Sandblasting is one of the most effective to remove rust from a project vehicle like mine. Sandblasting will help you discover problems and fix them. We all need an occasional sand blasting. But that topic would be a serious digression. Let’s talk about sand blasting the old Dodge pickup.

There are dangers with this process and potential drawbacks to consider. The sandblasting process is aggressive and takes away everything down to bare metal.  Ralph had already taken the truck apart–most parts that could be unbolted were off. Sometimes the whole cab is sandblasted lightly to expose hidden and rusted fasteners. Sandblasting is usually done with ordinary clean dry sand under great pressure. Like a water hose except that a violent wind of sand comes out instead of water. Sand blasting will heat flat metal panels, which could cause them to warp. Warpage from sandblasting can ruin a panel beyond use. Blasting hoods, roofs, deck lids, and large flat areas have the most potential for warping. Ralph has done this a thousand times and knows the process well. Sadly, for him it was also done out in the cold. Other media than sand can be used for more delicate parts and thiner metal. Walnut shells are often used as the blasting medium when there is concern for the integrity of old metal parts.

Although sandblasting is effective, you must be prepared for hidden problems it may reveal. Like taking the clothes off the emperor—will we like what we find? I was under no illusions that a prince was hiding just below all the surface rust. Just when you think you have a solid project car, blast the entire thing and you discover a lot more work for yourself. Sandblasting removes all dirt, rust and paint so what you thought was just a surface rust might actually be riddled with pinholes. We didn’t find many of these. There was still a lot of repairable metal there. Old cars like this old Dodge had thicker metal than used today—much thicker. That makes it heavier, more prone to rust but at least new metal can be used to fill in bad spots.

I am going to skip ahead and show you before and after photos of one particularly bad spot.

We could see the missing metal from both front fenders even before the sand blasting. There is a lot of metal missing. It appears to have been cut revealing the frame and front bumper mounts underneath. More complicated is the fender bead–slightly raised accent edge on the fenders. That will be hard to reproduce from a flat piece of sheet metal.

But after everything was cleaned up Ralph was able to shape and then weld in place repair or “patch” panels. We won’t need as many as we thought for this job. By the time this repair is smoothed and painted it will be as good as news.

Now that we’ve been able to see the ’35 Dodge as naked as the day it was born in the Dodge Brothers factory in Hamtramck, Michigan, what should we do with it now? It is a canvas–what will paint? A plan is called for, or a vision or idea must not just be seen in the mind but sufficiently detailed as to be communicated to someone else. We call it the build plan, or the project build plan. Let’s talk about it.

The first step in a building a street rod that involves a wrench is the disassembly. For too many cars, this is also the last step–you can check that by the number of “basket case-started restoration and lost interest” cars for sale. Disassembly is the easiest part of this project. Ralph’s done it a hundred times. I did it once once many years ago and it was a disaster. It was my brother David’s Model A Tudor Sedan and it still haunts me. Remember that this truck will eventually be put back together. However, unlike a strict restoration, it won’t be put back together “correctly” because the only thing that is correct is what we imagine. That is where the art comes in. And it is precisely what purists object to. My vision of the old Dodge collides with the vision of the people who designed it in the first place. Onward! Courage!

This old pickup is a body-on-frame type, so the body has to come off the frame.  Body bolts, like every other bolt on this project, were in place since the car was on the assembly line, and they were all frozen by corrosion. Ralph drives out rusted screws with a cold-chisel. Sometimes fasteners called be drilled out and sometimes they must be cut this off with an acetylene torch.  Once everything is free, the fenders and central body parts are lifted off.

Removing the engine, transmission and suspension bits is heavy work requiring lifts and caution. But none of the mechanical drive stuff will be reused in this street rod project. All parts were sold to folks interested in strict restorations or, sadly, as scrap metal.

8Feb17    Hopefully I’ve learned how to post more images than the featured image. Bear with me–there is a lot to learn.

Ellen and I spent Thanksgiving with our daughter Katie Marshall and family in November 2015. That’s when I prevailed on Perry to drive with me to Haxtun to seal the deal on the old pickup. The 1935 Dodge was looking good in the cold winter sunlight. I was smitten at first sight. This is by no means my first old car adventure. Almost too many to count by now. But I saw potential.

Katie definitely deserves the first ride in the old Dodge when it finally emerges as a “resto mod” in full glory. On the other hand, that might be Perry on the other side of the camera–in which case Katie still gets the first ride but Perry is next.

It is either a talent or curse to recognize the potential in an old classic pickup. Does this look like target practice material to you, or something that might be automotive art–so beautiful that it must certainly appear on the cover of Classic Trucks?  You can guess how I saw it. If you see it as a target, you aren’t the only one. Someone already beat you to it.

