Vehicle History Update

June 24, 2008

Made the dreaded trip to DMV today to get my title and registration complete. I found out that she is an original Arizona car, licensed to her first owner in Arizona in January of 1976. The party I bought her from actually bought the car from the original owner in August of 2007. I sure would like to find the original owner and get some more history on her. I'll try a Craigslist personal ad.

OOPS! I ran out of gas on my way home from the DMV. How embarrassing!

It's so stinking hot here!

June 17, 2008

It was 114 today. It's a good thing I am used to it.

Just a short note for today. It took me about 2 hours but I reattached the mounting brackets and the a/c compressor. Small hands and long fingers help.

That thing weighs a ton!!

Some Body Work

June 6, 2008

I started treating some of the minor rust on the car today. I used both a large and a toothbrush size metal brush to clean the infected areas, and treated with Rust Doctor following the instructions on the label. It worked exactly as described. It was wild to put my hand on the other side of the metal and feel it rapidly cool from the chemical reaction. I started working in an area that had some obvious rust, that someone had attempted to bondo over.

When the molding was taken off the wheel wells the metal was tweaked on the inside. With a hammer i started reshaping the wheel wells where the molding had been removed. I wanted to do all of this before I used the Rust Dr. Well, the hammering caused all of the bondo to fall out of a hole that had been inadequately repaired. This was actually a great thing. I cleaned and scrubbed the area on both the inside and outside of the wheel well, then treated it with the Rust Doctor. Then I followed up with Nu-Metal to fill and re-shape the hole. It's as strong as it can be. I even tried banging on it again with the hammer to see if the new treatment would also fall out. Nope! It's a lot stronger and looks a lot better.


I also used this same method to treat the rust in the trunk and repair a very small whole I found there as well. Both of these products work exactly as described. I would highly recommend them. I have a few small low spots to touch up but I think the end result is very good. I'll have to show these pics to my body shop client.

Her First Check-up

June 2, 2008

Dr. Charles arrived today to give Holli her check up and heal her current conditions. I had already picked up a carb rebuild kit as I knew we would need the new accelerator pump. We picked the parts we needed, did a partial transplant and cured the leaking gasoline issue. Upon further examination we reconnected the vacuum hose for the power brake booster. We have brakes but there is a vacuum issue as the car runs rougher at idle when you press the brake pedal. Dr. C. says she is drivable but we will eventually need to repair or replace the power brake booster. We drove her to the gas station for a test drive and gave her a drink (a very pricey drink).

The Dr. gave me instructions for further treatment of other issues and a prescription to have all of her fluids changed, as well as the name of a secondary specialist who could handle this for me. We spoke for a long time about the patient and I was in awe at his knowledge of the inner workings of the automobile. He knows EVERYTHING there is to know about cars! What a fantastic ally he is going to be in this crazy venture.

Lighting Issues

June 1, 2008

S and I played around with the lights last night. This was something that I knew needed work from the inspection I had done before the purchase. Both low beam headlights were out. We popped the hood and discovered that the neither headlight was even connected. We plugged in the drivers side and it lit right up. The passenger side, however, had two broken prongs. On her behind we had only drivers side turn signal, parking and brake lights. After testing the passenger side with one of the good bulbs I made an inventory of all the bulbs I needed.

The next day I picked up the headlight, 4 turn signal/brake bulbs and 2 backup bulbs at Pep Boys. I replaced the broken headlight and the new one works fine. I replaced all the rear bulbs but I had one bad turn/tail/brake light socket. Went back to PB and found an after market fit for that. Wired the new one up and it now works. P.S. Don't accidentally touch another metal part of your engine with the wrench you are using to reconnect the battery cable. Those sparks sure were pretty!!!

While I had the headlight apart I decided to go ahead and polish up the bezel's. They turned out pretty nice.

After all my lighting work, I still don't have back-up or hazard lights. Hmmmmm.

To my delight I did see that Pep Boys now carries an American Racing wheel that mimic the old style slotted mags. Much to my dismay, they are pretty pricey. I will really have to start saving up if I want to go new instead of refurbished.

O.k. so back to the lighting problems. I will have to consult the Dr. when he arrives on Monday to see what he says.

A VERY short trip.

May 28th, 2008

I asked miss K if she wanted to go for a short ride in the Torino today and she said yes. I was surprised but she seems to be o.k. with my silly little obsession. I thought it would be too un-cool for her. I warned her we wouldn't go very far because the breaks aren't good.

"Oh, sure, Mom. Take me out for a ride and get me killed."

Boy, was Dan the transporter man right. There are no brakes!!! We went down to the end of the street and turned around. I'm not taking any more chances until she gets her first check up. Started her up tonight for my son and then discovered the accelerator pump is leaking gas. Ahhhh! No more starting her up until she gets her first check up.

Overall, though, her leaks are very, very slight, the interior is in pretty good shape and there is a new Pioneer stereo that has an MP3 plug-in. Just perfect for playing all that disco music on my ipod. I did an inventory and ordered a few parts from Dearborn Classics. Also started viewing ebay and craigslist for anything that might come up that I need. Some parts are being re-manufactured, others have to be scrounged off of parts cars. I found a few other sites for NOS parts.

I will post again after her doctor visit.

Holliwood Arrives

May 27th, 2008.

Holliwood arrived this morning around 8:30am. Yes, that's her name. I already had her christened before she arrived. I figured it would suit her when she was a complete project, so why not make her feel good about herself from the start.

My husband and kids think I'm crazy. What kind of woman my age takes something like this on. Perhaps a brave woman, an ambitious woman, or one who is just plain NUTS!. I've always liked a challenge and never really been afraid to try working with my hands or learning something new. So here I go.

Like many others before me, I've wanted this car since I was a teenager. I remember someone else who lived in the neighborhood had one and I used to ride my bike down the street just to see it. Again, what girl my age is that crazy about a car?! Unfortunately, back then I didn't have a drivers license and certainly couldn't afford one. I couldn't afford the final product this time either, so I decided to take the project on myself. I started shopping in January 2008. Along the way I have made some pretty awesome internet friends and found that S&H Torino lovers seem to be a very friendly group who are always eager to have one more "member", and that there are some super nice people out there that but for the internet we might never be able to know of.

Steve in the Northwest has been creating clones for many years and has been a big help to me with recommendations and hints. Jimmy is an S&H Torino owner who has taken measurements of his own car to help me with options for mine. Wayne sold me a Chilton manual and gave me tons of free mechanical knowledge to add to my noggin. (wayne.vanover.ctr@disa.mill) He's got a lot more manuals for sale on different cars and they are very affordable. And much thanks to T. Q. who decided that working with an out of state buyer might be an option after all. It took a little while but we made the deal work. Thanks T. Also, thanks to Dan from NADA transport (havasuhermit@yahoo.com) who took good care of her and dropped her off in one piece. He's a really nice guy who was sure to warn me how bad the brakes were.

So the adventure begins. Please forgive her rugged beastly appearance and try to see the beauty she will become. Hope you enjoy checking in every once in a while to see how we are doing.

Happy & safe driving.

Treesje

P.S. All e-mail addresses and links are included with permission from those mentioned.