Walker Auto Pride did not have a 1953 rear gravel pan but did have a 1951 that fit the body line but was longer and the ends had to be cut off with new return flanges welded in place. To make the new patch panels for under the tail lights I cut a 6" x 4" piece of 20 gauge and bent a 1 1/2" flange, using two pieces of angle iron in my vice, then cut notches in the flange that would allow me to bend, fit, and clamp it to the gravel pan and spot welded the notches to hold the form. Next I cut it to fit between the seams under the tail light and rear trunk panel, held it in place on the car then started forming the curve using the new forming head and body hammer. After several passes of tapping the piece over the forming head it took the curved shape on one end that came close to the shape under the tail light then I continued hammering and shaping the piece until it was close along the top (bottom was already fit to tail pan). I tack welded one end in place, after some fin...

The rocker panel installation took longer than I estimated (as does everything in a project car) as the back up supports and the bottom of all the door pillers were rusted through in several places and needed repair. The replacement rockers did not fit and had to be bent and reshaped by use of 2 2x4's in the vise and a hammer. In trying to keep the original door openings the same I left as much of the old rocker in place at each door post. Then cut the new rocker to fit. The front of the rear wheel opening where it meets the rocker also had to be rebuilt on both sides. As the door post, rocker and floor pan had extensive work the doors needed to be refit. The rear door's required new shims and some oversize mounting bolt hole on the suicide hinges, the front doors required the stock hinges to be bent to adjust the rear of the door down as I couldnt use shims on the top hinge as it would push the door to far back and hit the center post. This re-fit took 4 days. All 4 doo...

The Kaiser body work is coming along slowly, I started with the roof where it had been walked on with 8 dents and scallops and 10 small holes where something had been mounted (maybe a Taxi cab sign). It took about 4 days using the hammer and dolly along with welding the holes (that had been covered up with lead) and the shrinking disc from Sunchaser Tools to get the roof back to original shape. The shrinking disc is fantastic once you learn how to use it properly. The rear fenders were next with both sides damaged from curbs and other objects that caused long creases along with some severe dents. Most of the damage was not accessible from back due to the inner wheel well. The bottom of the fender at the wheel opening and the bottom of the inner wheel well were badly rusted with very little metal left. I removed a section of the inner wheel well to gain access to the back side of the fender where I was able to straighten most of the damage with a hammer and dolly. The bottom of the rear...

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...

On Sunday, November 4th. we took the Starliner to Fort Mohave (about an 81 mile drive) for a fund raiser car show for the Mohave County Sheriff K-9 Unit. There were over 100 cars at the event Including a 1953 Kaiser Manhattan With an EFI 302 Engine similar to the Kaiser I am building except this one is mostly stock. The engine of the 1953 Kaiser Manhattan. A Beautiful 1949 Merc got Best of Show And our Starliner won "Sheriff's Pick" that we were thrilled to receive. In my younger days I had been picked by the Sheriff but not for an award. Have not had much time to work on the Kaiser other than to finish cleaning up the body and all the parts for Priming, I will use the PPG "metal prep" to seal the metal and prevent rust starting while the body work is being completed. The gas tank had the fuel pump flange welded in, and now is at the powder coater. It is scheduled to go back to Cave Radiator for the internal tank coating.

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...