A general lack of faith in humanity (or at least car salesmen)…

So, since I had the ’65 Volvo P1800 delivered about two months ago, I’ve driven it all of twice, and “driven” is a stretch. Once was babying from the street to our garage, the second time was one block out and back (again babying it to barely keep it running). I’ve come to find I was lied to *heavily* by the classic car dealership I bought it from, both on the overall condition of the vehicle, and just how poorly it was maintained.

Overall, the body is in decent shape. It’s straight, and has a half-ways decent MAACO-level paint job on it, but the lower rear valence is heavily bubbled from sub-paint rust. The interior’s in relatively good shape, but definitely had some serious wear around the edges. Visually-speaking, I will say I like what I got, but there was a whole hell of a lot that they neglected to tell me about.

Electrically… hooooo-boy. Now, don’t get me wrong, if you ever want to look at something, scratch your head, and just say “…. why?” out loud, look up the wiring schematic for a ’65 Volvo P1800. That said, I have never seen so many kludges, hacks, ass-backwards “fixes”, and just “whatever, that works, I guess” things done to a car, and I’m saying that after working on our ’68 Bronco. I’ve spent literal days going over the original schematic to try and wrap my head around what was done to the car by a previous owner (or mechanic, but if it was a mechanic, they should be fired).

I’m definitely doing the car a favor by putting the attention and work into I am. At this point I’m well over $6k into it on parts alone (never mind how much of my time has been spent). I’m lucky I have a innate desire to try and fix and improve things when presented with issues like this, but it still nags at me that I bought this car to just take it and drive it (and definitely spent enough that should have been the case). I keep weighing whether to send a nasty-gram to the dealership that sold it to me, cause I could write a few paragraphs just on the things that were wrong with the car, never mind the things they flat out lied about or neglected to tell me about when I explicitly askes about the condition of the vehicle. Here’s hoping I can get things fixed in a timely fashion, the weather lately isn’t exactly conducive to driving a classic car, but spring and summer are fast approaching and I want to go cruisin’.

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Adding some Swede steel to the collection

After much delay (due to the bank screwing up the wire transfer and the deep freeze holding up shipment), my 1965 Volvo P1800 has arrived!

I’ve wanted one of these vehicles for a while, and after some recent things panning out was able to afford looking for one. After much searching I found this black with red interior 1965 Volvo P1800 located in Illinois. Title history for the vehicle shows it was actually out in California not more than two years ago, so the body’s in overall really great shape. Have to sort out a few things but it’s in good shape otherwise, should have it cruising soon.

I’ll post up more about it and some other recent updates on the Morgans and other vehicles in the near future, been incredibly busy with work and other things lately (as always), but trying to make progress on multiple fronts.

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I’m sailing away~

So not much has happened on the car front over the past while. Between work being as busy as it has been, and the kitchen remodel and other projects eating up the weekends (and garage space), the cars have annoyingly sat unchanged.

What has changed is the number of vehicles, though this time the wheels are only used to get there and back. We’ve bought a 2004 Four Winns 234 Funship.

Currently going through fixing / upgrading some items on it, but hoping to get it on the water within the next month. I’ll post more about it later. Hoping to have some more vehicle upgrades once I’ve had a chance to finish up some item on the Bronco (that’s going for sale) and moving on to the ’56 F100.

2012 Chevrolet Avalanche for scale. Sorry, no bananas handy at the time.
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Explorer Tear-Down, Part 1

Minor update, spent much of this past Saturday starting to go through the donor Explorer for the ’56 F100, the red ’97, to prep it for the swap. This involved pulling out the seats (front and back), the rear carpeting and some trim, front and rear bumpers, and cutting the parking brake line. The interior removal was mainly to reduce weight and gain access to the ten body-to-frame bolts, of which I’ve already removed three.

Still have to disconnect the electronics, brake booster from the firewall and ABS module, transmission shifter line, disconnect the radiator, and the biggest issue – drain and disconnect the A/C system. The compressor will stay on the engine as it will carry over to the ’56, but draining the coolant is something I’m not going to mess around with. Never mind the huuuuge fine I’d get if I just dumped it, that stuff’s dangerous. Trying to find a local mobile A/C service that I could get to work with me on that.

