A long overdue bid to Betty goodbye...

So last year when I got promoted and had to move from Holland, we were faced with the tough decision on what to do with Betty. We just didn't have the room. I ended up selling her to a guy in Indy (ironic as that was where we were headed) and traded her to him for the pinnacle of redneck midwestern trade - guns. Ultimately I took it on the chin with the sale, but I had no choice. Betty will go down as one of the longest and funnest projects I've worked on, but also the biggest failure in terms of return on investment and completion. I did learn a ton working on her, but it was to no avail. That ends with a sad..... : ( 

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

The carnage of Clyde....

Well, poor Clyde sacrificed his life today. Armed with a sawzall, a circular saw with a cut-off wheel attached, and a grinder, Clyde began the process of giving up his frame for Betty. Inside the depths of Clyde's interior we managed to find a Hardee's coupon for a Turkey sandwich that expired in 1984, and a receipt to a drug store from 1975, probably when ole' Clyde had just rolled off the lot. We let Jim's kids prove the urban legend that just a gentle toss of a piece of spark plug porcelain will shatter a window, and Dawn, Jim's wife, enjoyed throwing a brick through the front windshield several times. She enjoyed it. What's seen here is two days worth of work, but by next time we should have the car ready for the 50' body to plop down on top.

Duh-na,na,naaa....I'm working again!

You know, I've been over this whole keep the car - sell the car thing about 40,000 times over the last year, and I think I've finally decided that I need to just roll my sleeves up and get this damn thing done. Today I ventured out and decided I needed to get the car's front fenders off so that the body can be ready to lift off. I've decided to hold off on finishing the body work on the front half of the car until the body is sitting on the 75' Riviera chassis. If I can get that far, the rest is all downhill. -TH




So today I ripped the fenders off. It went surprisingly easily. Bolts that were rusted in place simply broke off with a good tug. I did break 3 bolts off where the fender mounts up to the rocker panel, and those will need to be drilled out and re-tapped later. Not a huge deal. After removing the fenders I had a heaping pile of sandblaster sand and crap. I even found an old Snap-on wrench inside the fender! I'll have to use that somewhere on the car! -TH

Every year is getting shorter, never seem to find the time.

Pinky-swearing we do! Our wedding - June 6, 2009 Shiojiri Garden, Mishawaka IN

Tim and I finally said our "I Do's" On June 6, 2009. The day went off without a hitch, and we happily boarded our flight to Italy 2 days later. We spend a wonderful 2 weeks in Italy surrounded by family and very (very!) good food and wine. Now, its back to the daily grind of work, work, work... and more work.

As you can imagine, we haven't even touched the car. What was her name again? Oh, right.. Betty. Poor gal. Lots of things have gotten in the way.. home-ownership, for one. Pure laziness for another... and a slight lack of motivation.

Tim is looking at a few options of what we'll actually do with Betty in the future. Maybe hiring someone to "marry" Betty and Clyde together to create a frankenmonster car & finishing the rest of the details himself.. or maybe we'll sell them both. Or maybe we'll sit on them for another 6 months trying to figure out what we really want to do. Who knows, at this point. Not me.

The idea of finishing Betty is so awesome. The practicality of it.. is daunting, to say the least. In all honesty, I have no idea what will happen with her. Stay tuned... -SH