Well, boys and girls, here are some more pictures. Not to much to add except some pics of the headliner.

And as usual, the e-mail from Rick.

Mark,

Trip to Tiger Upholstery went fine with no problems. Wagon is back safe at the shop. I will start installing the interior shortly.

The ole girl should (and I'll say that lightly) go back together rather quickly now. I'll keep you posted.

Rick

Thanks for the update! She's looking great!

Time to whet your appetite a little bit.

Got an e-mail recently from Rick with some new pictures.


Mark,

Finally got some progress pics for you to look at.

I've been busting rear this week to get the wagon completed as quickly as possible.

The dogleg repair came out nice, as the pics show. To those following this thread, the Ole Man in MO. would not let this Grand Ole Lady out of my shop with the fitment between edge of the door and the dogleg not correct. On looking back at the original pics I can't believe I missed this. That is the only reason the dogleg had to be redone...QUALITY CONTROL.

The interior is going together nicely and hasn’t caused much trouble at all.

Hope these update pics ease's your mind my friend. I'll keep you updated.

Ole man in MO

Lookin' good sir!!

The dogleg repair came out great, and that interior is AMAZING. Thanks for the update!

haven't looked at this in FOREVER. im glad to see you got it running. ill admit though. I was hoping the LT1 was dead so you would have been forced throw a 5.3L in there. Keep up the updates though and get that thing home

Oh, Tristan. You're hatred for the LT1 has been documented.

But, remember, dad isn't made of money, and what little he did have has gone into getting the car restored. If the engine goes in the future, then he'll do what needs to be done, but as long as it's still running, it will stay just the way it is.

We are (dad and I) both looking forward to him getting it home as I know the girl has special meaning to him and I know he's getting excited.

Soooooo close now!

Thanks for the awesome thread documenting the rebuild to her former glory.
Definitely a good read. I actually enjoyed having it take a while to be completed.
It's kinda like hearing a chapter from a book being read to you every night before bed, instead of the whole thing being read all at once. (Childhood memories FTW)

Love this thread.

Well, ladies and gentlemen, a large chapter of the restoration is nearing a close.

This will be a double post as I have received two sets of photos from Rick along with two e-mails, which I will add in chronological order.

Enjoy!!!


Mark,

Pictures from Saturday morning showing what I have gotten done so far.

The back seat is in now and will soon have the seat belts installed.

The kick panels turned out nice also, I think. The colored bed liner in back seems to work well.

Will talk to you later my friend.

Rick





































E-mail number 2 and picture set number 2.

Mark,

Here are a few shots of today's progress.

As you can see things went well. Other than installing back seat belts and a few other small details, the interior is complete. Tomorrow is buffing exterior from top of doors to bottom and hood.

SHE'S CLOSE MY FRIEND!!!!!!!!!!

Rick

Oh, SNAP, Pop!!!

Rick has been gettin down and dirty with the old girl. Well, keep your fingers crossed and she'll be home in no time!!

Aw, where's the smiley when I need it.

I love love LOVE this car!

Ajax wrote:Yours is one of the few quality builds that hasn't fizzled out in some way. I know I've gone through multiple build threads, and nothing ever seems to get accomplished...
I love this wagon! Make sure to let NICO know where you take road trips- I know plenty of people would want to see this beauty in person.

^ well the reason why you dont see a whole lot of builds that go through is because some ppl just get so excited when they finish. That they forget to give all the followers on nico like "US" an update and it really sucks but I suppose its understandable

Then naturally some ppl run out of money.. Ect..

_________________________
Side Note: My build thread is not fizzing away just waiting on the machine shop... I put pics up everytime i get a pic to post haha.. When were done i wont have a video (no video camera) but a lot of pics.. LOL

Car looks awesome. I am supremely jealous. Nothing like a quality restoration.

Gold Digger wrote:Oh, Tristan. You're hatred for the LT1 has been documented.

indeed

But, remember, dad isn't made of money, and what little he did have has gone into getting the car restored. If the engine goes in the future, then he'll do what needs to be done, but as long as it's still running, it will stay just the way it is.

i understand 100%

We are (dad and I) both looking forward to him getting it home as I know the girl has special meaning to him and I know he's getting excited.

he isn't the only one, while im sure he'll lock the doors and have some random person waiting for me with an M16 that tells me, " i talked to mark and he says he doesn't know you, leave now please," im gonna be driving down to galesburg at some point after he gets it back to take a look, and take pictures

LOL. Tristan, dad understands because we both know how you are but we have accepted this and still welcome you with open arms, but will always remain guarded. LOL.

Looking forward to hopefully seeing you during the Christmas/New Year holiday. Might let Kai throw a beat down on ya. He's quite the beefy little (not so little) guy.

Yes Tristan, many are waiting for Clare to come home. Clare will be her name, as it was my mom’s middle name. As the car was built to honor my Dad, she is being named in honor of my Mother. I mean it is only fitting, I just wish they both could have been alive to see and ride in her.

