life, someone looked like they swiped a guardrail...or a mailbox...or a cow...or something. The repair on it was done with old-school tools, drilling, slide-hammering, and working a dolly all over it. It will need to be skin-coated again. -TH



Next up...filling in every single trim-hole and grinding, grinding, grinding... -TH