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Post by dentarthurdent on Aug 21, 2011 16:42:16 GMT -5
Yesterday, my journey in to BluMo began. Driving home from work the other day, we stumbled upon an '89 Crown Victoria. We decided that we should have a look, and took off. Upon inspection, we realized that the $1000 price tag was a bit hefty, considering the body work (major rust issues) and the probable engine work that would need to be done to have it be reliable. We offered the guy $400, but he was steadfast on his price (good for him). Knowing that this was not the end of the world, we said thanks for your time and moved on. We had decided to spend this day looking around for cars, so we took a backroad home and stumbled across the beast below not 4 blocks away. It was sitting at a mechanic's shop with a for sale sign in the window. We stopped in, thinking this was going to be out of the budget we were willing to spend, and were pleasantly surprised by the price: Well within our range. After talking with the guy, and telling him what we had planned on doing with the car, he dropped the price $300. It runs amazingly, and has new radiator, water pump, a few other things - and most importantly (in this Florida heat) - ice cold AC. Shortly after getting it home, it rained, and rained, and rained. And thus work on it did not begin.... yet So fastfoward to this morning, when the vinyl top removal began. My backyard is still a swamp: Now a little foot note here, last year we did a Ectomobile, from an 87 ragtop Caddy. We had a horrrible time getting the vinyl top, because it was fiberglass, thus no sanding. I already was feeling like I hated this project. But then, vinyl started coming off piece by piece, actually taking much of the glue with it. We also removed the metal divider, hacking it off and pushing the rivets through. I see bare metal! Woooooo. And this is where we set as of right now. The oh-so-predictable Florida weather is very inconvenient. This week, I hope to have the glue/foam completely removed and have some of the body work done. I will update as they come, hope I didn't bore ya with too many words nor kill ya with too many pictures. I do plan on attempting to mimic the '74 BlueMo as close as I can with the different model. Just priorities are focused on getting it prepped for paint.
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Post by sigmfsk on Aug 21, 2011 16:48:50 GMT -5
Nice pics and writeup! Looking forward to more updates as the weather permits. It looks like a tropical rainforest down there!
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Post by dentarthurdent on Aug 21, 2011 17:05:13 GMT -5
Thanks! PS, I meant to mention this in the above wall-o-text, I've NEVER experienced such flimsy roofs in all of my life lol. I have to be conscious of where I place my weights to keep from the whole roof buckling. Should be fun when I get the rack up there, definitely plan to put some kind of braces up...
I should also like to mention that the entire car only has one small rust spot, and it was under the vinyl top... Worst idea, ever.
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Post by Steam McQueen on Aug 21, 2011 21:38:09 GMT -5
Good stuff, DaD. We love detailed descriptions and especially pics so fill the thread full, dude. I started reading the post and you were mentioning the rust and I was like ... HUH?? lol, then you mention you passed on the rusty one and found this beauty. It's in such nice shape. So the one you passed on was an '89, is this one also an '89? Looking forward to the updates. Thanks. *edit* Just realized you mentioned it's an '89 in your intro. d'oh
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Post by ti4438 on Aug 22, 2011 8:42:36 GMT -5
We'll be watching this with great interest!
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Post by dentarthurdent on Aug 22, 2011 10:21:22 GMT -5
Thanks for reading guys! It is an '89, and was too good to pass up. Work will be kind of slow during the week, but come weekend I hope to have another update.
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Post by bm4you on Aug 23, 2011 1:49:12 GMT -5
Hi Dad, car seams to be in very good condition and what a great price. In germany it´s like a present. I know what work it is to remove the venyl, did it with mine too. But when the work is done it is worth any second. For your motivation I post a pic of my BM2, more you can see on www.bluesmobile4you.deWhish you good luck Jürgen
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Post by Bismo on Aug 23, 2011 20:10:18 GMT -5
She looks great, DaD! Hell, the roof'll probably be the toughest part, gravy after that, right? Have fun, keep the photos coming!