I have some photos and vids of the work done, but it’s not much to look at. I’ll likely roll it in with whatever comes of removing the rest of the stuff and the body from the Explorer, which may happen in the next few weeks.

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Cabin Fever

Really glad to have the ’53 & ’56 F100 cabs and some other parts back from media blasting. Shop actually took care of delivery for us, will be getting some other parts (hoods, etc) for the F100’s and the Bronco roof back this coming week.

We will more than likely be selling off the ’53 as my brother’s decided he’s not interested in having it.

I’m excited to have the ’56 cab back, having all the rattle canned paint and other gunk off it shows how little damage / rust there actually is. Need to start scheming on getting the body off the donor Explorer, not being able to have friends over definitely will make that more difficult, but it’s still doable. Will likely be putting together an ‘initial parts’ order soon for things like door hinges and other core hardware so that I can throw it all together.

A pallet of parts also came back, including stuff for both +4’s. I need to follow up with a few folks regarding those two. The ’66 will be back-burnered for a bit, and the ’61 is going to become a bit of a test mule. My father’s interest in doing an electric conversion to the ’66 now that it’s his again has rubbed off on me, so now I need to start looking into what I can source for the drivetrain for that.

As for the Ecotec, that I’ll be holding on to. I made the mistake of watching a Youtube vid the other day about a Volvo P1800 (the one that The Saint drove), and I know where one that needs a lot of work is located in the area. If / when we sell off the ’53 F100 I may try to pick that P1800 up and stow it away. There’s already been a couple of folks who’ve done Ecotec swaps on those, and I would not complain about having a vehicle like that at all.

Stay safe everyone!

Posted in 1953 F100, 1956 F100, 1961 Morgan +4, 1966 Morgan +4, General | Leave a comment

A sad day.

I know I haven’t posted much of anything in a long while. Though I have been ever so slowly getting odds and ends done on the various project vehicles (the Morgans, the F100s, and the Barracuda), but nothing’s felt major enough of a milestone to make a post about.

But this post isn’t about me, it’s about Bill Fink, of MorganCars USA (aka Isis Imports). I just learned that Bill passed away. I deeply regret the many missed opportunities I had to meet him and, at the very least, thank him in person for being an inspiration for me. It was reading about his doing the Ecotec and LS swaps into Morgans that inspired me to begin this whole MogRod mess. I can’t speak from first-hand knowledge, but he was always spoken well of from any Morgan aficionado I’ve meet, and many would accredit him and his work with keeping Morgans available in the US.

As I never got to meet him in person, I can’t say much personally about him beyond my brief yet pleasant phone conversations, but my deepest condolences to his friends and family at this time for their loss.

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+1 +4

So after multiple delayed responses from a parts vendor in the UK, and the determination that the cost to replace both the chassis and the frame (among many other things) on the ’64 +4 was going to get very high before it would get anywhere, my father and I discussed shelving the ’64 +4 for the time being until other projects were done. However, we agreed that, for the sake of trying, I should ask around to see if there happened to be a +4 of that era around that could be bought as a source for those parts…

Well, after a few weeks of busy-work and some other things, we towed home a 1961 +4 that is, as we put it, “some assembly required”, but it is well together for the most part and in excellent shape. It cost less to acquire this vehicle than it would have to buy the chassis and frame for the ’64…

This is going to be the new MogRod.

But what about the ’64?

Well, on the drive up, my dad and I started scheming. Some of the original plans for the MogRod are going to come into play, and go a step further. We are currently strongly considering and researching the idea of building a custom chassis for the vehicle, and making an electric conversion for it. More info on that will come along as we make decisions (it helps having a friend who works at Tesla to go to for reference), but I think it has potential to be a radical ride in its own right.

