Grizz's Redneck Express 1966 Chevy Short Fleetside RESTO-GO!

[Grizz1963]

THE GERMANS ARE COMING...!!!

The Germans are coming .... !!!!


These words could mean a lot of things.

However in this context it's all good.

My home has always been an open house, as long as you respected the cat and carpets.

So when Thorsten, Michael and Ralf all messaged me one evening a few months ago to reserve a spot on the sofa, floor, spare beds or tent space on the lawn for the Classic Ford weekend at Santa Pod. I was chuffed to bits as we all get on really well, and it has been a few years since the last time they all slept over, then as a gang of five. Unfortunately the spare rooms were taken already by two contractors I have lodging here for a few weeks.
We all met about 10 years ago or more when I had my Taunus Transit. LINK: http://retrorides.proboards.com/thre...it-fk1250-sams

So last night Harley and Duke had visitors, and loved it, as all three guys are animal and cat lovers.

With military precision, they arrived at 7.00pm and all reversed down the drive with Harley watching from a safe distance.



Front to rear....... Thörsten with his Lotus Cortina replica (started life as a 4 Door Saloon CRAZY BUILD THREAD: http://retrorides.proboards.com/thre...-doors-youtube ) then Ralf with his 3.0 litre Granada Ghia and at the rear Michael with his 2.8 litre Ghia
These cars are all immaculate but used very regularly.





I just need to mention that these guys are all TALL and I am 1.83m but look at me next to Michael, it always feels so weird spending time with them all.



As usual they all bring me treats and I would not be surprised if it was a little competition.

Dried sausage or salami from Michael and Ralf's home village butchers, and I have tried them both, just awesome and Thorsten is a bread buff, so some pretty special bread from him too. There are always various German beers to be sampled, and I made them drink all the cold Bud Lights in my fridge while their beers chilled in the freezer.These things are generous gifts and I guess many of us do stuff like that, but it always makes me smile.



The guys also brought me some of their German BBQ briquettes as we find that it is a better quality than what I can get here.

When I went to look in the shed this morning, I was honestly shocked as I never saw them unpack the bags last night.

45kg of pure heat..... Thanks Guys!!



After an extended BBQ and Beer session last night we all crashed after 11pm, keep in mind they had driven over 400 miles to get here last night.
Unfortunately I was awake at 04.10 and after keeping quiet for some time, went downstairs and closed the doors where they were sleeping and had a couple of mugs of tea, by 06.00 I was sweeping the garage driveway and the new shed, which was when I discovered all the BBQ coal stockpile.

I also had some time to really just enjoy looking at the three cars on the drive.

Thorsten' Cortina





Michael's Ford Granada.



Ralf's Ford Granada.



I then continued to clean the garage, assemble my new to me Engine stand, which I am very pleased with and move stuff around till 08.00 when the guys were up and getting ready to go to Santa Pod.
They will be back again on Sunday evening to sleep over before heading to their various homes in German.

Today it's out with Prozac again to do some collections and delivery of stuff.

[flashed]

Those are some very cool cars and always good to hang with friends .

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by flashed

Those are some very cool cars and always good to hang with friends .

It was really good.

I get to be quite lonely out here and you forget it till you have 5 other guys around a fire.

The cars are all in really awesome condition.


In clearing up the garage and moving stuff about, I also decided to get rid of the Raleigh Shopped Hotrod bike I did last year and around 9am Mickey came around for a cuppa as he does some days.
Saw the bike and commented, so I said "You want it?" And his eyes lit up.



Straight onto it and off he went. Happy guy.



By 07.00 this morning I had cleared out a large part more of the garage as well, and had a cat helper.




Assembled my new to me engine stand



By 11.00 I had done enough and had to head into town.

Very pleased with the state of thia garage.

Truck chassis can now roll out again as long as I move the bike and upright compressor.



So a decent result all in all.

[Larry64]

That is an interesting engine stand. Never with a bottom like that, it is usually 4x4 tubing. Like your interesting posts, never enough friendship.

[Prflyer1]

Love the bike with the warbird paint and white walls!

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by Larry64

That is an interesting engine stand. Never with a bottom like that, it is usually 4x4 tubing. Like your interesting posts, never enough friendship.

Hey Larry thanks for the reply.

You are not the only one.

It is actually a removable steel tray the previous owner had made to catch leaks, tools and nuts that dropped.

I like it.

Originally Posted by Prflyer1

Love the bike with the warbird paint and white walls!

There are a lot of guys here that like a small shopper style bike to cruise around on at car shows etc.

I had planned to use this one like at too, but ended needing space more.




Some more mixed random ramblings for those of you who live vicariously through my eyes.