- Bis
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Post by sigmfsk on Aug 23, 2011 20:47:55 GMT -5
Oh, DaD = DentArthurDent. When I read the thread title "DaD's BluMo build", and the opening line: > Driving home from work the other day, we stumbled upon an '89 > Crown Victoria. I was thinking "we" was DentArthurDent and DentArthurDent's Dad and the thread title was about his Dad's blumo build. Of course, maybe "we" really is DaD and DaD's dad, which would really confuse things. But I think I've now got it figured out. your friend in getting with the acronym program, arthur
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Post by dentarthurdent on Aug 24, 2011 0:47:07 GMT -5
Now I know I said I probably wouldn't have an update before this weekend, but I got excited late last night/early this morning, and got most of the adhesive and foam off. Of course, there are minor areas that I wasn't able to scrape off that I'll get when it comes time for sanding. As can be seen above, there's a few places that will need to be filled... more or less waiting for a dry day to do it. But with the hurricane heading right for us, it does not look like that'll happen for a few days. So right now, she's sitting covered in the back yard until Florida can muster me a decent day for body work. After that, prepping the body for paint, and then figuring out decals... that'll come when it comes. And to clarify (or perhaps confuse further) semantics of DaD's (that is, DentArthurDent(aka Jon)) Blumo build, it is my car. However, my Dad was actually with me when I purchased it, and is helping with the stripping and sanding and storing. So there's that. Jürgen, I came across your Flickr account not that long ago and was taken back by how cool it was. I've not seen many BB2000 before, and its definitely awesome! She should make you proud!
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Post by bm4you on Aug 24, 2011 3:01:30 GMT -5
Hi Dad, thank you! think you´ll be proud of yours too when it´s ready. For stipping of the adhesive and foam you can use nitro thinner, used it by makeing my car. Best Jürgen
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Post by Bismo on Aug 24, 2011 18:32:28 GMT -5
Jon, if it's of any interest or help, here's the link to my Flickr photos from when I painted our car 5 years ago: bit.ly/pEqUlW... - Bis
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Post by dentarthurdent on Sept 2, 2011 12:23:09 GMT -5
I stand corrected! I stumbled across Bismo's flickr, not bm4you's. Please forgive my ignorance! So I know I promised an update last weekend, but I didn't want to snap a few pictures and say I made progress... because I didn't. Even though we were blessed by the hurricane missing, I was unable to really focus on the car as much as I had wished. In any case, I have made SOME, abet slow progress. Whom ever owned the car before us did a number on the trunk key... instead of trying to redo the entire thing, we decided it'd be best just to cover it up. We'll still be able to get in to it from the button in the glove compartment. A little inconvenient, sure, but less fuss now. As you can undoubtedly see, I've begun to bondo (in this case, Rondo). Its a slow process as anyone who has worked with it knows, with the sanding, and the layering, and the sanding, and the sanding... did I mention the sanding? Oh, and the sanding......... But in all seriousness, its coming together fairly nicely I think. Here's what I just got done working on: There was actually a 1/8th" difference that had to slowly be built up. Tomorrows agenda is to finish sanding and scuff the body to receive new paint. There's obviously more sanding that needs to be done and I'm struggling to get all of the vinyl out of the chrome around the windows. Think Im going to have to remove them to get it all. Disheartening, sure, but I want it right. And more than anything, I can't forget this:
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Post by sigmfsk on Sept 2, 2011 16:24:35 GMT -5
hehehe, Mission from God. Right on! Good stuff there, DaD. Keep those great updates coming.
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Post by dentarthurdent on Sept 4, 2011 18:34:19 GMT -5
So we got the white sprayed today. It came out pretty nicely. I'll be posting some pictures a little later. We used a different paint than with the Ecto and bought a new sprayer and I couldn't be happier with the results.
Although, one of the dents in the flimsy roof which I thought would give it character (honestly it didn't look THAT bad), are really highlighted in white... so I may be beating it back in to place if it irks me too much. Given the luck we had with the white, however, clearly means rain forthcoming. So spraying the black will be probably held off til Tuesday at the earliest.
Edit: Shame on me for not looking around the forums and only posting from my phone.
P.S. WTFRAIN? I was supposed to have two dry days starting tonight, but now its raining!
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