Time for the Body

I restarted this restoration project around January 1 of 2016. Although it doesn't look like it from what sits in my shop, I remind myself that a lot has happened in the past 11 months, even with delays here and there.
I'm to the point where there's not much peripheral stuff left to do. Many components have been either restored and boxed up for later, or trashed and replaced with something new. There's still the hood to restore, and I haven't finished the passenger front fender, but by and large, there's only one thing left to really tackle. The body.

The body the last time it was on a cradle...in 1999

I've been pecking away at the body here and there all year. Repair of the passenger A pillar in the summer provided a distraction from other areas, and I just finished two months of work on the trunk and rear underbelly.

17 years later....not much seems to have changed!

Over the last weekend, I began toying with the notion that I might, just might, be able to get the body cleaned and painted by the one year anniversary and install it permanently on the frame. After a good hard look, both at my task ahead and the holiday/work schedule, I think I'll have to give up on that idea.
Last weekend I rolled Old Yeller out into the sunshine once again and devoted my Sunday to sandblasting. Unfortunately, my blaster was acting up, so I didn't get as far as I had hoped. At least I got a good start, though. The driver's side is more or less completely derusted, and I've even spread a little metal body filler on top of a coat of etching primer.

Next weekend's task....the passenger side

I wrote out  list of daily tasks to complete over the work week with the goal of finishing the sandblasting next weekend. Today was a really difficult work day, though, and I wasn't able to get anything done this afternoon. Tomorrow will be the same, so my schedule has already gone out the window.

Things look a little more encouraging from this angle

Nonetheless, I think I can still have the majority of the blasting done by Sunday, especially since I did some badly needed servicing on my blaster, so it should operate better for me.
I still have the driver's A pillar to repair, along with some minor rust holes along the rear window channel. Then it's down to body filler and sanding. Which sometimes is even less fun than the sandblasting.

Bringing up the Rear Part 3

I realize that it's been over two months since I've posted, and while progress has slowed a bit, there is still forward movement.
A combination of miserably hot Florida afternoons and an unusually busy work load resulted in nothing happening in the afternoons, and what work did occur was only on Sunday mornings. Nevertheless, the trunk is basically done, and along the way I've managed to do a little reupholstering as well.
I confess the trunk project has languished, but I tried to hit at least a little bit each day. As of today it's finally ready for a coat of primer over the etching primer, then a final coating of Harvest Gold. The biggest task was finishing off my welds and working the body filler on the underside and in the trunk. Even though these areas will seldom, if ever, be seen, I like knowing that I've done the best job possible.

Finally! Aligning the tail pan for welding

In addition, I've made an extra effort to seal every seam, nook and cranny with seam sealer to try and mitigate any future rust problems should water ever get in the trunk.
Speaking of, I find it interesting that Chevrolet, and probably all manufacturers of the era, installed drain tubes in the lower gutters of the front and rear windows to drain off any water that accumulated due to leaking windows. Hopefully, I'll do a good enough job so that never happens.
The last area under the car that needed sandblasting was tackled last weekend. I resolved to not stop until it was completely done, because, frankly, I'm sick of crawling around under this car!

Welding done. Almost finished with the trunk!

With the left rear fender well cleaned up, I again applied liberal amounts of seam sealer before giving the whole area a good coat of Rust Seal. When done, the underside of the car will be painted Harvest Gold, with the fender wells black. It's not the way it came from the factory, but I saw a '55 of the same color painted that way about 20 years ago and it stuck with me. It should look really good!

While waiting for the heat to subside, and to keep my motivation, I've also been doing a little reupholstering. I purchase a complete interior from Happy Days Interiors out of California. They sell Ciadella kits at really good prices. What's better, their customer service is outstanding.
I tackled the rear seat back first, as that is the easiest piece. After wrapping the frame of the seat with burlap, I applied multiple layers of batting until I was satisfied that I had a good enough base. I then stretched the new cover over the whole assembly, and it fit pretty darned good. Except...there was a stitching flaw right in the middle of the seat.
I contacted Happy Days, who sent me a return label. They wouldn't send me a replacement until the received the defective item, so I worried that the process could take quite a while. However, withing two weeks of sending the bad cover back, I received the replacement, which was perfect. Thank you, Happy Days!

Seat back round two. Not bad for a rookie!

Prepping the rear seat base...

...for the new seat cover.

Next job is the front seat base. What a difference!

This morning, I did the finishing touches on the trunk, welding in the trunk latch bracket and cleaning out the whole area. I plan to shoot the primer tomorrow or Tuesday, and hopefully the finish coat next weekend.

Latch and brackets in place, ready for a finish coat of Harvest Gold

There is a rather large distraction coming up on Thursday, and I'm not talking about Thanksgiving. The annual Turkey Run is back, and I've got a nice little shopping list ready and a wad of cash. I'll spend the day after Thanksgiving walking off the overeating from the day before.