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Bob Beck's (bhigdog) 55 Century project


Bhigdog

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Some of you are already familiar with this project. It was the subject of a thread back in 2005. Since it's been awhile I've been encouraged to revisit the restoration and share it in more detail with pics and a narrative for newer members. The hope is that you all will be encouraged with your own projects, big or small. I'll start with my initial narrative and a pic of the finished project. Following posts and pics will go through the project as it was done. My picture posting skills are minimal at best so please bear with me as I try to figure this all out

post-31150-143141721758_thumb.jpg .............................Bob

I had been looking for a heavy 50's convertible when this one appeared in Hemmings. The owner described it as an ambitious project and it came with a 2 door parts car. It was 5 hours away but my wife and I took a drive. When we were taken behind a shed to see the Century we were shocked at it's condition. All that was left of the top were the rusted bows, every panel on the body was shot , and the bottom 6 inches of the car was literally rotted away. The floors, rockers, and quarters were just gone from the firewall to the trunk. I explained to the seller that I was just a hobbyist and a project of this magnitude was WAY over my head. Besides I only had a garage to work in and this would take a complete shop. We declined the sale and drove home.

All the next week I could not get the Century out of my mind. The more I thought about it the more I wanted it. Finally I told my wife we would take another drive just to be sure I didn't want it. Well I ended up buying the Century and parts car.

Now I had my project but no shop. So, both cars sat under blue tarps for 6 months while I had a 32 X 48 foot shop built. Finally, Thanksgiving 1998 saw both cars pushed into the shop.

First I removed the bumpers and front sheet metal. Then removed the engine and trans. I determined to spend as little as possible until I was sure of saving the body so the engine, trans, rechroming, etc. was put off while I tackled the body. I left the body bolted to the frame to preserve dimensions and braced and cross braced the body. I had to build a frame to support the cowl since I had to literally cut the bottom out from under it. After noting measurements and making templates of critical sections like the hinge pillars I started replacing the floor in sections. I started in the middle and worked outwards to the firewall, then skipped to the trunk floor, then filled in the back floor. The floor was replaced in 12 sections, all butt welded. I then welded in new inner rockers. The rear quarters were shot so I replaced them with the hard top's which I had to modify into convertible ones. The outer rockers were then matched up and welded on. The body was now structurally done. And could be removed from the frame.

Up till now my only real expenditure was labor, but I now knew the project would be a success so I started spending money. All the chrome was sent for replateing, and the engine block and heads sent for machine work. I took a break from body work and rebuilt the trans, starter, generator, carb, etc., disassembled and rebuilt all the window and heater blower motors, rebuilt the trunk hinges, window regulators, etc. etc. etc. Basically if it moved it was disassembled, repaired, cleaned and painted. By then the engine block and heads were back and I assembled the engine. All the finish body work was now completed on the body itself and all the other panels. The dash was completely disassembled, all instruments refurbished, the radio worked (believe it or not and just needed a new speaker). The wiring was a mass of spaghetti behind the dash with a lot of homemade modifications done so I had to make a new harness. I used the wires from the parts car but had to add to it to account for the power windows, seats, top motor etc. When done the harness had all the proper wires in the correct colors in the right places. The 55 century has a aluminum engine turned insert in the dash, and mine was shot. I made new inserts from .025 aluminum (as original) built fixtures and did the engine turning on my drill press.

I then painted and buffed the car in pieces and assembled it with no major mishaps. Jenkins interior provided a kit which I installed. The last item was the top frame and top. The top irons needed to be rechromed so I had to drill out all the rivets to disassemble the frame. I then made new stainless rivets and reassembled. A local shop installed the top, I didn't have the guts to try that job.

I never kept track of my hours but I estimate I spent about 3000 hours and two years on the project.

Since it's completion it has been awarded a BCA Senior Gold, AACA Grand National Senior, Bethlehem Concours Star Award winner, and has been invited for a 4 month display at the AACA Museum.

The whole journey has been immensely interesting, educational, and rewarding, I've since restored a 1957 Buick Special convert. that got a first junior at Hershey this last Fall (2000), and which I plan to bring to Batavia this July (2005).........Bob.

To be continued............................

Edited by MrEarl (see edit history)
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Well, my new shop is finally finished. I've installed the wiring, heat and lighting. While I was waiting for the building I shopped for and bought a bead blaster, compressor, MIG welder, stick welder, plasma cutter, toolboxes, air tools, grinders, drills etc etc. The bead blaster and compressor are in place and wired and piped. The doors open and waiting.