For the time being, I’m moving along on the two F100 projects, and we’ve agreed that getting those moving forward is going to be the higher project vehicle priority. The ’53 may or may not get sold off as parts, as there’s potentially enough damage to the cab that it may not be worth our time and money, but that is going to be determined by input from a body shop.

Overall, I’m excited. This has potentially put me a year or two ahead on the MogRod project, and in a position to do some minor clean-up and actually start putting things together. It also means I’ve got a looooooot more parts I’ve got to sort through and store.

Posted in 1961 Morgan +4, 1966 Morgan +4 | Leave a comment

Streamlining the process

A bit of a shift in the workload, as I’ve just made an agreement (with deposit) to sell the 1972 Airstream Ambassador.

The travel trailer was an ambitious project, to say the least. Originally I’d planned to make it into a custom car hauler for the Morgan, but discovering how relatively good condition it was in overall changed that into a ‘restoration’ project instead. After that dragged on, combined with a few injuries in the family and our waning interest in making use of it as a travel trailer, I set about selling it off.

It’s unfortunate that I won’t have completed this particular project, but it really was “one more thing” on an already overwhelming pile of things.

The couple that are picking it up have a interior design company, so it’s definitely going to be with a pair of dudes that have a good eye on things, from what I’ve seen of their work. Even they have admitted that their timeline may be a bit ambitious, but considering how straightforward much of the Airstream is once you get over the scale of it, I think they could manage to pull it off.

I may someday again consider getting another travel trailer, but it’ll have to be when life actually allows the free time to make use of it, and it’s probably going to be more on the scale of a “Bambi” model. Until then, this will definitely take some weight off my shoulders, visually clean up the property, and the money may well be going to help push the UK-based chassis maker get their butts in gear (dealing with them is still an on-going ‘discussion’ that needs to be resolved).

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Still waiting…

What I had hoped would be a quick order and a big step forward on the project is dragging out indefinitely it seems.

The company in the UK I was going to order the new chassis, frame, and suspension from is dragging things out because of the chassis.

I’ve lost count of how many emails I’ve sent back and forth to both them and the chassis manufacturer trying to get through to them that I do not want a custom chassis, but they’re all hung up on the fact that I am going to be putting the Solstice engine and transmission into the vehicle.

I’ve told them, repeatedly, that I am not asking them to either modify the chassis or even worry about what I may or may not have to do to get the Ecotec installed, but that does not seem to be sinking in. It’s honestly rather frustrating.

I do have other places I could go, but going through this vendor is going to be the best option as they are located close to the suspension, chassis, and frame manufacturers, and in particular the frame manufacturer has been highly regarded by other Morgan owners.

Barring any unexpected financial issues or such calamities, if this hasn’t moved forward by roughly the end of January, I’m thinking I’m going to have to come on a little stronger and tell them to either move forward with the order or I’ll go elsewhere.

Posted in 1966 Morgan +4, Restoration | Leave a comment

Fab-ulous weekend

So, some interesting progress this weekend.

I was recently introduced to John Buddenbaum, or possibly re-introduced as I believe we’d met previously, owner of Buddenbaum Fabrication in San Carlos. He’s an interesting individual to say the least, and by interesting I mean his garage / fab shop is something most car guys dream of. He’s also had some Bonneville experience, and in fact the reason I was able to meet with him on my busy schedule was he was in the shop taking the fire suppression system from that vehicle and putting it in his Morgan for track use.

Anyways, I visited him as it had been suggested he could possibly repair the front wing (fender) damage my original wings had taken, and for a good bit less than the ~$1k / each price I was looking at for a new pair. So taking those nearly 7 foot long fenders in our Avalanche, the only vehicle they’ll fit in, up to his shop for review, we determined he could get the repairs done.

While chatting with him about my project, it occurred to me that even though I’m ordering a new chassis, in the mean time I can use the existing chassis to begin mock-up for the Solstice motor and transmission mounts.

I will have to ask John the next time I’m at his shop if he would mind letting me take some photos to share with you folks.

Posted in 1966 Morgan +4, Restoration | Leave a comment