She's gone. She's really gone.

 

 My mother in law died two weeks ago... 11 October, at 7:25 PM.  This was expected.  Hospice had established a "last watch".  We all knew that she was going to leave us.  She hadn't been awake for days, and her body had withered away to practically nothing.  My wife and I were there, at her bedside, along with a few very close friends.  We sang and prayed over her. and we experienced her departure from this planet.

I continue to wrestle with my own feelings about this.  How much do I really miss her?  Am I really sad?  Should I be sad?  Since she lived with us for 12 years, I see remnants of her presence all around me.  Her furniture, her toiletries, her linens.  Is she really gone?  Will I see her again when I die? 

Last Friday, I had the t-bird moved to the body shop.  It's not in my garage any more.  I see remnants of it's presence... engine parts, trim parts, engine block on a stand.  I anticipate seeing it again, but I don't know exactly when.  I also don't know what condition it will be in when I do see it again, or how much poorer I'll be.  Body guy hasn't given me an estimate yet, and it's not clear that he will be able to paint the car before he closes shop at the end of the year.  

More uncertainty... I really don't need this right now.   I need something I can depend on.

Visualizing though a Model

Professionally, I do a lot of computer modeling.  It is natural for me to try to visualize a future state through a model.  For this project, I have learned that computer displays and photographs often cannot render colors accurately, or at least not exactly as they appear naturally to the human eye.  The reasons have to do with limitations in the color palette available on digital displays, and ink pigments for photographic prints.  Also, lighting conditions can make a very big difference in how colors are captured in both sliver-based and digital photographs.  The blue color that Dad and I are going for on the t-bird seems to be one of these problematic colors.   Every online photo I found, supposedly of this same color, was a different shade or hue.  How could I trust that the color was accurate?

Well, last month my son gave me a die-cast model of a '55 T-bird.  I decided to paint it, using an available color (ModelMaster Grabber Blue) that sort of resembles the color we are going for.  Ford's '55 Peacock Blue, '70 Grabber Blue, and '10 Grabber Blue are similar colors to this.  You have probably seen a new Mustang painted this color.  For the interior, I started by matching the original colors that came on this car (turquoise, white, and a darker turquoise-green on the dash & upper trim).  Here's how it turned out (recognizing the limitations of digital photography):

The color in these pics is pretty close to the real color, which is a very vibrant blue.  Surprisingly, the interior colors don't clash.  Dad also suggested painting the removable hardtop white, but adding a racing stripe... like this:

This has provided a good color-baseline.  I will need to compare this with color chips for the Ford colors before I invest in paint, but I have more confidence about the color combinations now, and I can confidently say that this color appeals to me much more than the original "Thunderbird Blue"/turquoise.  I also think that it is consistent with the original fun character of the car, without blatantly going over the line into lack of taste (evidenced by the "bright lime"/Pinto green color I picked in 1973).

Prepping for Paint

This is a tech-only entry. Body guy says I should prep the engine compartment before I send the car for paint. In order to do this, I wanted to unbolt everything that penetrates into the engine compartment, so there won't be bolt heads or screw threads that would get painted over, and also to make sanding easier.

So, I needed to remove the ventilation ducts from inside the fenders. Here they are on the floor between some assorted engine parts and my freshly rebuilt transmission (wrapped in plastic, since it will be a while before I can use it).

I also had to remove the firewall insulation from under the dashboard. The fasteners stuck through into the engine compartment. It was extremely brittle, and didn't come out in one piece.

Here is a drivers eye view of the progress, with a clear view of the steering box in the engine compartment.

I also pulled the wiring harness into the cabin, and started working on sanding the horrid green paint in the engine compartment. Here's what it looked like when I started:

Using lacquer thinner, scrubbing pads, and a multi tool with a small sanding head, here's how far I got in about 3 hours. I made a whole lot of dust!

Another weekend of work, and the car should be ready for the body shop!

One thing that I did to the car when I owned it 40 years ago was play some games with the chrome insignia on the front fender. Here's the stock fender insignia on a '55 t-bird. Check out the hashmarks... Ford designers wanted something to emphasize (or maybe rationalize) the start of the break line on the fender, leading back to the rear tail fin. Aft of the hashmarks, Ford used the traditional y-block V-8 emblem.

I don't like fake stuff on my cars. Two tailpipes should only appear on cars with dual exhaust, and any hood scoop should be required to pass a useful amount of air. The hashmarks... gills, fake louvers, whatever... annoy me. They are blatantly non-functional, and I'm thinking that they clutter the simple, clean lines. They have no real meaning or significance. What would the car look like without them? The y-block V-8 emblem was widely seen on 50's Ford cars and trucks, but it only appeared on t-birds in 1955. It is an emblem that has meaning, as opposed to the hashmarks, and I definitely want to keep it! So, last time I had this car, I filled the original holes, and drilled new ones to move the V-8 forward.

In most respects, I'd prefer to keep the car looking stock. In this case, I think I like my modification. It may look good with my choice of non-stock blue paint!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad. I typed this using a bluetooth keyboard in Dvorak mode.

Changing Priorities

Last week I called the body shop that "Uncle Packard" recommended.  I learned that the body guy, who is 65 years old, was taught to do body work in the "old school" way (using lead, not bondo) by his father, now 90 years old and still working at the shop!  I believe him when he says he does the best body work in the area, especially since Uncle Packard has also given his highest recommendation.  I really want Body guy to work on my t-bird.  It just feels right.
Over the phone, Body guy told me that he and his dad are planning on retiring and closing the shop at the end of the year!  This news changes my priorities on the car.  Rather than focus all my energy on painting and assembling the engine, I now feel that I need to get the car ready to go to the body shop!  Gone are my plans to paint the engine compartment myself, install the engine, and drive the car to the body shop.  I don't have time for that.  I want Body guy to work on my car before he closes shop!  And if he does the body work, he might as well paint the car while he has it... including the engine compartment.
I've talked to my Dad about this plan, and he agrees.  Since he has graciously volunteered to pay for the paint and body work, this shouldn't be financial burden for me...  but there are some things I need to do to the car before I have it towed to the shop.  I need to prep the engine compartment as best I can.  I need to remove some trim pieces, ventilation ducts, and carefully pull back some of the wiring.  And I need to do this by the end of the month, so the shop can have the car in early November!  I was not anticipating this.  It is actually shocking to think that I might have a painted car in January... this is moving much faster than I had ever anticipated!

Sometimes, things happen slowly... and sometimes, things happen quickly.  Maybe too quickly.  I feel a little unsettled.  I have so many other things happening in my life right now... why did I ever take on this t-bird project?  Yet, God continues to bless me with it.  Yes, it continues to cost more than I would like, but I'm still solvent.  I'm uncomfortable devoting so many resources to this one thing, and I tend to consider myself very selfish for doing this.  Yet, I get the feeling that God is moving here, opening opportunities for me.  Maybe I'm wrong, and justifying my own selfishness.  Maybe I'm overly driven to redeem my failure as a teenager.  But maybe.... maybe what I do through this car is more important than that. Maybe it is that last, lingering bridge to my father's soul...

Dad mentioned to me a while back that he would like to ride in the t-bird when it is done.  I felt awkward when he said this, because I didn't think it likely that an 83 year old man with stage 3 esophageal cancer would live long enough to see the car completed.  But now I'm starting to think that he just might.... he just might!