So of course I had Thörsten, Michael, and Ralf here over the weekend from Germany with much fire, animal sacrifice as well as much beer, both German and American

No vegetables were harmed in the process.

At one point this was the view out of the front of my place.



Saturday they set off to Santa Pod with their cars all performing faultlessly.

Including a few runs down the strip in the Cortina for Thorsten.



I spent Saturday further clearing out the garage which now is actually feeling bigger too.

Early morning while he Germans were still sleeping this was again he view.

It always reminds me that there is a lot of beauty out there that one can miss.



Sunday was spent in the garden, and sadly I destroyed a bumble bee nest in the process, yes, in a way I could not recover or repair as I was busy raising the garden bed again, and the troll under which they had nested, unbeknown to me was already pulled up and sideways when they came out in their masses.
I tried fire and smoke to drive them away, so that I could now carry on with the garden, those buggers are resilient.
I am still and was totally gutted as I encourage all life out there, and they do a really important job.
I hope they can rebuild a colony.



Remember the last railway sleeper from the shed build, rotten down the middle......



Filled with a good mix of soil, as well as backfilled and more flowers planted in there.



Job done, not totally happy, due to guilt over bees and also because it has to grow over and settle, should be OK then.



I had to go to the nursery or garden centre nearby with Prozac to fetch 4 bags of topsoil and 3 super sized bags of compost, as they have deals that force you to buy the extra

I did see this beauty parked up outside the garden centre.

A rare beast for sure.



By 4pm on Sunday the German posse had returned and we started another fire.....

Much eating, drinking and of course BBQ-Ing followed, and it got so good that we ended up toasting bread and eating that with a variety of sauces, jams etc.







This was a great retro car weekend, spent with friends.

I feel refreshed.

[65sub]

Looks like a fun weekend. What kind of times does that Cortina run at the drag strip.

[flashed]

Glad you had a great time with your friends ,that is what this life is all about with some car time in the mix .

[shp4man]

Nice car!

[65 C20]

Hi Grizz.
I noticed that the bike you gave your neighbor Mickey that you called it a shopped hot rod bike and later on a shopper style bike.
Over here we call it a Chopper.
Back in the 70's I had a 46' Triumph Chopper.
If you look up shopper in the dictionary their should be a picture of my ex.
Now she was a Shopper.

Cal.

[ibrown50]

Originally Posted by 65 C20

Hi Grizz.
I noticed that the bike you gave your neighbor Mickey that you called it a shopped hot rod bike and later on a shopper style bike.
Over here we call it a Chopper.
Back in the 70's I had a 46' Triumph Chopper.
If you look up shopper in the dictionary their should be a picture of my ex.
Now she was a Shopper.

Cal.

Brilliant!! very funny your ex was clearly related to mine

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by 65sub

Looks like a fun weekend. What kind of times does that Cortina run at the drag strip.

No idea, but going by Thorsten, not fast enough.

Originally Posted by flashed

Glad you had a great time with your friends ,that is what this life is all about with some car time in the mix .

Absolutely.

Originally Posted by shp4man

Nice car!
]

It really is.

His attention to detail is quite tiring.

Originally Posted by 65 C20

Hi Grizz.
I noticed that the bike you gave your neighbor Mickey that you called it a shopped hot rod bike and later on a shopper style bike.
Over here we call it a Chopper.
Back in the 70's I had a 46' Triumph Chopper.
If you look up shopper in the dictionary their should be a picture of my ex.
Now she was a Shopper.

Cal.

That is funny

Originally Posted by ibrown50

Brilliant!! very funny your ex was clearly related to mine

Most are related.

[Grizz1963]

Another weekend over.

I have to just say up front, that this was possibly the best weekend in 3-4 months. Crazy I know but it was good.

Friday night after work I went out behind the garage and picked some fresh peas...... well, baby peas.

Privileged



Later my current lodgers came home from work, and the one brought me some very nice Tig welding gloves, of course you can use them in many other places.

Very nice gloves.



On Friday my lawnmower died..... it was a £50.00 EBay purchase a year or more ago.

So I called a repair guy to check what a repair or new mower would cost.

Repair won out.

So Saturday morning early Prozac and I went off to the workshop about 17 miles from where I live.



Actually stopped for a photo as it was such a quiet nice morning.



Awesome guys, lovely shop and loads of old stuff including signs.

They agreed to fix the mower while I waited. Beats going back a week later, saves 34 miles too.








Just love some of these signs. Really hark back to a time of innocence



Smoke??



Also managed to buy these lights off the one guy, will sell one on and keep the other for inside the garage.
I still have to sort out and fit the full size one I have as well on my drive to manage all the traffic.



Once again, love this little van, it works and it makes me smile.

A good friend bought one over the weekend as well.

It will break cover soon.