I used the tractors 3 point hitch and a U-Haul tow bar and it was an easy move. The Century went in the left door and the parts car the right. The building is 48' wide so there is lots of working room. After the move when I walked back down the hill I could follow a clear trail of rust, dirt, undercoat, and bits and pieces that fell off of the Century during the move

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And he is in what will be his new home for the next 2 years............................To be continued

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Edited by Bhigdog (see edit history)
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Well, I guess we are ready to start on the restoration. I am inexperianced at this and there are many ways to skin a cat. I'm not saying that the way I did anything is the only way, or even the best way. I'm certain that I could have done some things differently, perhaps easier or better. But in 1998 when this was started I had no computer or internet to seek information and I belonged to no clubs and knew no restorer, so basically I was was winging it and making it up as I went along. Do feel free to comment or ask about the rational for what or why something might have been done a certain way. In many cases the answer will be "because it seemed like a good idea at the time" or "I didn't know any better".

The first thing was to take stock of exactly what I had to work with. The above pix are pretty much the car as bought. The interior was as shown in pix one. There were no seats and the only remnants of the interior were part of the right side door and rear panels and the remains of the left rear panel. At least that gave me some clues of what they looked like. The left door panel was completely gone. The engine was complete but I had no idea if it was free or not. I wasn't too concerned about that, I just hoped the block wasn't cracked. Most all of the convertable specific parts were there. That would be important. The rest of the pix pretty much show the condition of the body itself. The bottom 6 to 8 inches, both inner and outter were pretty much rusted away.

As I took stock I started to have serious doubts about the whole thing and, in fact, figured it was all a stupid mistake. After a few days of just looking at the thing and trying to decide what to I finally figured I had nothing to lose by starting. The plan was to spend no more money unless I could somehow rebuild the body. I would just have to figure it out as I went along.

Next we'll start at the beginning..................Bob

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Dropping back to the first two pictures.. what were the two top of front fender ornaments, can't tell if they're 55 hood or 58 fender ornaments. More interestingly, did you ever figure out what the chrome accent pieces on the bottom rear for the front fenders were originally off of? Can't wait to hear about the Kelsey Hayes, but I will. :- )

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I think they were 58 fender lolly pops. Haven't a clue what the fender do-dads were. There's also a chrome strip along the rear quarter bottom that shouldn't be there. Along with the front chrome brush guards, a REALLY snazzy continental kit and a Bermuda bell under the front floor ( I eventually got $250 for that on EBay). The wires are genuine KH but I opted for repro's rather than front the big bucks to rechrome/restore them. The repro's were pricey enough..........Bob

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Guest Rob McDonald

BOB, seeing those disgracefully rusted wire wheels tells us that some folks did actually spring for that terribly expensive option Back In The Day. Now every second restoration of a nice old Buick includes reproductions of these wheels. It's historically misleading but no more harmless than wide whitewalls on a Plain Jane Special sedan. They both add to the owner's enjoyment and that's what this old car hobby is all about.

I can't imagine what motivated you to take that second trip to decide on buying this car. Who's that patron saint of Lost Causes? You were very wise to postpone spending any real money on it (not counting the new shop, of course), before determining if you could actually save the body. Too many dreamers do the "easy" but costly stuff first - farming out an engine rebuild, chrome, upholstery - and then discover they don't have the drive to actually get in and get dirty. You must have been filthy every day for at least the first six months!

Thanks for taking us way back and showing what a "just a hobbyist" can really do.

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Edited by Rob McDonald (see edit history)
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You're probably right about lots more wires today than back then. Since the car came with them and the looks of them I'm guessing they were there from new. I considered putting caps on it and restored the wheels from the parts car. One of the problems with Buick caps is that they are chrome plated stainless and perfect ones are hard to find. The chrome has to be removed then replated to do it right. Plus I was trying to get done in time for the Nats in Buffalo and so I just threw money at it and bought wires................Bob

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Just to digress a minute, did she have to cover the eyes of the horses so they would not get jealous of your project?

Actually, I agree with 4 Bufords. you are a lucky guy, as long as you don't have to muck the stables.

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Having someone supportive is helpfull. My ol'lady is prety good about it now, but when I first brought home my plymouths I had to get her to stop glaring at them before they spontaneously combusted.

