Betty....meet Clyde.

Betty lost her bones. Clyde lost his body. Together...they made a car...after a little hacking. Right now, the body is getting lined up right, the radiator location mocked up...along with that toothy front bumper we love. After everything is mocked up, the body will be lifted up, the frame sprayed in Eastwood rust encapsulator, and everything bolted up. The motor is going to be left stock for now, aside from an Offenhauser intake and Holly carb I picked up.


The frame of Clyde has a 121.5 wheelbase. The wheelbase of Betty is 121. Many told me the frame from the Rivi's is "so good" that it basically just "bolts up" to the body. That is complete bullshit. They are close...but the rear frame rails on the original 50 frame sit much higher to accommodate the higher-sitting trunk in the 50, as opposed to the 15-body bag size trunk in the 75' Rivi. Easiest method was to hack the rear legs of the frame off, and build our own to match the trunk. The transmission crossmember was also sectioned on the left side, and a piece of tubing welded in to accommodate a dual exhaust pipe on that side, so both pipes will hang the same and not drag.


Here is the completed rear section.


In the front, a new radiator channel has to be made, as the stock radiator is a tall copper unit that is completely different than the Rivi radiator. Plus the copper one is probably over in china by now courtesy of Padnos recycling...getting made either into wire, or some cheap windchime trinket.


Ohh...just a teaser on how she's gonna look soon. I'm getting stoked! She still needs a ton of work, but we're moving faster than ever before. I plan on getting over to Petey's tomorrow to do some motor work. Stay tuned...we're rolling again!

Betty's got wings....

So here we are...over 2 years after starting on Betty and I was beginning to get tired of the old gal sitting in the garage. My Jeepster project was finished and sold (traded) for a boat and 2 Fieros..one of which I ultimately sold for guns and cash (how cool is that? Selling a car for guns!) and the other I scrapped. I spent the rest of the summer fixing up the boat I traded for and then got started re-building the motor on "Red," the 1955 Jeep CJ5 I picked up. I had to do something with Betty.

I put her back on ebay in June and had a guy who locked. On the way from southern Illinois to pick her majesty up, the buyer and his buddy, both armed with trucks and trailers, headed strait into a nasty storm, into a swerving semi, into a ditch, and into not coming and picking up Betty. Call it fate. The bitch was ours for the long haul.

While out doing sales calls one day in October I stumbled upon Petey's Pit Stop in Grandville. Mike Leland, the owner is an old hot-rod guy who would rather be welding rust and torching gas tanks than changing pads on Volvos, so he seemed legit. I had to unload Betty for awhile...you know...send her to band camp. Petey's had a lift...which would save me the painstaking bitch of trying to line Betty up in the driveway with a forklift holding the body up. I'd let Peteys do the work getting the body mounted on Clyde...and Mike was happy to oblige. So we set off in two trips...one to get Betty over to Petey's.....two...to get Clyde, which Jim was VERY, VERY happy to get Clyde the f*ck out of his yard!


Arrival at Petey's!!


Mike and I scope over the dream....he was ready to start hacking!


Shameless plug for Petey's!

'ol Betty: The gal we love to hate, and hate to love

Ok, it's been a long while since we've updated this, or frankly, done anything to Betty. It's been since before Winter. I wish Spring would sprung already. This Winter has been long, and it seems to be never-ending. For the past several months Tim has been busy working on "Captain Aardvark" AKA "Harold" (1968 Jeepster Commando) in the cold, cold garage while Betty looks on. Tim flip-flops back and forth whether or not he'll get Betty done... secretly I think he really wants to finish her himself. What a proud accomplishment that would be, especially when you look at how far we (well, he) has come with the 'ol gal. I guess we'll see this Spring (if it ever gets here...)

I can't believe this whole thing started at the end of 2007. It really doesn't seem like it's been that long. I can't believe how many times we've wanted to throw in the towel and give up. But one look at Betty's...face? and we're back at wanting to fix her up ourselves. We can't give up now... can we? -SH