[Palf70Step]

Glad it was a good weekend. Like those lights!

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by Palf70Step

Glad it was a good weekend. Like those lights!

Lights will work indoors somewhere.


As mentioned, I had one of the nicest weekends in months this past weekend.

It was the Dickens Featival on Friday, Saturday and Sunday in Rochester, Kent.

On Sunday there was also a "small" car show at a caravan park about three miles from me, with at ,east 45 cars attending.

I am happy to upload the pics if people are interested and posting them up. I have a paid up Photophukit account, so it's just upload and post.

Anyway, Katy saw her younger daughter off to Thailand for three weeks on Saturday morning and hen came over to my place.

Cuppa tea and then we were off to Rochester.

Steampunk blended in well with the whole Dickensian theme and old Rochester.

There were loads of people dressed up in Victorian dress, old and young.



Terrible lighting late afternoon, but Pirates of the Caribbean and some other characters abound.



Pearly Kings and Queens (you need to Google it if you want to know more)





There was so much going on.

We did decide that a drink was in order, so Katy had Rhubarb Gin and Tonic, and I had a locally brewed beer called Nelsons blood.



Feels weird walking around in the streets with a container of beer or Gin and Tonic.

Happy juice for sure, it was festive.



Medway river and Rochester Marina.





Rochested Cathedral in the background.



Possibly the best part of my day was a filled pancake.

Called Popeyes special......

Bacon, chicken, feta cheese, Cheddar cheese and who knows what else.

It was mind blowingly good.



Followed later by a sweet n sour pancake and then some bubble gum icecream and salted caramel icecream in a tub.

And no, not a recipe for getting sick, it was just awesome.

Late afternoon we went to The Ship, a pub on the Medway river near Upnor Castle for a pint of beer and a fruity cider for Katy, eventually getting home just after 8pm.

Sunday it was bootfair early morning for me, and thenKaty and I went to the car show in Prozac.

This little car does get its fair share of attention.

[shp4man]

That's the UK I'd like to see- not just the London Bridge and Big Ben and Westminster Abbey, but the non- tourist stuff, too.
Were there any American tourists there?

[clemdaddy]

I want your life… can we trade for maybe, I don't know, 5 years or so? I always heard that fun is the best thing to have and buddy, you are on overload.

Noticed a sweet old truck in the garage behind that cool engine stand… must be getting close to a revival of truck time...

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by shp4man

That's the UK I'd like to see- not just the London Bridge and Big Ben and Westminster Abbey, but the non- tourist stuff, too.
Were there any American tourists there?

I am sure there would be, but they do not have baseball caps with little strobe lights on top.

I do know this part of the country is popular with American tourists as there is so much history, military etc.

Originally Posted by clemdaddy

I want your life… can we trade for maybe, I don't know, 5 years or so? I always heard that fun is the best thing to have and buddy, you are on overload.

Noticed a sweet old truck in the garage behind that cool engine stand… must be getting close to a revival of truck time...

Clem, trust me......

Someone once said, life is like a **** sandwich, the more sandwich you have, the more **** you,have.

I envy people who work in gardens, do welding, bodywork, woodwork etc.

I guess we all have some envy.

And yes, it is getting closer to truck time. Stuff keeps happening in the background though.



Couple of random bits....

I took the day off on Monday to make my way through 6 clinical trials in preparation for Tuesday, then I spent some time making fire bricks for winter from recycled newspaper and sawdust.
After this I went into the wood shop, where I have not been for a long time, maybe 6 months.

Made a couple of small pieces for two colleagues.



I counted the year rings on this piece of wood, got to be around 40 or more. So the tree was 40 plus years old.



Tonight:

5 seconds before launch.



I had a days worth of clinical training yesterday and also had to train a group of A&E specialist nurses for an hour inbetween.

On the way home to Waterloo Station I saw a man with no head.



It reminded me, though different, of this crazy and real roundabout system.



For this interested, there is a link to some photos of a small car show that was held over the weekend about 3 miles from me.

CLICK LINK: http://retrorides.proboards.com/thre...s-classic-show


I will upload about 45 pics as well and post in the thread when I get time.

Back in a bit.

[Palf70Step]

Nice looking rides at that show. If I wore a hat, it would be off to your EXCELLENT wood working skills.

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by Palf70Step

Nice looking rides at that show. If I wore a hat, it would be off to your EXCELLENT wood working skills.

Thanks Bill,

Wood is a bugger, you cannot weld some back on once you take it away.

And you need to be sure what you plan on doing when you start,.

The stuff I do is just messing around, but it helps my head a bit, so I am happy doing it.

[Grizz1963]

Right, something I do not think I have ever done before........


Requesting charitable support......

Or sponsorship, call it what you like.

