Uncovering the suspicions

JB came over today and we made a lot of progress on the car.  The car is pretty much stripped down to the basic bones.  The hood, fenders, complete interior and side glass are all off the car.  The dash is gutted (gauges are out, dash pad is off, wiring is mostly out) the cowl drains are out, the wiper assembly is out.  All four of the fenders were rusted or bent to the point that they were not going to be of future use.  I kept the hood with the crease-just in case it could be salvaged.  I pulled the door bolt caps off and discovered that the doors have never been off the car (the paint is perfect), so they should come off of the car fairly easily.  The cowl drains are in excellent condition-no rust and everything works perfectly.  The capture nuts look brand new so I can use them on the finished car.  I was also able to save the paper vent hose and all three vents with springs.  I think I got most of the clips for the upper plastic trim out...I'll have to go back and count them to make sure.  The headliner is still in the car but I checked the springs and they look really good as well.  There's one area of concern on the roof and I plan to check it out once the head liner is out to make sure it hasn't worked its way inside.

The driver's side rocker.  There isn't much left of this side.  The front fender on the driver's side was severely dented and repaired.

 The driver's side rear rocker.  Same as the front just not as well eaten through yet.

A clearer shot of the front right side of the car.  It's creased all the way down to the bottom.  Not sure this can be saved.

Front of the passenger's side rocker.  Not sure how the heater channel vent wasn't affected yet.  Maybe that story will change when the body comes off the pan in a couple of weeks.

The passenger's side rear panel at the back seat.  This is where I first discovered the hole from the wheel well to the passenger compartment.  Turns out, it's much worse than I thought.

I'm taking a step back for a couple of weeks to make sure I'm fully over this cold that's been hanging on. I'd also like to get the rest of the car prepared for body work.  All I need is a finished, painted body and I'll be in good shape...seems so easy but so far away.  It's >< right there...

I've found some nice parts in the car but a lot of them are toast...like the rubber floor mat that came out in about five hundred pieces.  It was disappointing to see but I knew that waiting for the weather to warm up wasn't going to change anything.  It was already cracked in several pieces...easy to see once the seats came out of the car.

We didn't get to the kick panel in the back seat...it sure would be nice if it was in decent shape.  I could finish the floor on Ferris and get it painted.  It'd be a nice motivation to get that back and start putting things together.  Positive progress would also allow me to justify what I've spent so far...tough to do with two bodies torn apart.


I'm hoping to find good things when I pull the motor (good compression) because that would likely save this project from being a total loss.

I'll spend the next couple of weeks cleaning up the mess that JB and I made taking the car apart and figuring out what to keep and what to get rid of...I know for certain that I don't need four back seats.