I'm excited to see the progress that you made on your car. I almost couldn't believe it when I saw the before and after pictures. Once again I'm amazed at the talent some of our AACA members have.

Keep up the good work.

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The next step was to clean all the debris out of the car and use the big shop vac to suck up as much dirt and loose rust as I could. I must have gotten a 5 gail pail full. Just that alone made the car look so much better.

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The very next thing I wanted to do was get rid of that God awful contenental. This was the first time I got to use my oxy/acet torch and impact wrench. I could see right away they were going to be my good friends. Once the contenental was off I could get a good look at the rust in the rear body. Not too good.

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The front bumper/grill/engine was next. Every nut/bolt holding the bumper brackets had to be heated to red before the impact wrench would even begin to move them. I supported the bumper with the bumper jack while loosening it. Quite a few of the other misc bolts just twisted off and broke rather than loosen. No biggie.

I decided to pull the engine before removing body panels. I wasn't sure exactly what was holding the body together and I wanted to get into the engine bay to acess the damage and maybe get an idea on just how to start on the body tub. I was working alone and it seemed getting the engine up and out would be easier without the tranny. Next I removed the trans and just put them aside, hopefully for later.

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With the engine and tranny out I could get into the bay and take pictures and measurements for future reference. I decided to leave the doors and top on while I removed the front sheet metal. A convertable is held togrther only by the floor and my floor was either gone or severly weakened. The door margins and top fit would tell me if the body tub was going out of alignment as I removed body panels. I was glad I did. The fenders were holding the front cowl/firewall in place. With them removed the left side of the cowl shifted foreward 3/8". I used a steel rod and a turn buckle to pull to pull it aft into it's correct opening while making sure the top locking pin was centered in it's bracket. It can be seen in the second pix above. It was obvious The body would fall apart if it wasn't supported and cross braced.

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I was certain that bracing alone would not support the cowl and it would literaly fall over if it wasn't properly supported as I cut the floor way. I built a simple frame over the cowl and used chains with turn buckles to to hang it. The thought was I could make small hight adjustments if needed. The bracing to be now welded in place would hold fore/aft/lateral movement. I glued the feet of the support frame to the floor to prevent accidental movement. Once everything was in place nothing could be allowed to inadvertantly shift until everything was final welded.

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While welding in the bracing the doors were put back on and everything was tweeked and retweeked to assure the door margins were good. Then they were removed for access and to take any weight off the cowl that might cause miss-alignment. That would be repeated many many times. So finally the front cowl is braced, cross braced, and at correct hight and location. From this point forward the front cowl and hinge pillars would be the controlling factor in putting the floor in and the body back together.

Time to start cutting........................Bob

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Just for everybody's info Bob, did you know how to weld before all of this?

i took welding classes at Austin Community College when I felt I needed to learn, but was wondering if you had prior experience, or just jumped in like Adam did.

I had self tought stick welding experiance, Mike. My dad had a farm with a bunch of broken down equiptment including a big WW2 era gas powered welder. Whenever he broke something he would call and I'd go over and stick it back together as best I could with whatever rod he had laying around. It usually wasn't pretty but most of the time it stayed together. I bought a MIG welder for the 55 project. I burned a lot of holes through before I got the hang of it.

You raise a good point, Mike. While I do say I had very little restoration experiance, and my main working life was as a commercial pilot I started out as an apprentice tool and die maker. Did that for 8 years. Then helped on the farm for a long time. Anyone who's ever worked on a farm learns problem solving and fixing pretty quick. When I was a kid I watched my dad build our house from scratch. When it was my turn my wife and I builts ours, also from scratch, just the two of us.

All of this life experiance stuff adds to a persons collective knowledge and is easily transferred. My guess is 90 % of the guys here could easily have done this given enough time, money, and confidence.........Bob

Edited by Bhigdog (see edit history)
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To keep from being overwhelmed by the whole restoration I decided to set sub goals. Every sub goal completed would then be a cause for celebration and provide a mental lift. My first sub goal then would be the replacement of the entire floor. That was, in effect, "the project". If I could just do that I will have been sucessful and could set another goal.

After much thinking about how to do it I decided to start in the middle and work out to the two ends. That way any dimensional errors I made would only compound themselves half as far than if I started at one end and worked to the other. I also determined that at no time would I loosen or change everything all at once. There always would be a part of the body that was bolted to the frame in its original location so could reference it. I also had the parts car for some dimensional references but there are more differences between a coupe and convertable than you would think and the parts car would be cut to ribbons as I went along.

