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Thread: Hello from Alaska / Washington

  1. #1
    Registered Member
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    Oct 2018

    Member #:3965
    Location
    Sitka Alaska
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    Hello from Alaska / Washington

    Been visiting the "other" similar named site and while doing a search,.....found this one. Read some posts and joined. Looks like a good group to hang out with.

    I am doing a rotisserie restoration on a '55 belair 2 door sedan. Just got frame painted (black SPI epoxy primer) and all Earl Williams stuff. Will be running a BBC.

    Not sure on trans yet. Have a TH400 but considering manual 4-5 speed.

    Day jobs keep us in Alaska but we have property in eastern Washington. While our previous builds were in Alaska and sent to Washington to be stored, This build will be done in our Washington shop while visiting the property 4 times / year.

    My wife (Caprice) and I do all the work ourselves.

    We have restored several cars & boats and most are life sized Hot Wheels. We usually restore one vehicle a year but are trying to have more of a social life so no Alaska project this year. Although, I did bring up some trim pieces that need straightened and polished in my luggage.


    This was in May when I put the new floor in and the tailpan.







    August was the frame mods and motor mock up.









    Couple of our other cars we built.

    After watching hollywood knights,... Caprice wanted her bug to look like the one at the drive in. Next day, out came the sawzall!!
    4" chop and seuicide doors.


    Built this the same year as the bug. It was a busy winter!!





    We weren't fond of the AMX hood so I made a mold and then this hood.
    I pulled a mold off the bumpers and made them in Fiberglass as well.




    I liked the scoop in Mad Max so much, I made this one out of aluminum..






    4x4 1937 Chevy Sedan delivery!!



    Caprices' '65 GMC 4x4 truck



    My '79 Ford F-150



    Shop truck

    Before:



    After:





    My old renter gave me this 4 runner for free. Well it was a stock rig with a caved in fender.

    3 months work and total investment $1600.00.

    3" body lift, 3" suspension lift, $300 tires and rims that had too much offset soooooo,......Made 4 1/2" wide fiberglass fender flares (modeled after "arctic truck" flares) , Roof visor, hood scoop,running boards,all fiberglass. then Steel offroad bumpers copied design from our Dodge truck.
    Drove it for a month and was offered $6500.....SOLD!!!



    My kids wanted their own boats so in one winter, I made 3ea. 1/2 size boats like my 18' boat.



    Shaping foam for plug:



    finished in drywall mud:



    painted:



    Mold:



    Making a deck:



    x3:



    Paint x3:












    I'm burned out on molding fiberglass and am really having fun with my metal shaping tools.

    Have a great older gentleman near by in Washington that is like Robert (MC&P). Can reproduce ANY panel on ANY car. He loves coming up when we are in town and we make stuff and drink root beer.

    Last visit, Bob had me make a 1/2 of a ball (tennis ball size) out of a piece of 18 ga. annealed sheet metal. Using the beater bag, planishing hammer, and shrinker. My tools aren't the quality of his but he showed me how to get mine to work properly.

    My '55 build isn't going to be full of custom fabbed metal parts, Just a super clean straight BBC cruiser.

    Hope to help out some and learn a bunch.

    Ron Pratt

  2. #2
    Registered Member
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    Jun 2015

    Member #:2579
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    Thanks for sharing your projects. You are a man of many talents to say the least.

  3. #3
    Registered Member BamaNomad's Avatar
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    Nov 2016

    Member #:3217
    Location
    Rocket City, USA (Huntsville, AL area)
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    3,774
    Welcome Ron! From viewing your projects you're a very talented fella! and from the number/speed of your projects.... Also a very BUSY fella!

    We're glad to have you here and I look forward to learning from your technical posts!~

  4. #4
    Registered Member Tabasco's Avatar
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    May 2012

    Member #:615
    Location
    Poolville, Texas
    Posts
    360
    Welcome. That's is a great collection of toys you have. Looking forward to seeing the progress on the '55.

    You said you and your wife do all the work on your cars. My wife and I do all the work on our projects. But we are great-grand parents and we work slower and have fewer projects than when we were younger.

  5. #5
    Registered Member carls 56 (RIP 11/24/2021)'s Avatar
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    Jan 2011

    Member #:33
    Location
    Culpeper, Va.
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    hi Ron and welcome. good to have you here and great intro. very nice toys and great work.
    ARMY NAM VET, very proud!

    56 210 4dr

    drive and enjoy them while you work on them, life is to short.

  6. #6
    Registered Member chevynut's Avatar
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    Nov 2011

    Member #:115
    Location
    Fort Collins, CO
    Posts
    10,835
    Welcome to the site! Wow, do you ever sleep? Awesome project and obviously awesome talents. What headers are you using on the BBC?
    56 Nomad, Ramjet 502, Viper 6-speed T56, C4 Corvette front and rear suspension


    Other vehicles:

    56 Chevy 2-door BelAir sedan
    56 Chevy 210 4-door sedan
    57 Chevy 210 4-door sedan
    1962 327/340HP Corvette
    1961 Willys CJ3B Jeep
    2001 Porsche Boxster S
    2003 Chevy Silverado 2500 HD Duramax
    2019 GMC Sierra Denali Duramax

  7. #7
    Registered Member
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    Oct 2018

    Member #:3965
    Location
    Sitka Alaska
    Posts
    12
    Thanks guys, My father-in-law said to build all your stuff while you are young so you can maintain and enjoy them when you get older.
    We may have a pile of cool cars / boats BUT the trade off is we are hermits in our own garage. Most our builds are covered on jack stands and have less than 100 miles on the build.
    At 54 yrs old, and having 80 yr old parents nearby,...... We need to get our priorities straight.
    We are walking every day and going out in our fishing boat finally. Making time to visit both our parents more often. This is good!!!

    Thanks again for the welcome, Feels good to be outside the "cage".

    Chevtnut,.. The headers are from Earl Williams (Williams classic chassis in California). There are several threads on header fitment. I've read them all!!
    Like most,... I need to be frugal with my build funds. I've also learned not to be too cheap on certain parts. Earls was $300 more than any of the other headers but had the most consistent fitment. Also keeping the collectors above the frame was important.

  8. #8
    Registered Member chevynut's Avatar
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    Nov 2011

    Member #:115
    Location
    Fort Collins, CO
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    10,835
    Quote Originally Posted by Alaskastreamin View Post
    . The headers are from Earl Williams (Williams classic chassis in California). There are several threads on header fitment. I've read them all!!
    Like most,... I need to be frugal with my build funds. I've also learned not to be too cheap on certain parts. Earls was $300 more than any of the other headers but had the most consistent fitment. Also keeping the collectors above the frame was important.
    I have Earle Williams headers on my Nomad too, but I modified them since I don't have a steering box to deal with. I got mine uncoated and hd them Jet Hot coated after I modified them. I was just curious if you had something else since I couldn't see them from the side.
    56 Nomad, Ramjet 502, Viper 6-speed T56, C4 Corvette front and rear suspension


    Other vehicles:

    56 Chevy 2-door BelAir sedan
    56 Chevy 210 4-door sedan
    57 Chevy 210 4-door sedan
    1962 327/340HP Corvette
    1961 Willys CJ3B Jeep
    2001 Porsche Boxster S
    2003 Chevy Silverado 2500 HD Duramax
    2019 GMC Sierra Denali Duramax

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