I volunteered recently to do a 20km bicycle ride for a charity that our company supports every year on the 1st of July 2017

The charity looks after children with very limited life expectancy, so quite an emotive appeal for those who have healthy kids and not lost any kids. I cannot even imagine the pain.

This year it takes the shape of a day which includes a "Try-Athlon" with the emphasis on the try-ing

With teams of one, two or three doing the run, swim and cycle legs.

I have not cycled in pretty much 20 years, and have put in a few 10km rides the last two weeks.

So here is the thing........

I WILL NOT BE WEARING ANY LYCRA

I WILL BE WEARING MY CARGO SHORTS AND T-SHIRT PLUS HELMET AND SOME GLOVES, ALONG WITH TRAINERS.

The bike I ride was off Freecycle.


My ask of any of you who read my thread updates and find pleasure from it, but also feel that these charities deserve some support, is to please contribute "A Dollar, A Dime, A Penny or a Pound, or as much as you feel you want to. I think every Dollar or Pound makes a difference.

Only contribute if you feel you can afford it, and also see the good in what these charities do supporting families or communities.


If you want to contribute, as I said, any money, be it a Penny or a Pound, a Dollar or a Dime or a handful of cash, please mention that you are contributing on behalf of me, Rian Kemp as there is a single "Just Giving" account that funnels it all to a central account.

PLEASE CLICK ON THIS LINK TO SEE MORE ABOUT "TOGETHER FOR SHORT LIVES" (you can navigate for more information)

https://www.justgiving.com/fundraisi...eTriathlon2017


Here is a screenshot of my current training route and times.



And the way I will be rolling on my Freecycle bike.

Except not in flipflops.




Thank you in advance for any support anyone chooses to give.


I look forward to making a small difference.

[Grizz1963]

I was humbled by the first donation that was linked to my name. Made from America.

Those who have the least often give the most.

Thank you to Mr Zog for caring.

http://www.wilddog.za.net/forum/inde...topic=190196.0

As he said, "Its for the little ones"



I did a screenshot this morning for guys in the USA who asked about dedicating any donations.
Only to realise this afternoon that my name was on there.

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by Craptain

Right on. Consider it done.

Sent from my SM-G900T using Tapatalk

And I continue to be surprised and humbled.



I appreciate every Pound, Dollar, ¥en, whatever currency anyone makes the effort to put toward this charity. Remember that they count their contributions from the smallest denomination, and a 50 cent contribution has as much value as a £5.00 or $20.00 contribution, as it all adds to the bottom line, and the bottom line is what makes the work with these families possible.

So if you want to donate the value of a McDonalds Burger, or a can of Bud Light or a Bucket of Kentucky Fried Chicken, please do.

In this modern day and age it seems anything is possible.

A donation from a research vessel off the coast of the USA.




Big thank you Craptain.





It promises to be a hot weekend and I will certainly be riding that bike...... though it may be slower as Katy wants to join me :dunno::dunno::dunno::dunno:

Still, I should just be thankful.

Currently waiting for Paul Y to collect the 2 ton pallet truck I found him this week for his garage. Massively useful tools they are.



While Dukey polishes his belly waiting in fear for an attack.



Later guys.

[flashed]

I made a donation this morning hopefully in the right spot .

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by flashed

I made a donation this morning hopefully in the right spot .

Certainly was the right spot John.

Thank you very much on behalf of the charity.


Sunday morning and it is going to be 30'C out there today.

Said the weatherman.

I agreed to go ride my bike with Katy today as well, so that should be "just lovely" but the heat will certainly challenge us.

Again I has chuckling at this little Berlingo van and how much it has already worked and is not getting roped into even preparing for the Charity bicycle ride I am doing on 7th July.

I had thought the bike may need to be tucked or folded into the rear, unlike my company car Focus where I need to remove the front wheel to get it in.

It just went straight in.





BACK TO THIS CHARITY APPEAL........

LINK Here:


https://www.justgiving.com/fundraisi...eTriathlon2017


Thank you so much for every one who had donated in small or generous amounts, littereally from around the world.

I know some people want to be anonymous, but could I ask anyone who has donated to send me a PM to say they have and possibly from where in the world, and even how much. I am happy to keep those people anonymous, but it is also nice being able to tally up the help received from these global forums.


Also, if you do want to post up a note, as mentioned before, please do post up a comment in the comments box, humorous or just tagging my name "Rian Kemp"

A few more THANK YOU's to Guys from South Africa to America.

Thank you on behalf of the children and families affected.

You are making a difference.





I also know that a few of the donations so far have come from people who are currently unemployed, yet see fit to contribute whatever they can.

I do trust that Karma will touch your lives in the most positive way possible.




Off to the RSPCA bootfair now, let's just hope there is something interesting to buy......