The first piece cut from the coupe was the center of the floor. A lot of deciding of exactly where to cut was needed to avoid things like doublers or body mounts etc and I always had to keep in mind that things had to go back together.

When I tried to remove the four center section body mount bolts from the coupe floor they all just twisted off. The mount nuts are captive under the floor, inside a floor beam. That was my first clue that almost every section of floor from the coupe would need work before I could use it.

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The first job with each floor section was to remove the undercoating. I started out by using an air chisel. I pretty quickly learned that a propane torch and putty knife made it easy. That was followed by sand blasting the bottom along with the edges where it would be welded. MIG does not like dirt or rust AT ALL. I didn't bother blasting the tops of the sections figuring I would blast the whole floor later.

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Before I could anything with the floor section I needed to address the twisted off bolt problem. Since they were captive inside the bottom floor beam I had to cut the floor open with my die grinder to get to them. I then made new captive cage nuts from 1/16" sheet steel and 1/2 X 1 cold rolled bar stock. The cages were welded to the beam and the top floor pieces welded back.

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The repaired center section was trial fitted for alignment and to make sure the captive nuts would bolt up to the frame. I planned to replace the inner and outer rockers from the coupe but I left them on until the floor was welded in completely, then they were to be cut off. Besides keeping the sections strong they were an essential reference for lining up the sections. The center section was loosly bolted in and the left door was put on to double check the side and bottom margins. When it was obvious that the section would line up, the location was marked and the section removed along with the door.

Now it was time to get serious. I wanted to start with the left fire wall/floor since that was the section that earlier had shifted. I figured it was essential I get that section correct first. I must have studied the structure and how it was put together for days. I pondered, would it be best to cut through spot welds to separate panels or leave them and cut around. I finally decided that wherever possible spot welds would be drilled out and plug welded on reassembly, along with cutting the floor out where necessary. I didn't know how large of sections I should or could cut or even where or how. Finally, it had to just be done. I would have to make it up as I went along.

I finally made the scariest cut of the entire project................

To be continued..................Bob

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Mainly plasma torch with a straight edge and some abrasive cut off wheel help, John. You can see the torch itself on the floor. Plasma has a few limitatioms but it's pretty handy. If you're not familiar it cuts with a plasma arc and compressed air.........Bob

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Love the term "Sub Goals" = Eating an Elephant one bite at a time.

That is a major hit in the process that many of us first time dreamer wannbe restorers gets stuck on....that mountain that develops in front of us that seems suddenly impossible to climb.

......like others have said, this will be an archive for guys like me.

Thank you for taking the time to document it here.

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Next all the "stuff" needed to be removed from the fire wall. The heater box and plenums are being removed here. Notice the dirt and rust on the floor. That's not from scraping of cleaning. Whenever I would climb around in the car or remove something more crap would fall off the car. I had to sweep under it constantly.

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Now for the scary part. Time to cut the hinge pillar away. I made lots of measurements so I could get the new section into the exact same position as the old. The two front corners are the most critical since they carry the door hinges and so control the door margins and alignment. There is some adjustment provided in the hinges for door adjustment but not enough for gross errors. I made measurements from different fixed points focusing on the hinge hole as a reference point. I measured door openings top and bottom, distance between holes on the same pillar and width across car and made a cardboard template of the outside curve. I drilled out all the spot welds in the floor to firewall and finally finally I just cut through the pillar. Nothing changed. I pulled out the rusty corner.

I made the cut crudely with the plasma torch below where I wanted the joint to be so I could trim it and fit it with the donor piece later. I then repeated the process with the donor car making sure to leave excess pillar for later trimming.

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Like most of the panels from the donor this one needed repairs before I could use it. I scraped and sand blasted the bottom and cut new steel patch pieces to be welded in place. The rusted portion is the end of the inner rocker with a doubler under it to support the front floor beam and fender attach point . The spots from the beam to rocker were drilled and later plug welded to the new steel The knee shaped bracket is the front body/frame mount and the holes are for fender bolts. The right side corner needed the same work.

