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

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by Braunschweiger

The Astro is not only beautiful, it can also work.
Great news about the convertible. Summer is coming.

Yes it works.

I use my car’s sympathetically

Getting the convertible sold is important.

I need the space.

[Grizz1963]

So.

Those bricks.

I fetched them in 3 and 1/2 trips.

Bringing about 190 or so at a time.

Uncle Peter is 86 and long since successfully retired from building houses.

But he spends at least four hours a day working on things. Either at the yard or at home. Currently he is working at repairing parts of one of the barns that had been damaged years ago by a machine hitting the corner of a wall. Also repointing the cement between the bricks. The wall spans two eras. Part is built using lime mortar and parts were done with cement mortar.

I love watching him work. The details in those bits of cement he is replacing. Vertical and horizontal are different.





I had to figure out where to store these bricks. Ultimately I decided outside Georges door made sense.
Even sense checking the way the gate opens so I could still get cars and diggers and a crusher and possibly a few other machines through there.
I moved a pile of 450mm paving stones to the kitchen door as well.
Hoarder central.



Wood store with two cement mixers.



So off to UncleBobs yard.

First load in the van.

And first and second loads unloaded at home.
Onto a plastic pallet. Mistake. Too late.
Thankfully I bought three pallet or pump trucks for either £5.00 or £15.00 each years ago. Gave two away and kept one.

What a multi purpose tool this is to have in the garage and on site.







Last load was smaller but included 23 dark clay bricks.





And finally all of the bricks packed and sorted.

I took 2/3 and 1/2 bricks as well.

Total is about 623 bricks (23 clays weigh more)

Approximately 1.7 ton at 2.7 kg per brick.






So the question of course is WHY?

Well, the BBQ that I built 13 years ago and abused over the years, including a massive fire in it mid winter a few years ago has left it significantly damaged.

So it’s time to destroy it and start a rebuild.

Biggest problem is actually that it needs to dovetail into a bigger job that I have wanted to get done for 14 years.

What we have right now.







As always, the invitation is open to anyone interested in helping me get it done.

I could break it down and save the rubble before the next big job, but I am waiting for a price on some 3mm mild steel plate.

I want to build a steel BBQ inner to then sheath in insulation and brickwork.

Something like this.



So there you go.

Massive update.

And invitation.

Peugeot 206 CC next.

[Grizz1963]

Here is a complete build thread of this BBQ


https://retrorides.proboards.com/thr...ld-kent?page=1


Click the link for flashbacks.

[Grizz1963]

Six Bells Pub in Cliffe near Rochester, Kent has a Classic car and Bike Event, Meeting, Gathering once a month.

During summer it gets really busy with hundreds of people attending from 4.00pm onwards.

I have been there before in the S10 but yesterday I took the Astro van again.
Going via the best road, still a terrible surface as low cal council continues to fail on even the most basic level, to maintain roads, it is about 10 miles or 16km

So I got there early and left quite early as well, with loads of cars and bikes passing me on my way home by 7.00pm after being there 3 hours.

I made up a short clip of cars attending and a few arriving.



My buddy Ricky is a regular in his own built beauty.



And of course the Six Bells pub on the corner.

I had a £5.00 hamburger with cheese, onion and a really nice BBQ sauce. And it was absolutely delicious and worth the money.




VIDEO

https://youtu.be/Tu9fuJCx8dI?si=OeET7K52klpub3y7


I will certainly attend again in May, when the next meeting is, if I remember on the day.

Insomnia sucks.

[Braunschweiger]

A nice video with great cars, the Mini with Honda power is really weird, I've seen a few from Great Britain, a Smart with a Suzuki Hayabusa engine is a real weapon, it's great that you're allowed to build something like that,
here in Germany the authorities don't have a sense of humor for it, sigh!
The burger looks decent, not a cheap version.

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by Braunschweiger

A nice video with great cars, the Mini with Honda power is really weird, I've seen a few from Great Britain, a Smart with a Suzuki Hayabusa engine is a real weapon, it's great that you're allowed to build something like that,
here in Germany the authorities don't have a sense of humor for it, sigh!
The burger looks decent, not a cheap version.

Thank you.

Burger was very good.






I thought you bought another Canta and transported it in the GMC ;-)


Ahhhhh

You have no idea how close to the truth you are.

In the back of the van.

Needs cleaning.








And yes, soon I will have a fleet of them if I can find some more in different designs.


They do exist, some more unusual and rare than others.

Taxi ?

[Grizz1963]

Mate Kevin retires fully on 9th May.

That means nothing.

He has a ton of things to do.

Last week he came to replace the front brakes on his runaround. You may remember he has a black T6 camper and helped me fetch the hateful 206 CC.

