One of the truly disconcerting things about doing restoration work is figuring out when to NOT go to the next level of disintegrating the car. The ultimate level is completely taking the car apart to the last little nut & bolt. Once you get going, your vision gets blurred and it seems that everything needs to be freshened up. Oh dear. I fear that I may be on that track. The major precipitating event happened when my Dad & I removed the body of the car on New Years Eve, December 31, 2015. I was somewhat shocked to find that the four bolts that hold the body on were not just loose, they had no nuts on them at all. Clear evidence to me that Philip Dickey (we obtained the car from his son, Steve –my wife Janet’s cousin) had been here already. With our trusty Harbor Freight 2 ton crane, fitted to a 4×4 beam with a wire cable yoke, my Dad, Vince and our housekeeper, Juana Rodriguez balanced the load and slowly jacked up the body.
Single 4×4 beam & wire yoke at the balance point
I then rolled the frame & running gear out from under the suspended body.
Ready to roll out the car from under the levitated body.
Next, I rolled in our previously constructed “body cart”.
Body Cart in place
The body was then on the cart which had casters allowing us to move the body around in the workshop.
Body removed from frame to rest on cart.
We felt we had accomplished a lot and deserved to rest up until next year. Which we did.
Body off, frame rolled outside