Blast from the Past

Since the weather was in the 70s here this weekend, I wanted to take the car out for a drive. On the short drive I took, I saw a black 80s Lamborghini Countach, another '66 Mustang (convertible), and a '68 or so Firebird convertible. I took this photo of the Firebird hoping it would look like a shot from the 1960s back when these cars were all over the place...

Junk in the Trunk: The Finale

I picked up the carpet pieces that I had dropped off at Gresham Lake Upholstery the other day. I had them sew vinyl around the edges, and it looks great. (That service cost $65, which puts the entire trunk carpet project well under the $250 that a pre-made kit would cost.)



I think this is one project that worked out pretty well. At the car show next Saturday I will leave the trunk open so people can check it out... :-)

If I were doing it again, I'd use the fuel filler tube to lay the Eucaboard up against a little more, and have a single long piece of carpet for the back panel. That might look a littlle cleaner, but the way I have it, I can get into either side of the back panel without disturbing the other side.



(BTW, there's glare on the carpet from the flash.)

Mirror Image

I had the painters wetsand my car last week to remove some texture on the surface of the clearcoat. I didn't want to spend the money last year after having it painted, and it looked good already. I also figured I might damage the paint during reassembly anyway. But in the end, it does look better after having been wetsanded.



There are some downsides to waiting, namely the clear is fully cured and is more time-consuming to sand (by hand). Also, you can't get too close to door handles, gaskets, and trim with the sandpaper since you couldn't polish with the pad that close to the edges. If I had to do it again, I'd just have had it done when the paint was fresh...