The image on top was taken of the truck in front of the Marshall home. That’s as good as it gets or, as bad, depending on your viewpoint. The image represents the apogee of the truck’s deterioration. It never got worse than this. When you see the truck being torn down to the last nut and bolt you might be tempted to say that was worse. But to me it is all uphill from this point.  Aren’t you excited to see how this unfolds? I am.

The pickup traveled from my daughter’s Katie’s home near Fort Collins, in a trailer to Ephraim, arriving on January 11, 2016 more than a year ago. I managed to be ungloved long enough to snap a few photos.

8Feb17    This is my second day as a blogger. I haven’t even told anyone about this. It is mostly for car guys and not necessarily old ones. Everyone who enjoys old cars and hot rodding is likely to find this project interesting.

The typical build about a car blog is ordered chronologically, and so will this one. I am behind right now and can’t always accurately reconstruct past dates. But when I am caught up, I’ll begin posting in real time or close to it. So follow along here.

This is a 1935 Dodge pickup–common in its day and unpretentious. It fought with Ford and Chevy for market share. I bought it for what is probably the equivalent of $5,000 in Haxtun, Colorado. You haven’t heard of the place. It isn’t much but the seller had a large garage full of old cars. He’s a good guy and a hoarder of old hot rods. I’m glad he sold me the truck in order to make room for something else. That might seem a huge sum to pay for a rusted out, non running, derelict but I think it was a reasonable price. The body panels were all there although in rough shape. Rust most mostly exterior–the kind you see in the west when cars sit out in the open and not directly on dirt.

That cold piece of rusted metal looked great to me when I first say it advertised on eBay Motors. Katie sent a photo of it occupying a position of great honor on her doorstep. You will be seeing  photos of the truck as it made its way on top of or inside trailers from Haxtun, to Fort Collins in Colorado and then to the other side of the mountains in Ephraim, Utah where it currently resides inside Ralph Derico’s KAR Restorations.

When we got it inside Ralph’s shop, the bed and front sheet metal came off. More photos were taken to document the total dismantling. We decided to sell for scrap metal the old engine and various other heavy suspension and drive train bits.

Wheels and tires are old motorcycle items that the seller stuck on there. The frame is straight and shows not signs of repair. Body is good–we’ve seen a lot worse.  Ralph is happy with it.

7Feb17    It may not be a good thing to be a senior LDS missionary with a blog about his 1935 Dodge Pickup. The “missionary” part of our assignment is somewhat ethereal; there is no mission president, and we are feeling good about where are in our human rights education work in Geneva, Switzerland.

Why “old guy” in the blog title? Well, that’s what I am. I will be 75 when May comes around. That is inarguably old. And I am okay with that because I an happy, healthy, enjoy great companionship here with my dear wife of nearly 50 years and a great hot rod in the making. Incidentally all successful hot rodders have “dear” wives or they are single.

Why “street rod “in the blog title? Well, because whereas an old guy can have a hot rod but it just seems more appropriate to my self conception to call it a street rod. I’ve heard most all of the arguments about the difference. Not much of substance. Jay Leno might even call it a “resto rod” or “resto mod”, meaning an old car that has been brought back to life but modern stuff like disc brakes have been added to make it stop better. So not a strict restoration exactly since it originally had mechanical brakes. My hunch is that if Jesus Christ saw churches today bearing his name and claiming restoration status, he would gently move them to “resto mod” Church. They all have innumerable modern features, of course. And for much the same reason as placing disc brakes on an old car–remember that car has to drive on a modern highway. Just can’t call it a “restored” car anymore.

My son-in-law, Perry Marshall and kids were with me that winter day. It was very cold. I traded an old Mitsubishi and cash for the rusty old Dodge. Without exception my grand children thought I should be the one receiving the money.

I explained that the truck was older than I am. “Then you need even more money Boppy.” The truck later showed up on their door step, where it serenely presided in rusted glory until it was hauled off to Ephraim, Utah and into the hands of my good friend Ralph Derico. I will have a lot more to say about Ralph later. He owns a small, one-man shop called KAR Restorations.

The plan is to post photos of the original truck when it was purchased in Haxtun, Colorado.  Let’s get going with that idea!

The photo above shows the two of us snuggled up in one of the fascinating cars every build–BMW Isetta. What a charming history these cars have. Maybe we’ve never owned such a useless car that was so universally loved. It was a real charmer for old, young, men, women, car lovers and just ordinary car owners. The Isetta is special and we had the rare chance to take it Las Vegas for the annual meeting of BMW dealers.  The conference organizers approached me with the opportunity to make my BMW Isetta the center of attraction on the floor of the main hall.  All expense were paid for me and a guest.

A special trailer was made just for the Isetta.

But back to the theme here–partner. A trusting partner. Meriting trust.