BJ7 milestone

[Richard Bittmann]

I started my project in August 2003.  I've had the car since 1975, drove it
for 8 years every day.  Since 1984 it has been awkened from its sleep twice to
feed it more money to keep it alive but for the most part it has been garaged
for 20 years.

Today a milestone was passed on the way to completing my BJ7 restoration
project.  To date nearly all parts necessary for the assembly of the "rolling
chassis" have been purchased or the originals restored including the zinc
plating of all hardware, nuts, bolts, washers, screws, straps, etc.,
etc......!  Whew!!  I used a Caswell plating kit and it worked very well.
Very time consuming.

The frame/chassis and body panels are now being restored by Custom Classics in
Port Orchard with an August 1st completion date for "phase I". (Frame chassis
repaired and painted.)

This means I have about a month to 1. put the engine back together (all parts
are rebuilt i.e. new pistons, camshaft, gears, etc.), 2. complete the steering
box & idler box bushings, u-joints, & kingpins).  3. Have all miscellaneous
parts painted by my nephew in the correct colors.  (All were first taken to
bare metal by glass blasting)  4. Take inventory of all parts to make sure I
haven't forgotten anything.  5. Find time to put all this stuff back together
while enjoying myself and taking it slowly.

I hope to have everything running before I take the car back to Custom
Classics for final fitting and painting "Phase II".

The ultimate goal is to have a "Concours Driver".  I've been told not to
expect to be finished before next spring.

Richard Bittmann, Tacoma