So that happened

If you are really wanting that deep clean, you know the one where your car feels factory fresh, you might as well go for the full monty!

Somehow, through dumb luck or maybe the red dirt preserved them, I only broke two body bolts and both left enough to grab with vice gripes. I whipped out a handy hole saw and the drill, then got to the back of the cage nuts to spray them from the backside with PB Blaster for a few days before I put a torch to them, they came out smoothly.







And Voila!





Now I can really get in all the nooks and crannies!

The destruction, I mean deconstruction of a project

This is where the project starts spiraling out of control or something along those lines, that depends on your outlook on car projects. Those who know me say otherwise, they say that this was only a natural progression, that it was willed to go this direction.

Eh, who am I to challenge that?

Parts started falling off the car and you can see the dash put up a fight but lost





While the floors were clean overall, there was a little rust, luckily floor pans are available. This is a common area to rust with the heater box leaking and the catalytic converter heating the are to make a swamp











More dirt, eeeww



So I can start work on this.....



A grinder with a wire brush soon becomes my best friend.......

And so it began

So the forlorn 1978 Malibu up for inspection when I drove up



Unfortunately the 78 on taillights were gone but it came with these ragged 79 models with blue dots.




Really I bought it from this crappy pic proving you shouldn't judge a wet car by it's picture, looks reasonably clean.



By the way it was outfitted I am guessing it was a "drag car" and I use that term loosely. It had air shocks, 14" Keystone Klassic front wheels, obligatory dash mounted tach, and that awesome Demon Carburetion sticker on the door panel.

Unfortunately these cars are getting harder and harder to find so I didn't pass on it, I towed it home, pushed it into the garage, and examined my purchase.



Not sure what they were trying to accomplish on the hood, they used a grinder of some sorts to remove paint and most of the edges through to the inner structure. It was scrap







With the look around apparently somebody is operating a dirt quarter mile somewhere in the Texas panhandle. This thing was plastered

Not so much rust as dust.

At this point my OCD was approaching a level that was unheard of, it needed a dirt exorcism in the worst way. The only way to accomplish this.........

After a brief hiatus...

I am back at it again but this time I am getting to work on my long term project now that all others are out of the way. The Road King has almost met the end of it's modification cycle, just the new rear fender and fat tire that started the mods for 2016, I will be waiting until it's cooler out to tear it apart though. I have a bunch to post on a trip to PA but haven't received the photos yet.

I will now focus my time and effort on this.

Which is a 1978 Malibu purchased for the princely sum of $750 in 2013 as it was mostly complete, looked rust free, and will be the fourth one I have owned. This pic is right before we loaded it on a trailer for the ride home from somewhere around Childress Texas.

The last one I built started back in 1999 or so. A 1980 Malibu Classic Landau minus the vinyl was bought from a buddy and soaked up a bunch of money but was a ton of fun. This was the day I sold it in 2005 or so. 

I hope to take all that I learned from that build and make this one even better, 

Now I will play catch up on all the work done so far so hang for a ride.