So to answer your statement below:

He isn't the only one, while I'm sure he'll lock the doors and have some random person waiting for me with an M16 that tells me, " I talked to Mark and the grouchy old bas*#@^ says he doesn't know you, leave now please," I'm gonna be driving down to Galesburg at some point after he gets it back to take a look, and take pictures.

Please do, you will be welcome as is any other car loving nut around, but please not after 9:00pm as the wife does have some off hours at times. But please if you are in the area and want to see “Clare” it should not be a problem. I know Rick would love to have you look at his work.

Just popin in to bump the thread back to the first page and too see if anything new was posted.

I'll be outta town this weekend. Heading to Okinawa for a few days, but you can e-mail me if needed.

Hello to All,

If anyone is in the Macon, MO area September 17, 2011, Rick has told me there is a Car Show there. If all goes well the rest of this week with luck “S.S. Going Broke” will be there with Rick, Stephen (my youngest son) and me the G.O.B.

So a small prayer to God and good luck all around and Clare might get her coming out party this weekend.

Please come down, I would like to meet you.

Mark

G.O.B. wrote:Hello to All,

If anyone is in the Macon, MO area September 17, 2011, Rick has told me there is a Car Show there. If all goes well the rest of this week with luck “S.S. Going Broke” will be there with Rick, Stephen (my youngest son) and me the G.O.B.

So a small prayer to God and good luck all around and Clare might get her coming out party this weekend.

Please come down, I would like to meet you.

Mark

Too bad it's not NC. I'd love to see this car in person.

Clare's official coming out.

To all who might care,

These are the only pictures I took and they were in Ricks shop before and after the show.


















The Vette is Ricks and is the same one he owned when I first met him, just a different scheme from the doors back. The black with flames Vette is the one he had when I met him when I was 17.

Here are then and now pictures.





Now, I thought you all might like to see this.








Rick did a fine job and the judging was done under a shelter because it was raining most of the day. Everything was wet; cars, trucks and motorcycles.

I left the plaque with Rick. I had told him if the car ever won in a show he got the first one. Well the first one (plaque) was the first one (show). Plus I don't care for those things anyway. The car for me is to honor my dad and mom... and to drive when I can. Shows are down a ways on the list and winning further down from that. Just having people look and say your dad would be proud is more than enough.

I took no pictures because of the rain (doesn’t make any sense; I take the car out in the rain, but not my camera).

I will be leaving early tomorrow morning (Tuesday, Sept 20th) to drive down with my wife and youngest son to bring her home. I'll hopefully get some nice weather and nice pictures to you soon.

Thank you, Rick, of Crossed Flags Restoration. Without you it would not have happened.


Thank you, NICO, as well for your viewership, comments, encouragements, compliments and ideas. You people truly are a family.

Congratulations to you and Rick! Beautiful work and well deserving of 1st place.
Thanks for bringing us along for the ride.

Hey, all. Just got word on dad's facebook page that he, my mom and brother, as well as Clare, made it home from Rick's shop to Galesburg, Illinois.

It's been 32 months since dad bought the car and a year and a half of resto-mod work. She'll now be able to enjoy her new life as a cruiser.

Hopefully, he'll have something to post up in the next day or so.

A satisfying conclusion to perhaps my favorite resto thread on NiCO. Congrats, GoB! And Claire, take care of them the way they took care of you.

Well, boys and girls. It's been a long day, but the Grand Old Lady is at home.

Not much to tell but here you go.

3AM the day starts and from there I shut off the alarm to find out Sherri has been up since 2AM. I go wake Steve (my other son) up and well you all know the drill.

At 8:30 AM we get to Rick’s. By 2:13 PM we are back in Galesburg.

Sherri gets in with Steve to go buy some food and I head off into the sunset to remove dead bugs from bright work and new paint.

Then off to the insurance company for a reappraisal of the car. We must keep up with things.

Then home to be with her other family members Jeep and Sub.

Not much to tell, other than I am to used to cruise control to run the go pedal that far.



Great...I spend all this money just to have bugs commit suicide on my car.


Time for a drink...




At home and snuggled up with the Jeep.



Again, thanks to all that have stuck with me (and Neal for his guidance) through all of this. It's been a long time since we've seen her, but happy she's at home.

Glad to know you made it home safe, pop. Can't wait to see her at Christmas when I get home. Hopefully, we can have a short drive if the weather is nice.

Beautiful Wagon, love the finished product. It's nice to see your getting to enjoy it after the long wait, it was well worth the wait wasn't it?

Well, all. I know the car is home and safe in the garage, but I got a few more pictures from Rick via e-mail to show ya and of course his customary e-mail. So, you'll read the e-mail then see the pictures.

Mark,

Here are the last of the pics of the car.

Glad all went well on the trip home. Clare is probably really glad to be home, as are you.

It has been a pleasure working with you on this build process. It sure does seem odd when I get to the shop and the wagon is GONE.  She kinda growed on me.

Have a great day!

Ole Man in MO

Very nice project and the outcome is great!

That old vette pic needed some adjustments so I ran it through a bit of clean up. It's still pretty degraded but better....

HOLY CRAP MATT!!! That is friggan awesome!