Big Car is very much back on the road now and getting some regular use. There are still quite a few areas that need working on in continuing the restoration. She’s running quite nicely, but she ain’t pretty! There are jobs to do that are either quite serious or more aesthetic/general.

Here’s the todo list, in approximately the order I’ll be looking at them:

1. Remove rust and Waxoyl chassis
2. Remove, repair and straighten wings, bonnet and front
3. Inspect bulkhead, repair rusty areas, remove old welds
4. Replace front door(s)
5. Check mysterious oil leak
6. Repaint whole exterior, affix chequer plates
7. Front offside wheel no oil or cap
8. Truck body rust areas
9. Cabin floorpans rusting
10. Rear window cracked
11. Line / plywood truck body inner
12. Fit speakers/wiring/head unit

There’re a few mods I’d like to make:

1. Rock sliders
2. Bull bars
3. Snorkel (maybe)
4. Exterior lights
5. Install windows

But they’re all subject to funds!

Should be some fun times over the coming months.

Bank Holiday weekends are pretty useful, and when the weather people got the forecast horrificly wrong, it meant a day to Big Car. The skies were clear & blue, and although threatened to rain a few times during the day, I was lucky. Following last week’s shower, today it was time for a spruce up inside. The back of Big Car still held the familiar three plastic containers with various nuts, bolts, plastics, belts, filters and everything else. There was a good 6 years’ worth of leaves and muck, not to mention about 2″ of water at the bulk end, which I’m hoping was after the shower, not a gradual build up! The first job was to get the three remaining bench seats out. I don’t envisage anyone sitting in the back of Big Car anytime soon, and so they’re really just noisy and getting in the way. Typically, the bolts securing them to the bodywork were solidly rusted/threaded on, so I had to get creative with a ratchet, some gaffer tape and a spanner under the chassis to get them out. When they were out, it was a case of sweeping out all the grime and muck. With a little elbow grease, she was looking quite tidy again.

At the cab end, there was one simple task – rebuild the interior! Of the many questions I have, one, quite near the top of the list is: “Simon, why on earth was the first you did when you got Big Car, to remove everything from the cab?!” The entire dash, doorcards and pretty much anything plastic with a bolt in it got removed. 6 years later we’ve got a small selection of parts, an even smaller selection of nuts and bolts, and an even smaller clue how it all fits together, and after this amount of time, everything has warped, rotted, rusted or just plain fallen off. Sifting through the various boxes, I found as much as possible. The doorcards were there, as well as the handles and the little inserts for the door openers. The plastic lock things are missing (or too bloody fiddly to refit). The cards went in approximately the right positions, but given the missing bolts and holes, it was really a lottery of finding a bolt that would fit a hole. In fact, very few of the original holes were used – it was far easier to drill out new ones! Although Big Car did claim (another) drill bit in the process… not to mention quite a lot of skin.

Rebuilding the dashboard was a mission. First job – figure out what bits I had and where everything went. It’s made of about five pieces, and once worked out, it was fairly clear where it all went. But again, no suitable nuts, bolts or holes, not to mention it all being really heavy, so holding things in place whilst trying to screw, as it were, is easier said than done. I got a bit of assistance from Whiskey (cat) and Julia (gf) and after a lot of heaving, effing, blinding, and flat out destroying things in the way, it’s all, pretty much, back in. It certainly ain’t pretty, but it should at least be functional.

This will hopefully just be a temporary until I decide exactly what is going to happen with Big Car. The driver’s door is in pretty bad shape and either needs repairing… or, more likely, replacing. I can’t be certain how long the dash will hold out how it is – there are plenty of gaps and very strained fixings. The truck will either get ply-lined and left as/is, although I’m toying with idea of turning her into a full-time pickup!

Watch this space…

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