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Thanks John! I'm looking forward to getting the sanding finished, but it's not that bad breaking it down into bite-size sections or time periods. -Chris

There is a book called "Haynes-Apperson and America's First Practical Automobile," by W.C. Madden that is a good introduction. It is available through McFarland Press, if this helps your request at all.

Today, finished about 90% of the sanding on the primary portion of the trunk floor (Photo 1). Will still need to apply some more filler to some low areas and hit it will some finer paper to take out the 40 and 80 grit sanding lines. Turning out nicely so far. I also got started on the left upper portion of the trunk with a good coat of filler where needed (Photo 2). This area had a lot of rust, small areas I had to cut out, weld in patches, grind, and leading some of the rough seams. This area turned out really well so far also; I was able to get the leading smooth and level. The rest of the filler will fill in the pitting. Areas with no filler are solid and just need some base sanding to remove the rough primer/sealer texture. The other side only needs a small area at front, but nothing else. I'll also have to apply some filler to the very rear of the trunk where I welded in a large patch panel, then the inner trunk will be ready for final primer. Still have some minor metal work to do along the spare tire aperture, it's a little sloppy with some larger pin holes and some more weld grinding to do.

Mike, thanks for the post, sounds like you're doing well! Besides the callouses I've built up over the last 30 years of working on cars, no real damage yet. I would not be able to do this work without 40 grit sandpaper, that is really cutting my thick applications down quickly (thick due to the irregular surfaces I've created). It's actually not too bad, as I'm only doing mayb3 3-4 hours at a time, spreading it out. I know that it will pay off, so I'm not in a huge hurry, but need to just keep it moving along.

Still for sale

You posted this in the "want to buy" section, should have posted in the "for sale" section.

Made some good progress today. Tackled the upper portion of the trunk floor. Cleaned it up the best I could, filed down more high spots in the lead and covered about 90% of it with filler (Photo 1). A lot of unevenness, some pin holes, and difficult contours, due to all the major surgery I did. So far, it is coming out better than I thought it would. Spent a few hours sanding it down. Not fun with a small block and getting into the nooks and crannies by hand. Got it about 70% sanded (Photo 2). Will probably hit it again tomorrow and finish it. I'll have to revisit a few spots and apply a little more filler to some low spots, but looking pretty good overall. All considering, I'm pretty happy with it, as doing it this way saved me around $4,000 (my labor is free!) and most of the bad areas will be covered by the spare tire and spare tire cover assembly, however, I think it may come out looking okay none the less. In the end, the whole thing will need some detail sanding at a finer grit to clean it up better and get rid of as much filler as possible while maintaining a smooth appearance. I just hope my leading and filler work holds up and doesn't separate or rust from the inside out. Pretty much on track to be able to get the body in primer during the spring, although it will most likely be late spring, because of pollen coating everything in early spring. Still have a lot of minor detail work to do, and may have some bigger work to do if the body test fit doesn't go well. The body test fit has been postponed again and again, due to bad weather and the very limited availability of my friends. Right now, looking like next Sunday for the body text fit.

Hello, Looking for NOS or very, very nice used rear trim pieces for a 1974-75 Camaro Type LT. Part numbers are 9698821, 9698822, 9698823, 9698824. The trim is four pieces in total, go between the tail lights, under the trunk lid. -Chris

Today I was able to get some filler on the other portion of the trunk floor and get it sanded down (Photo 1). I have a few small spots I missed and there are a few small spots that need some more detailed sanding, but it's about 95% complete. Once I touch it up, It think I will move on to the upper portion of the trunk that has all the main leading. It's a mess. Will need some more filing to get the edges of the lead more even with the steel around it. There are also a few small sections that have some flash rust that will need to be removed and mitigated first. This will be a lot of work and not sure how the filler will work with so much lead and general unevenness of the surfaces. I guess we'll find out.

This isn't the same exact model as in the photo, but could be from the same company, just a different model year:

Looking forward to seeing the progress of this restoration. Seems I run into a lot of trucks of this vintage, in the condition at various locations, but few people will attempt to tackle a restoration on these, for obvious reasons. I will say, nothing against Model As, Camaros, and Mustangs, but I would much rather see a truck like this at Hershey show field than yet another "Brand x" show car. I know of a Ruggles truck that looks like this that is sitting in the same condition. It's a mess, but I think someone could work with it. Would be really interesting to see restored. Best of like with the Republic!

Amazing work, you are a true automotive artist.

"Snow storm" shut down work today, so stuck at home. Was able to break out the electric heater and kerosene heater and get the garage just warm enough to do some work. Started really easy, filled in the rub strips in the trunk with some Rage Gold filler (Photo 1). Went on okay and sanded down nicely. Will probably try the rest of the lower floor over the next 3 days, since it's pretty easy. Floor has lots of minor pitting, deep enough to warrant some filler on most of it. The far right is pretty good, as most of the water collected towards the left when it rusted things up.

It is not a 30U trans for sure, that would be a 42948 or 320656. I checked my trans on my 30U it is reads 320656. I found another post here, which probably answers your question, looks like 1930 Dodge/DeSoto 6 or 8cyl. Maybe you can sell yours to this guy if he's still looking.

This is probably generic and does not apply to any particular car, but could fit on just about any car. Any Motometer or similar type piece is worth a decent amount of money.

Hello, I have a glass bowl fuel pump that I can't identify. It came with two others that are mid-50's Ford, as I ID'd from part numbers, but this one has no part numbers that I can find. Any ideas on what this fits, or where a part number is? I see nothing around the flange. It looks like there was a sticker or small tab affixed to the top, but it's long gone. Thanks! -Chris

Weather is a disaster, so postponing the body test fitting for another week, at least.

Been a few weeks since an update. Weather is too cold to do what I need to do with body filler and rust encapsulator, since I'm left with working these details for the body. This Friday, weather depending, I will be test fitting the body and panels, so hopefully that will go well and I'll get some photos of the whole mess looking something like a car again. Weather should recover next week, so I hope to be able to start applying body filler to the trunk to clean up my welding and leading, then start applying the final coats of high-build primer if it is warm enough.

Thanks for the notes. Interesting, this was before my time. Who needs this nowadays when we have computers that take 50 clicks and take 10 times as long to look things up!

Thanks! Looked closely around the flange with a magnifying glass, and there are part numbers, as you said. Greatly appreciated! -Chris

Is there a part number on the back?

Hello, I have 3 old fuel pumps I saved from the scrap pile. I can't find any obvious part numbers on these, only "Made in the USA." Any ideas on identification of these, or where to look for part numbers that I may have missed? Thanks, -Chris

Could it be some type of grounding tab?

Small update for today. Completed the restoration of all the body fastening hardware, turned out great. Also started on cleaning up all the sloppy welding and leading, applying some new leading, and applying rust inhibitor to the areas that are still bare metal where I've welded and/or leaded. Starting to look a little better, slowly. Will easily be ready for final primer in the spring time now, I think.

Haha, fair point.