[TPR] Asa's Mach I bodywork update

[Asa Jay Laughton]

Before I crawl away into a deep beer coma, I thought I'd update everyone
concerning the Mach I.

I scheduled a respected metalwork/bodyman guy to eval the Mach I and
find out if he'd be interested in helping get her back together.  That
appointment happened this afternoon.

Yikes!

There were some parts of the body that he was surprised were in as good
of shape as they were.  This echoed the same thing I heard from Paul
Scot at the SSCC award banquet when we discussed my car.  Unfortunately,
the other parts of the car were in worse shape than he imagined.

We talked for some time and he convinced me I'm looking at thousands of
dollars to make it all structurally sound again and virtually rust
free.  Even though my earlier plans were to just cover up some, I think
it's better to take care of all of it right away.  Even so, he's willing
to work with it in "stages" by priority.  In other words my priorities
might be:
- front clip
- floor pans
- rear fender rust

If I decide to forgo the rear fender rust (non-structural for the most
part), then we can stop there and return to it in the future.

His rates are $40 an hour and he quoted me $1,00 to just do one fender. 
This could get expensive.  He charges by the week, for work done.  No
overall quotes because they are either too low and he has to charge
more, making for an unhappy customer, or too high and he doesn't get the
business.  This guy was recommended by a friend at work who has recently
restored an early Impala convertible and it's gorgeous.

Before I get that far though, I still have more disassembly to do.  I
must get the rest of the dash out, and the wiring.  I have to get the
rear springs cut off.  Once the body is down to just the body, I need to
get it blasted, epoxy sealed and then he'll take it on for repairs.

Still a long road to go down.
Asa  Jay

-- 
Asa Jay Laughton - W7TSC, MSgt, USAFR, Retired
Spokane County ARES-RACES Net Manager
******************************     
http://w7tsc.org
http://www.teampanteraracing.com