COOPSTRIPES: Some times you just have to take a break.......

Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Some times you just have to take a break.......

     Things happen in life to change your direction ,attitude or your enthusiasm. Usually when you don't want it to. I have jumped into this van project with both feet. I figure it will be the last van I do from scratch and I want it to be the best thing I have done or can do.,
      So far I have shortened the van, stripped it to a sheet metal shell. Done most of the body work on the body with lots of custom body mods. The new motor is in.  A full custom install , with a lot of modification to the mechanics..to many to mention now.
     I haven't got a lot done in the last month. I've had a lot of distractions with things happening that have kept me out of the garage. I don't want to drag it all up here.
So here are some of the things that have gotten done since the last post.

The county fair is a big deal here. There is a category for art and photography competition. I have always wanted to put a Fink painting in the fair... so this is what I did for this year... It ended up on ebay and sold right away... went to California....lol

And yes, it's football season.Anyone who has been around me knows I am a big Ohio State fan. Thanks to one of my club members, Paul, I have access to season tickets, I also belong to the Quarterback club that meets every week during the season, and we get a visit from the coach. Quite exciting.

I got a call from Dan Wright, the model A guy. He had another A that needed striped.. I need to keep my striping skills sharp.

ok Back to the van

Got the radiator and the condenser for the air conditioning mounted. Mounted the dryer and measured for all the hoses.

They fit at an angle just like in a Corvette.. this works so well I can't believe it hasn't been done before. But I haven't see anyone do it.

You can't see it very well but I also had a time making a bracket to hold the throttle cable ,trans kick down cable, and the cruise control cable. They all needed to be in a specific place to work properly. I started with a stock bracket, since it already had the proper holes for the cables to attach to. Instead of the stock dodge throttle linkage I used a Lokar aftermarket throttle cable. After several modifications I think I got it all aligned.

The wiring for the alternator was also a mystery. The schematic I have for the Astro wiring harness,doesn't show all the wires that I have to hook up. Thanks to Dale I got that solved also.

Got the hoses made for the air conditioning. Had to made a couple more holes in the floor to pass them through. Amazing, they all fit to a T!

Ran the hoses from the water pump and the block for the heater and the unit is ready to go back under the dash There is a small amount of wiring to finish.. want to make sure I got it all right. So far it seams to be working. Hooked up the battery and none of the smoke leaked out! LOL

Vance is in the process of making me an all aluminum shroud for the radiator. He wants to use an electric fan from a Ford Crown Vic cop interceptor. Says its better than the POS fans I already have. lol ..cant wait till I get that!
After that, the radiator needs plumbed. Then Vance wants to make me a stainless steel exhaust system... Wonder what that is gona cost me? haha.

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THE EAGLE SAGA

It was 40 years ago and I attended the largest van event that I ever went to. Even tho I had had a van for some 4 years, this was to be only my 3rd van event. The Nationals at Bowling Green, Ky was sensory overload to the van enthusiast. 6300+ vans in one place? It still stirs the emotions. I belonged to a club from Newark, Ohio at the time called, North Fork Vans.

It was hot that weekend. Very hot.. To hot to even move. Got up sat to enter the show & shine. This was to be the first for me. When I got to the check in area we discovered that there were nearly 1000 vans in the line ahead of us. Didn’t do it. After parking back at the club camp we went to look at the vans. The heat was oppressive, and we spent most of the time in the bleachers watching the vans inch their way through the judging lanes,occasionally walking down to take a closer look. There were so many vans it was impossible to see them all. It amazes me to this day how the N.S.V.A. group was able to judge all of them and pick winners in just a few hours. There were a lot of real nice vans. Many were even outstanding. Saw the B.F.G. van, future shock. It was extreme, especially for then. But the one van I kept hearing about was a van from Ohio. Built by Greg of Akron. The van was the Flying Eagle 2. I never saw it. But a number of people said it was the best thing they had ever seen. I the host group must have agreed since the Flying Eagle 2 was awarded top honors at Bowling Green. including best overall paint ,and best interior. I never did see it..until it started showing up in every van publication there was and back then there were a lot of them.

Greg toured the van all over the country that year. Taking top honors at many shows, including Best of Show at the west coast van nationals in King City Calif . Over the next few years I became a fan of Greg's style of paint. He was the “Foose” of his day. His paint was on many of the top winning vans for years. The Superstar, Rocky Mountain High, Hotel California, Rolling thunder, and others were among the elite of the vanning scene. But the Flying Eagle 2 was Greg’s personal van and probably the best one he ever did. What ever became of it.?? Well in 1978 he repainted it. The second paint job was not as elaborate as the first but was still very nice. I know this from pictures I saw in a magazine called small car trends. But I still hadn’t seen it. Then later that year he sold the van to a guy in Louisville,Ohio , Ben Merkle . Merkle Had the van at the 7th. Nats show & shine. in Cortland. Never saw it. Later that day someone told me it was there. Hunted it down but it was locked up and I had to settle for seeing the exterior… after that it was never seen again. Fast forward 24 years to the Nats ,2003, in Kansas City. A long time Vanner friend comes to me with pictures of a van that he just acquired ,and wants to know if I would be interested in helping him restore it. Woaaaa. It’s the Flying Eagle. And it had been on fire! Well, to actually find this van after all these years was real cool ,but the story behind it was even cooler.. Blaino bought the van on ebay. as the story goes, Merkle was driving the van one day and it stalled at a light. Then there was smoke ,then fire. The fire department came and put it out but the van was pretty messed up. The van was insured, and after settling with the ins. company they sold the van at auction. No one wanted it. It had no parts a junk yard could sell and it ended up selling for $100. That person put it on ebay and it sold for a ridiculously low price. That’s when Blaino came to me. Blaino lives in Oregon. The van was in Michigan. And after a year of banter Blaino offered the van to me. I took it. Then Mikie and I took a 12 hour trip to Michigan and I finally got to see the Flying Eagle. Upon inspection and a little detective work , we determined that the fire was caused by a fuel line leak.The rubber hose at the carb, either cracked or wasn’t properly installed and sprayed gas over the engine., That's why it stalled. Then the gas hit the exhaust and fooom. The fire was contained to the intake and above. The paint on the block wasn’t touched.The fire melted the wiring harness, heater box and then came through the fire wall. The front of the cab was burned pretty good, some wood will have to be replaced but most could be saved. The pictures to follow will show the progress of the restoration… oh yes, in 2000 the van was repainted again, supposedly by Greg at least partly. It has his mural work on it. The theme is still the sailing ship, but it is now a futuristic look. Actually I like it. The idea is to eventually restore it to its original paint job, but that will entail striping the van completely as all 3 paint jobs are still on the van, and at least the first 2 are lacquer. If you look just right you can still see the old paint outlines. I am going to fix the van as it was before the fire for the time being. The restoration is pretty much done . Now i'm working on improving it. you know I can't just leave it alone. coop

COOPSTRIPES

Vanning

Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Some times you just have to take a break.......

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