Kevin is extremely methodical.
First person I ever saw who actually reads the instructions. But that is how he does stuff. Having worked for railway support companies all his life.

Order.




Since I moved into this house in 2010 the rear driveway concrete strips have bugged me.
So Kevin suggested we tear them up and move the drive over by 18 inches or 450mm at its apex.
I also decided that after 13 years it was time to tear down and rebuild the BBQ.

I will need help.

I will need help

I will need help.

Did I say that clearly enough?

Keep reading and you may decide you can.

Along with copious amounts of strong tea with little milk, Kevin fixed the brakes.

Then we measured and marked out the potential new driveway.

And NO, I don’t want to remove the shrubbery on the left against the boundary hedge.

There will still be a curve, but it will be a solid slab rather than two strips to balance along, reversing down the drive.

So we started measuring out the job

19 meters and about 2.6 wide equals about 5.5 cubic meters of concrete cast.

Checking the depth of the existing concrete test hole.



Lay out.



So the resulting projected outcome will look like this.

I want to add an Arris rail three bar fence to the side of the small shrub bed to keep the shrubs contained. The plan is to use some large Metposts to hold the uprights.



And if the grass regrows on the gap, this may be the look.

I had wondered about putting a green colour into the concrete but have decided against it.



And it’s still a no, no green cement.






The plan is to plan and Kevin is project manager.

I want to hire a mobile crusher to create all the hardcore for the foundation from the BBQ and concrete strips rather than buying in loads of the same stuff and paying for a dumpster/skip to remove all the spoil.
I need to hire in a Mini Digger and then I NEED HELP I NEED HELP I NEED HELP I NEED HELP I need a capable operator for a day to dig, scrape, create the new foundation space and also move any topsoil into a specific place in the garden.
Steel reinforcing to be added.


I plan on getting the new concrete mixed on site, out on the street, by a dry mix rig and then running it through to the rear and casting the new slabs.

My nearby neighbor has a1972 model Winget dumper truck that he will let me use to run the concrete through from the street to the rear.

This should be interesting.





So……..

Needing a digger driver.

Some time soon.

[Grizz1963]

Forgot to mention

https://youtu.be/aQSBAjznt58?si=eMBtjXS7XQPE1wJ-

[Grizz1963]

I may have bought a Mercedes Benz SLK 230 this week.

Foolish?

Maybe.

Collected it on Monday morning.

Giving it to Sally.

[Grizz1963]

Saw a very nice vintage pedal car for sale this week.

This is unusual in that it is a pedal car.

Imported I believe from America. I could be mistaken. Tell me more.

Chassis

​

Previous rider is now 21 years old.

So I got onto it with G3 followed by Zymöl polish.

Loads of scuffs and marks that came off. Leaving it looking better.
Unfortunately the stickers that were stuck on it years ago, and possibly a smoking house means that there is discolouration around the stickers. So removing them would leave marks showing the original silver paint.



After an hour or more the result was pretty decent.

Next job will be getting a kid to pedal it, rather than looking for a button to posh.




Why do I do this stuff?

No idea.

[Grizz1963]

In other news.

I spent two days detailing the paint on the Astro van

Crazy??

Absolutely

But you can see and feel the difference.

I used Zymöl polish after a decent wax wash, and then wiping down panel by panel, a section at a time.

Small circular waxing and doing 3-4 passes back and forth plus more concentrated waxing on any scuffs or areas that looked less than good.

Very few people waste time like this these days.



Beading is good.



Finally

Yes it was even better than before.




I will get to the wheels again as it’s 6 months since the last time I polished and sealed them.



Back to swinging my 20 pound hammer today.

Stuff happening.

[Palf70Step]

Lookin' very good there Rian! g

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by Palf70Step

Lookin' very good there Rian! g

Thanks Bill.

A bit distracted from the C10 but I need to do some work while I can.





Free cash.

Who doesn’t like to find R100/€50/£20/$20¥1000 behind the couch or in a pocket of a jacket you were taking out for dry cleaning.

So this week I was going to spend some cash in part preparation for the new driveway that will be happening.

Free Cash is good.

Riagh?







More in a bit when you guys have shouted enough to make me feed wanted.


Got a truck to go collect.

[Palf70Step]

Cement dipper truck?

Seeing your FB posts on the bush cutting made me tired again. Just spent the week doing my stuff and hauling it off. Glad I do not have anywhere near the amount you do.

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by Palf70Step

Cement dipper truck?

Seeing your FB posts on the bush cutting made me tired again. Just spent the week doing my stuff and hauling it off. Glad I do not have anywhere near the amount you do.

You are gooood !!

I am single so little choice in getting stuff done.

[Grizz1963]

Back from my little trip today.

