Progress On My Datsun

If you've been keeping up on my blog, you'll remember the Volvo project that was slowly rusting away in my garage.  Well, I threatened to get rid of it, and now it's gone!  An empty garage is kind of sad, but emotionally freeing in a way.  With my garage emptied out and cleaned, my tools organized, and all of the recent accumulation of bicycle projects put in order, I decided it was time to give some attention to an old friend.

This is my 1970 Datsun 521.  The cab has been sitting in a corner of my garage for a couple of years now, patiently waiting for its turn to be put back together.  The front clip was hung in the rafters, the bed is in the side yard, and the frame is at a local custom shop, in the process of being heavily modified.  I'll go into the history and future plans in a couple of future updates, but here's how she sits as of now:

There's a lot of work to be done- those wheels are just sitting there with nothing attached to them!  Basically this is an empty shell, just waiting for lots of cool custom pieces to be installed.

One thing I did accomplish was the installation of Bosch headlights and high-beams.  These lights were originally used on Mercedes vehicles in the 80's, and I've retrofitted them with H3 high intensity discharge bulbs.  Here's a shot of just the low beams:

And, for when somebody deserves to see spots for a few hours, here's high and low together:

I'm trying to take photos of every new modification so I have a nice album documenting my progress when this thing finally hits the road someday.  More to come soon, I hope!

Took A Break From The Blog...

I've taken a short break from blogging (and car stuff in general) for the past few weeks to work on some bicycles!

There is a ride happening in downtown Sacramento on Thanksgiving morning, and since I sold my 1950 Schwinn Hornet a couple of months ago I decided I needed something nice to ride...

I've had a 1994 GT 24" BMX-style cruiser in the side yard forever, and I've wanted a cruiser to ride since high school, so I took the plunge!

Here's what it looked like to start out:

And I just finished it this week:

If you want more details you can check it out here: http://bmxmuseum.com/bikes/gt_bicycles/42988

While we were at it, I built this stretched beach cruiser with my son Aaron:

He has a nice freestyle BMX bike, but he wants to stand out at the ride, too!  Vicki picked up a nice vintage Schwinn Continental on one of our many visits to the local bike shops in town, so she's got a new (to her) rig for Thursday, too.

Finally, I just went to my parents' house this afternoon and scanned a couple of pictures of my Haro Freestyler from BITD- I was ten, and I had one of the coolest bikes on the block... until some degenerate stole it out of our garage.

This was in the Northern Virginia area, around the middle of 1988.  If anyone has any information as to its whereabouts, I'll be amazed!

My Wife's Lucky Day!

When I was a kid, I LOVED Transformers.  I never had an extensive collection, but I had most of the popular guys, along with some of the more obscure characters, and my friends and I had a blast acting out scenes from the cartoons.

So you can imagine how STOKED I was when my lovely wife announced she wanted a real-life Ironhide as her daily transportation!  

I totally HAD this guy back in the day!

So, because I love my wife so much, I hooked her up!

How was I supposed to know she meant the Ironhide from the MOVIE?!  Oops!

I just blew my budget picking up that beautiful '86 Toyota Van- now how am I supposed to go out and get a new GMC TopKick?  What a mess!  I guess we'll just have to live with it!

Actually, this is my second Toyota Van- I know you don't understand, and I can't fully explain to you why I love these things.  Honestly, nobody in their right mind should love it- it's got odd proportions, the engine is hard to access and is woefully underpowered, the back of your legs get dirty as they rub the tire when you get in and out, and people give you strange looks when you drive it.  With all of that said, I prefer this little Van to anything else I currently own!

My last one was an '87 Cargo model- less options, leaf spring rear suspension- and it was pretty beat-up.  The exterior had a ton of dents, the sliding door was mismatched, and the interior was full of dog hair.  I owned it for about 9 months, and I really didn't get to enjoy driving it much because my children were embarrassed to be seen in it!

The silver Van just came into my life about two months ago, and it's worlds different from the one I sold.  This is an LE, and it has almost every option these came with- dual sunroofs, power everything, swiveling captain's chairs... even an ice maker!  I've had to fix a few things here and there, but this thing is SWEET!  

I'll continue tomorrow with some more detail on these awesome Vans- I'm sure that statement will be enough to cut my readership in half!  So, to the one reader I have left, I will see you tomorrow!

Delorean DMC-12 - Part One

Just a quick post this morning, because I just came across this picture on my hard drive and I don't want to lose it before I get around to my long post about Deloreans coming later when I have proper time to devote!

Somebody in town is a VERY lucky individual, because they own one of my dream cars!  I was grocery shopping with the family, and as we pulled into the Albertson's parking lot, there she was in all of her brushed stainless glory!

