I need to update where I’m at on the car. As many know from my other thread my Dad passed earlier this year and I never got the chance to get him out in any of the cars one last time besides the SS Trailblazer.
While missing that goal was a personal disappointment, I’ve realized the work needed to unearth the car would have given him a stroke. He would have been very nervous and unsettled seeing things get moved around it. My sisters and I felt it was easier on my Dad to not upset him to get that process going.
It’s taken a lot. We’ve discovered a lot too. Much like an archeological dig. We’ve found a lot cleaning out the house/garages. Another bit of history first.
That was the cover of the National Nomad Club magazine. Oddly enough the tires on the car in those pics are the ones I took off.
From the Brickyard.
Some of the stuff we had to deal with. The Nomad was put more into shelf duty since the paint wasn’t as nice. But this is what had my Dad so nervous to get out since it was so packed in. That also was after we cleared a ton out!
This is not normally how tight the car was to the wall. There was a stack of drywall between the car and the wall that was so tight the door couldn’t open. Dad would have to crawl out over the shifter to get out the passenger side.
Same thing back here. There was a shelf behind the car that blocked access to the car.
A little peek under the hood. Lots of dust and spider webs. No mouse turds thankfully. You can see stuff on either side of the car here too.
The guy that owns the car in the next pic was one of my Dad’s ‘57 buddies. They worked together at the highway dept. Dad was his best man at his wedding. The guy is probably just as knowledgeable on 57’s as my Dad was. I ran into him at a local car show the weekend before blazer bash this year. He’s going to help ID parts as well as be the ‘57 subject matter expert for me since Dad is gone. My Dad helped him with this car and it’s a gorgeous super original restoration. Yes it’s a fuelie car too.
I’ve actually got a little work done on the car. First up was the mystery locking lugnut. I’ve never seen one quite like it. Thankfully Dad left the key in the obvious spot of the Glovebox. Stuff the key in and the cylinder slides out of the hex cover.
I pulled the shedded white walls off for some Coopers on a Saturday.
Amazing the tires blew apart in the garage. Dad was out there when one let go. Spooked him good.
I followed my Dad’s ocd in setting each tire on the wheel the same way on each. Though they took a ton of weight to balance. I’m going to pull the weights and use balance beads instead.
Despite the 14” wheel size the rear tires were a huge pain to install. The rear sags from weak leaf springs and it makes stuffing the tires in under the quarters a feat of mental strength to find the right way in.
Success!
I also swapped out the spinners to the original center caps. The wheels are Ansen Top Eliminator units. I got lucky and found the caps in the stuff from the garage.
Today I used my borescope to take a sneak peek inside the fuel tank. I have no delusions here. I’m betting on needing a tank. Though the rust is not super thick or flaky. I may drain the tank and see what it looks like under the nasty fuel. But the sending unit doesn’t look like a rusty barnacle so that’s promising.
The next step will be loading it up and bringing it to my place. The goal is getting it running before spring.
