Yes, The new year is here. I haven't posted for a while but I have a good reason. Spent the last month of the year on an extended trip. Many miles to the 4 corners of the country. Here is the short version.
First stop was the Turkey Run in Florida. Striped a bunch of cars and ended up down at Lew's workin' on the van. I had a bad thermostat . Lew is a life saver. Helped me change it and got it ready for the next 5,000 miles!
Drove to the west coast..Did the Mooneyes show. Here I gave Ilene Roth the Christmas hillbilly crash helmet Judith made for her. Very cool! lol
Spent a week hangin with Jimmy C. Paintin and clownin' around . What a great time. Thanks Dena and Jimmy! Your the greatest....O yea, Had a burger or two also.
Started this painting while I was there.Not finished yet. Trying to get it done for the Rat Fink Reunion this coming June. Think I'll make it?
Went to the Brush off event again. A collection of some of the best stripe artists in the country. Here is a few of the pieces that were there.
\Each artist brings a panel for trade and we draw to see who gets which one. a great time!
\ Hung out with Kenny for a few days. Went to his place, the underworld. Look close in the background. that's the Hollywood sign. He's in the Hollywood hills.. The road goin' up this mountain is unbelievable! Curvy , Narrow! very cool.
We went to the live steam clubs park. Been trying to do that for a long time.
Went thru Vegas and visited Magoo. Then made it to Ilene's for more Fink stuff... Then it was back home for Christmas and the New Year.
Back to the old garage... its time to pick up where I left off. The the air condition and heater unit is connected to all the hoses but the electrical isn't even started. Since I'm waiting for the shroud and radiator to get done I figured I would do the rest of the electrical. The stereo needs a few things finished. Got that done and the thing is incredible..It will do everything but make your lunch. Then started by running wires up the windshield to a power block.
I have done a lot of work smoothing out the sides. Shaved door handles, hinges, filled seams. The last thing I want to do is screw an ugly mirror to the side of the van. IDEA! Why not use backup cameras in place of the mirrors? I found some and monitor screens on eBay. I made pods for the cameras out of resin and fit them to the doors in the front corners. Check out the pics. Once they are painted you won't even notice them. I got them hooked up and they work better that I imagined. You can see a full 360 degrees around the van. More than any set of mirrors. I can't believe I'm the first to think of this!!
There will be a 3rd monitor in the middle for a camera in the back. My buddy Tommy has been using this trick on his bus for a rear view .. many RVs have rear cameras. We've been using mirrors on vehicles for over 100 years. It's time technology is applied to the lowly van..lol
Gotta figure out what I'm going to do with the interior. I have a basic idea what I want to do. but I need to figure out what will work and what wont.. Cardboard mock ups help.
Got the heater and air controls mounted in the dash. Time to finish wiring and hooking up the duct work.
Figured I would get what sound deadner I had on hand installed, I have more coming its gonna take quite a bit .
Vance has finished the radiator shroud. Got him a sheet of aluminum and he fabricated a custom shroud with a high volume fan from a ford police interceptor. Awesome lol