Collected my latest Little Tikes car, a truck this time.





On the way home I Also stopped at my friend Kevin to see his new DB12
He had it completely wrapped in clear and you could not tell it had been done.
Wheels…… 325/30ZR21

Absolutely beautiful.

He is letting me use his 1972 Winget dumper truck with Petter engine.

I grew up with these things around on building sites.



Video.

https://youtu.be/tsvgyXDxKUc?si=DoPhF5sDDD2WDlE0


Back in a bit for the Serendipity story.

[Braunschweiger]

Your fleet is growing enormously. These things used to drive around on every construction site.
They were really great things. Weren't they called dumpers or something?

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by Braunschweiger

Your fleet is growing enormously. These things used to drive around on every construction site.
They were really great things. Weren't they called dumpers or something?

Correct.

I love their sound as well with the little Petter engine.







So…..??


Where was I ??


Serendipity.


With planning to do the change to the driveway one of the things I wanted to do was retain the side bed down the side of the hedge boundary.


So the plan was to put up a retaining fence, maybe three bars like an equestrian fence. Maybe some cleft Chestnut Arris rail. Some posts and support from some metposts driven into the ground. Though they can be a nightmare to drive in straight with all the best will and intent in the world. I was going to buy and get some materials delivered this week. Probably £350-400 in materials.

Sunday evening I headed out to Sally’s place for dinner (chicken kebabs) and as I turned the corner 100 meters from her place, the house on the corner had a dumpster/skip out on the drive, with a load of materials in and next to it.


Serendipity??





Of course I stopped up the road, walked back, rang the doorbell and asked if I was in time for dinner when the guy answered the door. He was game and said it would be ready in 20 minutes.

Asking if I could raid the skip and pile next to it, after explaining that I was planning on buying what he had this week, he said “Help yourself “


VW Caddy Van to the rescue.

First load.



No need to kill the little van. Only 2.3 miles.



I already had 5 large Metposts that I had scored from friend Kevin Kellys scrap pile. New, unused.

Looking at the cost of materials, excluding20% VAT and delivery,
Sunday night felt pretty good.













Serendipity and eyes wide open.



Did you hear me mention FREE CASH??



Sorry about the delay.


Been a busy day.

[Grizz1963]

Quick update on this week.

Various jobs to do, including getting the mini fence up.

Laying out the pieces gave me a good idea of what it would look like. Imagination works well.





Of course the shrobs needed some hard hacking back to get out the way because they do damage paint, especially on things like the van, even with light touch.

Then I decided to cut the hedge back as well. So the day was over pretty soon and I still didn’t have the fence up.


Stuff takes time.

No cheap labour so I have to do it all myself.



One full, stomped and compressed wheely bin later I stopped and headed out to do other stuff.

I had also spent about three hours on the phone through the day. Job market conditions continue to be quiet.
But have asked agency to forward my CV to a company for a job that was alive early February, then died, then came back to life as they had to employ a new manager who will now do the hiring.
It is a market that I have not worked in before.
Fingers crossed.

But I do have a load of stuff to do here at home.




Back in a bit.

[Palf70Step]

Good luck with the Job front Rian

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by Palf70Step

Good luck with the Job front Rian

Thanks Bill

Got declined on that one, they want experience in the ophthalmology field.

Lucky for me I have a lot of stuff to get done.

[Grizz1963]

Speaking of being busy.

Getting the metposts in is a bit of a hit and miss some days.


Three went in with the 20 pound hammer motivation and the last one hit a rock.
Photobucket is being a dick again. Not uploading the pic of the bent post that I tried to force through some rock.




Once the fence was up, I cleared up and tidied everything.

Really happy with how it turned out.







Once the driveway is cast, I will build a low retaining wall to keep the garden bed tidy.

Thanks for checking in.

[Grizz1963]

Funny how sometimes you can’t see the woods for the trees.

I have no intent to sell the Astro Van

Unless of course, someone else needs it a lot more than me.

Chatting to my mate @craigrk this morning about various things including the Caddy and 206CC he reminded me that the Astro van is actually a Van.

So why go buy another medium/small van to increase the Caddy equivalent capacity when I have one, paid for, taxed, insured and more importantly…., Loved.

He actually made a really sensible suggestion that included getting rid of the Green Peugeot cheaply as is, roof down, for someone else to repair and selling the Caddy, replacing it with an early BMW Mini Clubman wagon or something equally weird or similar that’s been on my horizon for a long time. Cube, Soul, Cheap.


So with s sheet or plastic it is a great tool.








Next stop……

Some digging in the garden to move some soil.

[Grizz1963]

.



Loooook !!!










Yup



Works

[Palf70Step]

Must be a delay coming over the big puddle with the pictures