Projects 59 El Camino.. Build Pics

Thank you & your welcome. Good luck, on the Merc shoot with Evel, tomorrow! That's very Kool (with a K)

 

Thanks for the T-Shirt Jay, wore it to Cowboys and Aliens last night, no one asked me if I was from Berdoo yet, but they will.

Out to the gay rodge, working on the 60 wagon.

 

Wow - 68 pages on a '59 Elk and I haven't posted yet. I had two of these in the 1990s. Sold the last one in 2004 and still have lingering pangs of remorse. Lemon Pearl with lavender accents and purple steelies. Six '59 cad tail lights with blue dots in an engine turned insert in the original two piece cat's eye bezels used to light up the whole back alley behind my shop. Only problem was after I had installed them, when I opened the tailgate, the inner pair hit the bumper. Bye bye tailgate....

This image from 59elcamino.com shows the Buick Skylark wires I would run if I had to do it all over again....

 

That's rad! Past few days for me haven't been, though.. I had wrinkles and fish eye problems in the dash! Truthfully, I'm going to sand it to hoping there's enough paint to even out

68 pages seems like a short story.. which this has not been! You have any pictures of you Elco? Be cool to see, and thanks for posting!

 

I finished prepping these dash pieces, primered & sprayed 'em, green, yesterday.. I used the paint I had left over in the gun. I had not one paint issue on them. So that tells me my problems were actually from the dash itself.



I did a quick polish on an area, that had me curious.. the arrow shows where I had stopped, hand buffing it out.


Tomorrow, I will be done with this! Remembering how efficient my Dad was, I took too long doing this. These experiences are priceless, though.. All the orange peel has been blocked out, and now I need to go to the fine sand paper. I've never had a shiny dash top.. My Dad always shot the last coats dry, to keep the glare down. This isn't an everyday driver, so I wont mind a little gleam here & there!

 

Welded up the air cleaner and part of the radios, swing arm bracket









used angle iron to hold it square..







wowee, huh?!

 

My 5gal air tanks, just showed up.. Controller & valves should show up this week, also

 

I take it you are going to make the radio swing up under the dash out of view? Cool-nothing worse than a big plastic stereo in an otherwise nice early dash.

 

Yes I am, an I agree with you.. a plastic radio does kill the look. Very quickly

 

The bracket spaced tightly with washers..



The actuator 'thingy ma-bob', in place!



Hid the coil under the air cleaner(like my 57) between the carb and distributor.

 

Painted the air cleaner, a/c base & valve covers, today! I found out that GM Alpine Green, is an Oldsmobile engine color. That's cool wit' me!





I just got back from my second 'Road Runners' meeting.. One more to go, before I go before the judges panel! Hahaha

 

Nice job on the plug wires there J

 

I seem to get quicker, every time I do it.. but these were pre-made wires, so that always adds to the equation! Thanks, Mr. Gee!

 

Premade or not, I like the BIG CAP HEI way you wired it up.

 

That was a first time for that.. It wasn't too difficult to pull off, an it did clean things up.

 

you should have that dash pinstriped before the window goes back in hint hint.....

 

You are correct there, sir! I don't think I'm going to stripe the dash, though. Thanks, anywho!

 

On that radio bracket thingy; I think I would split some vacuum hose and put it on the edge of the metal to cushion and insulate it from vibrating or crushing the back of the radio case.

 

It's pretty solid, up against it. As long as it's tight, there's nothing to wear.. so it should be good. I want to keep the arm I have to make, as light as possible!

 

I had to straighten the drivers side vent. I bet it was kicked by someone pushing the e-brake assy.





Been prepping the interior mldgs for primer. Once they are ready for paint, Imma shoot the dash, one more time! Hopefully with out any more issues..

 

And the award for best use of a shopping cart goes to...



Looks great! Thanks for the t-shirt. I'll be wearing it proudly at the Pomona swap meet this weekend. We're driving down from WA.

Later,

Mike

 

Well, if you see me wandering around.. don't hesitate to introduce yourself. I'll be wearing my shirt, too! The shopping cart made it's own way into the yard years ago, I don't know how & I'm sticking to it.

 

What a better way to be found in an alley, pushing a shopping cart with a SBC. Maybe same rich guy with a RR in Riverside will take you in. Then you can eat dog food, and make his wife BIG O.

 

Dog food has to be edible for human consumption, by some regulation.. so as long as she could put up with my breath, I could be her "Oh" maker! HA!

 

After reading this entire thread through, I have to say I'm only disappointed in one thing. The radio mount.....

Knowing how the old dash is built, The Speaker grille would have been the place to put a pop up for the radio control head. All of it tucked away neatly and spring loaded so that the radio pops up on demand, and the grill just rides the bracket work up and down and shrouds it from the sun. Mechanism still electrically controlled by wireless remote or hidden button. I know you probably don't care since you already have your pop up built.
Just an idea...

After all,... you did the pop-out tail light.... and a very cool idea it is.

Other than that I'm looking forward to the final product. I watch this thread often and love the work. The '59 El Camino has always had a place in my mental "personal museum". Maybe one day.....

 

^^^But would it have cleared the windshield?^^

 

The Red Mothers Wax 59 Sedan Delivery, already has the stereos head unit poppin up & down as you described. Plus I don't want to show off the radio.. what they dont see, they dont steal. My 57's proof of that.

As for the tail light popping out, you need to look at Cody Walls' '59 Wagon Build' thread. He's the one that got Nads(chopped 59 Elco- The 'Severe Bondo Abuse' thread) & I thinking along those lines. And thanks for the kind words, too..

 

Yeah, it cleared the windshield no problem.. Now this SST radio has a remote, that uses RF(Radio Frequency). So it doesn't need a direct line of sight, like Infrared Receivers. So the head unit, will most likey spend most of its time tucked up under the dash. I don't wanna see it.. Hahaha

 

I went to Tuxies for a while, today. Here's some pics I took to share 'wich-yall'!

















I love 57 Sed Del.. sorry












I love the road rash!

 

Yeah, I knew the clearance wasn't an issue, and was unaware of the RF remote control. Excellent! That and the philosophy of "what they don't see they don't want" is great thinking. I spent about 8 years doing custom stereo installation and management and did all the pop-up and hidden stuff. I was always more interested in the hidden stuff too. "The less can be seen, the more difficult to conceptualize the theft" was my verbiage, and means the same thing as the philosophy stated above.

I'm right there with you now for sure. Without my permission I know you would not know where to take this from her,.. but carry on.....