COOPSTRIPES: July 2012

Monday, July 30, 2012

I've reached the point where I need to start painting . I got the engine out. The trans needs to be painted. And the underside is getting painted too. Along with the rear axle and springs.., The rear end is out and needs sanded and cleaned up.

The underside needs cleaned and sanded.....still can't get over a 40 year old van with no rust on it.. I'm in heaVAN!!

After a day and a half of sanding and scrubbing I got the parts painted. The green is going to contrast nicely with the black on the underside

the bottom of the gas tank gets a little finkizing before it goes back in.

Time to start putting things back togeather.,.,.,what fun!!!

One thing I hate is layin on my back gettin dirt in my face.... but it looks so good when its done!!

Tank went in easily

Damm this is heavy

Axle back in

gota put on brackets for the disc brake conversion

All together...now for the front half

Friday, July 20, 2012

NEXT!

Summer is flying by. Between the shows I've done and the Van Nationals , the summer is half gone. It's been hot and the garage is a sauna.. but that hasn't stopped me. I've been working on the wiring. I want to get all the wiring in and working before any of the interior gets started. The engine is wired and running. Next is to get the dash and gauges wired up.

The stereo is also going to be wired up. The amp for the bass is going in the wall behind the passenger seat.

I want to get everything in the dash working.I found a digital dash unit that fits in the stock Dodge instrument bezel. It looks stock shut off, but is ultra cool.

Alpine head unit works, but I still need to get some good speakers.. The power windows are wired. Switches hooked up. The electric solenoid for the side door is wired and working. Still to go is the wiper switch.the brake switches and cruise control, then to finish the steering column.

The Deathstar is finally back in California. Tom made a side trip to the Van Nationals and won Best of Show in the Van Nationals Show & Shine competition. Congrats Tom! The next major step is taking the motor and trans out to finish painting the transmission and the underside of the body.... that will be the next update. Till then....................

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

Monday, July 30, 2012

Friday, July 20, 2012

NEXT!

Total Pageviews