No idea who the owner is, but I couldn't resist a quick picture next to it.  Someday, you will be mine... Oh, yes, you WILL be mine...

Dan's Explorer Sport Trac

My buddy Dan has owned some very cool rides over the years, but this one was, in my opinion, his best.  It's a 2001 Ford Explorer Sport Trac- not the first vehicle that comes to mind when you think of building a custom!  But over the course of about five years Dan built a wild custom truck that earned him a lot of trophies and a few magazine features, including the cover of Minitruckin Magazine!

Although it went through a few "generations" of customization, my favorite is the final version, after being body dropped:

It's laid out on 22" Sinister Devine wheels, with fully custom air suspension front and rear (nobody makes ANYTHING to drop these trucks, so Dan had to figure just about everything out for himself!).

The graphics were painted by Cashman Customs in Concord, CA, and they extend into the interior panels- everything from the dash to the pillar trim was sanded, smoothed, and airbrushed!  Custom two-tone leather replaced the stock cloth seat fabric and allowed for the deletion of the front headrests.  Before the giant sliding ragtop, Dan had a flip-down video monitor in the headliner, but after cutting that giant hole in the roof the front monitor provided the video entertainment, with two 10" subs and a host of separates filling the sound duties.

Sadly, every project comes to an end.  And like me, when Dan finishes a project, he gets bored... and sells it!  The Sport Trac was sold to a local guy, who drove it for a while and actually worked near our old shop- which sucked when new damage showed up on it!  After about a year everyone lost track of it, and the last I heard it was in pretty bad shape.  Unfortunately, custom trucks live a hard life after their original builder lets them go- the subsequent owners don't respect the work that went into them, and have no idea how to fix them when something breaks.

Dan is on to other projects, though- he's currently building a '53 Ford that is chopped, 'bagged, and has a lot of neat "traditional" custom touches- I'll post up on it when he gets it back together!

A Few Volkswagens

For those of you that know me, you may be wondering why I would make an entry about Volkswagens before I show Datsuns any love (I've owned two VWs, but dozens of Datsun cars and trucks).  Well, I'm still deciding how many pictures I want to post of my beloved Datsuns, so lay off me for a few more days!!

Anyway, I was a fan of air-cooled Volkswagens before I got into minitrucks- I used to read Hot VWs Magazine cover to cover, and even though I'd never turned a wrench on one I felt I knew them inside and out!  There was a guy at my high school named Dave McGhee- he was a senior when I was a sophomore, and he had a bitchin' '64 (I think) Bug.  Light turquoise with cream-colored panels on the side, lowered down on stock steelies with Porsche hubcaps, plaid interior... and Dave was just as cool as his Bug.  He was a teacher's assistant in my German class, and I think I may have gotten more than a little assistance from his access to the grade book through the year!

In any case, although my Volkswagen ownership history is limited to water-cooled models (an '85 Golf and an '84 GTI), I LOVE the look of early Bugs, Buses, and Ghias laid on the ground:

Something about them just looks RIGHT- it's a blend of curves and contours from the forties and fifties with a little bit of muscle from the sixties... or something.  I don't know what it is I like about them- I usually tend to prefer boxier, more angular lines.

Which leads me back to the water-cooled era!  My Golf and GTI were never anything truly custom- The Golf was lowered and had some tinted taillights and a custom grille, but it wasn't customized inside or under the hood.  The GTI was bought and sold within just a few months, so I never got into it at all, really.  But I do like how they look!

As sick as the Golf looks, the Corrado can look even more evil!

Finally, this Rabbit is just so different I couldn't leave it out of my VW post.  It's got a bunch of early-VW touches (roof rack, baby blue paint...), combined with some "rat rod" styling (I don't like to use that term, so substitute "traditional rod" if you will)- it's definitely in a class by itself!

If you've got other pictures of badass VWs, please email them my way or post them up in a reply!

As Seen In The Wal Mart Parking Lot

To the owner of this beautiful late-model Lincoln parked in the front row of the Orangevale Wal Mart: We get it.  You win.  You obviously made some very wise financial choices in your life to be able to afford the 20-plus feet of plastic chrome trim you've liberally slathered all over your vehicle!

I'm sorry if I come across as rude here- it's probably that I'm overcome with jealousy.  Even if I WAS fortunate enough to come by this much adhesive chrome accent trim, I'm afraid I lack the artistic vision and steady hand required to create the intricate patterns as seen on this majestic machine:

 

Seeing this car has brought a new chapter to my life- I am going to work harder and try to invest more of my money starting now.  Perhaps the gods will smile upon me one day, and I will be able to possess such a fine example of automotive art as this.  A boy can dream!