Went to Los Angeles on Friday morning Nov. 16th and stopped to visit with Brad Masterson who is openning a custom shop in Lynwood at the same location where George Barris was. He has 4 project cars he is working on that are "old School" style as he worked as an apprentice for George Barris Kustom, Bill Hines and their contemporaries learning customizing the way it was done in the 50's and 60's. Brad is in the February 2008 Issue of Rod & Custom Magazine page 22. Brad was introduced to me by my friend Fred in Northern California (he supplied the Kaisers and T-Birds). My visit with Brad was to see if he may be interested in doing some of the metal forming and installation of the replacement panels on the Kaiser. I enjoyed meeting Brad and the shop tour. Then it was off to California Car Cover to pick up parts and a paint store for PPG Metal Prep and finally to the hotel where I would stay for 4 nights while attending "The Art of Metal Working" School...

Went to the Route 66 Car Show in Seligman Arizona on October 13. The weather had the fall coolness, but warmed up in the afternoon and turned out to be a good day. Met a group of car owners from Big Bear Lake, CA that know my uncle that lives there, small world sometimes. On Friday Morning October 19,I left for a 2 day show and shine car show and stayed Friday night at London Bridge Resort. It is a big event with over 1,000 cars in the show & shine and over 100 vendors. There were only 2 1960 Ford Starliners. Mine and a restored one from Utah. Had a good time but it was a long 2 days. Saturday night went to visit with friends that have a vacation house at Lake Havasu and drove home Sunday morning. Tuesday, I went to pick up the Kaiser body and all its parts from Redi-Strip in Tempe. Most of the parts turned out good but parts of the body, fenders and hood needed to be stripped by hand to finish the paint removal. That took me a day with a grinder and stripping pad. Next, I have to ...

We took the Starliner to the Kingman Air & Auto Show www.kingmanairshow.com on Saturday and Sunday October 6 & 7 and had a good time. There was a great airshow with aerobatics, war planes, and a jet powered sail plane. The 1/8 mile drag races had some fast alcohol burning funny cars, roadsters and altered cars along with hot rods and there was about 200 cars in the show & shine. 1929 Ford 53 Chevy 1929 De Soto 57 Ford 1934 Strudebaker Next Saturday Oct 13Th there is a run to Seligman Route 66, then October 19 - 21 the Starliner will be at Lake Havasu City for the Run to the Sun Car Show www.relicsandrods.com and finally a show in Fort Mohave Nov. 4Th. The run to Los Angeles and Ramona CA. in September was successful. I picked up some hard to find Kaiser parts at Rudy's KF Parts, dropped off the rear end and picked up brake parts. On September 25th I delivered the Kaiser body, hood, fenders, trunk, doors and misc. body parts to Redi Strip of Phoenix for chemical dip to...

What a wonderful week. On Saturday evening September 8th went to a charity car show in Kingman for the Hospice. the show was put on by a local group called the Drifters. Nice set up, lots of nice looking cars, and friendly people. It rained for most of the show which didn't thrill us at all, but in the end we won another plaque for the Starliner Spent another day on door hinges and latches had to inset the latch pins on the door posts and make shims to make them adjustable as the latch assemblies are not adjustable. With the engine, dash, and drivers seat bolted back in the car I had Karen sit in the seat and adjusted the new Flaming River Tilt steering Column to its permanent position and check the clearance for the u joints and shaft to the rack & pinion with the exhaust header and motor mount. I marked the location of the column, removed it then cut, fit and welded new plates in the firewall to accept the new I-Ball floor column mount. After grinding, with a rotary fil...

Hinge before Install was Started The left side hinge installation was a little easier because I knew what to expect but, still it took 3 tries to get the hinge pin as far back and to the outside of the car as possible. Next, I patched around the hinge openings in the door post and the doors. Finished fabricating and welding of the support plates inside the doors. Rehung and adjusted the doors allowing for the rubber door seals and scuff plates. The latches turned out to be as challenging as the hinges. First the rear door handles had to be placed so they look right with the front door handles. With the help of my wife holding the handle at different spots we decided to put them level with the front handle and the same distance from the edge of the the door. I removed the door handle backing plates from the front doors of the parts car, as the front is different from the back and have a bracket on them that hold the handle in place where as the back door the handle bolt is through...

First an update on the Kaiser Project Brake pedal and powerbrake booster unit fabricated to fit under the floor. Frame on Rotisserie to complete welding and finishing on bottom of frame. After several weeks with no break. We decided that if the weather permitted we would go to Watson Lake in Prescott Arizona for the 33rd Car Show and Swap Meet. Well, the weather permitted with warnings of afternoon Thunderstorms. So, off we went..... Our 1960 Ford Starliner parked on paved ground. We were lucky that the sponsors understood we were too low to go onto the grass (which was soaking wet) as we would sink. They let us park just outside of the area. We didn't get very many votes but, had a great time. One of the vehicles that we admired greatly was this 1940 Lincoln modified with a 1998 Lincoln interior, engine and running gear. Very handsome and won 2 awards.

Ron took the re-built FE engine to LA along with the 1966 T-Bird block for evaluation. Got a phone call from John (see blog link on side bar)saying that the block was questionalbe so ROAD TRIP to Northern California for another 390 FE Motor. Meanwhile, Ron Decided the 1966 T-Brid he brought home to cut up was in too good of condition. So, while in Northern California he is picking up another 1966 wrecked T-Bird to cut up for the drive line tunnel for the Kaiser. Next week or so Ron is going to start the story of the 1951 Ford four door he has been working on for 13 years. Busy scanning older picture before digital cameras to post to blog.

The Starline new engine project is waiting for parts to arrive and the fix for the new header clearance. Brake lines are relocated, throttle kick down linkage, electric fan and hoses for the new A/C system are complete. still have to make up new power steering hoses after the new pump and remote reservoir are installed. So while waiting for parts I picked up a 1966 Thunderbird from a friend in No. California for yet another project. The Kaiser project is on hold until the Starliner is back on the road for the Route 66 Fun Run Seligman to Oatman on the weekend of May 4-6th 2007.