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A line was scribed across the pillar where I wanted the joint to be and the pillar carefully trimmed with an abrasive cut off wheel. A matching line was scribed on the donor part at the correct place to give the correct distance between the hinges and also trimmed. The corner was trial fitted using my measurements, template, floor to firewall flange meeting, front body mount to frame hole alignment and rocker alignment. When everything looked good (or at least OK) the section was tack welded into place. The door was then put back on and checked for margins and fit. It looked good. I should say here that almost the whole floor was only tack welded into place untill it was all installed. There were more times than one when a section that looked good had to be cut loose and rejiggered to make the next one fit better. The tacks on the pillar are plainly visable. Later a thick doubler was welded in behind the joint. the joint was then vee'd out and welded solid to itself and the doubler.

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The process was repeated on the right side. I did the corners then the center because the corner dimensions are critical. The center could be off a bit with no harm done but it did go in with minimal massaging. Though it may look like the pieces just dropped in place that was pretty far from the case. The sheet metal was old and springy. When the body is originally welded together the sheet metal varies from lot to lot and the parts are forced into place in jigs and spot welded together in hundreds of places. When the floor or other panels are cut free they go to where they've wanted to be for the last 50 years or so. Most of the sections need to be massaged to fit into place. A curve flattened here, a bend tightened there maybe a bit trimmed off one end or another. I sometimes would spend two or three days getting two parts to meet in the correct place with the rest of the body.

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So now the front, and most critical sections were tacked into place. Both doors were on and fit well. The top locating pins were still centered in their brackets. I was starting to feel like maybe, just maybe, it would work. The Century was coming back together. the poor coupe, not so much..............Bob

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Edited by Bhigdog (see edit history)
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BOB, seeing those disgracefully rusted wire wheels tells us that some folks did actually spring for that terribly expensive option Back In The Day. Now every second restoration of a nice old Buick includes reproductions of these wheels. It's historically misleading but no more harmless than wide whitewalls on a Plain Jane Special sedan. They both add to the owner's enjoyment and that's what this old car hobby is all about.

Rob,

I'm not quite certain what is misleading about wide whites on a plain Jane Special or the wire wheels. I don't follow. WW was an option on my Special as shown on the original sales receipt.

Bob,

Holy ka-moly...the car was in some shape when you pulled it into the new garage. This thread I need to follow!!!

I mean this right here would make me run:

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Edited by avgwarhawk (see edit history)
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This and cutting the rear 1/4 panels off were the most doubt ridden part of the whole project, Chris. I really had no idea what would or would not happen when I cut through the hinge pillar. If the cowl twisted or drooped and/or bent the firewall I figured I would be pushing it into the woods. As it was the bracing and supports did the job and when I cut through nothing changed. After I made the cut and got the corner section out I just sat down and looked at it for the rest of the afternoon................Bob

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With the door margins looking good I replaced the empty Century doors with the donor doors. I wanted to the check the margins with the doors I would be using and with all the glass in place I could check the vent window and side glass fit to the windshield and top frame. And yes, Lamar, that is a bit of my blood running down the door.

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Next I turned my attention to the trunk floor. I wanted the trunk lid on the car while I did the trunk so I could keep checking the margins. The coupe's trunk hinges are very different from the converts. Just one of the many small differences in the bodies. The converts hinges attatch to the lid in a diffent place. The holes for the attaching bolts were in the lid but the required nut plate wasn't. I made a nut plate and to get it inside the lid frame I cut a slot, fished it into place, held it up with wires and welded it. The slot was then welded closed.

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The trunk floor was then plasma cut out of the coupe in two pieces and the same was done to the Century. I welded a cross brace across the trunk opening to prevent it from spreading when the floor was cut out..

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Try as I might I could not get the floor to fit into place in only two pieces. I had to cut it into three to get it to go. With all the compound curves and deep wells it took a lot of massaging and trimming/fitting to get it into place with a good fit. If you look at right rear corner you can see where I had to cut out a sliver of floor to pull the corner together a bit to get it to fit.

Finally the floor was edge and plug welded into place. The margins looked really good all around.

At this point I was still thinking I could save the original rear quarters. It turned out I couldn't and and lot of my work here would be for naught and would have to be redone when the quarters were cut out and replaced..............

To be continued....................Bob

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Bob, the car is a true Frankenstein. I mean that in a good way. The trunk bottom in three pieces to make it work and the welds just impressed upon me the story of Frankenstein. Looking at the condition of the Century only a man possessed would have taken on the project!

Actually Chris it was an immense pleasure. Every day brought a new challenge and problem. So every challenge met and problem solved gave me a real feeling of accomplishment and worth. Besides, It was a 55 Buick Century. It couldn't be allowed to die..................Bob

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