The car has been in the body shop since the first week of January. Its getting close to done. The floors have been replaced. The right rear quarter has been replaced. Its been stripped, sanded, blocked, primed, sealed and then sprayed with three coats of 115 blue, with three coats of clear. Problem is, the clear has some little specks in it that wet sanding didn't take out. More wet sanding, then more clear coats. Happily the shop didn't even think of passing it off to me, they just called and said they had to redo it. It'll get done next week, hopefully. I know the rule, you can do it cheap, good, or fast, pick only two.

Meanwhile, Les at ClassicDatsun has been helping me put together my pile of parts to go back on the car. He has a chrome shop next door, so he was nice enough to handle rechroming the bumpers for me. This chrome shop still has its copper-cyanide tanks. They first welded shut all holes in the bumpers (no more rubber strips or bumperettes), then layed down some copper. After it was all done, they painted the backs. Hopefully they will not corrode in this salt air down here. They look great.

I bought all new interior vinyl from Les and white leather seat upholstery and new foam cushions. You would think you could put the seats together yourself, but I couldn't get it to look right. I took it to an uphostery shop. They look great now. I got to sit in them today, and they felt great. I had to put the drivers seat in the car in order to test fit the MSA chrome Bullet II mirrors. Good thing. If you mount these in the old mirror's location, they'll be too far back on the door to use them easily. They need to go forward as far as possible on the door. Not too far forward, or they'll bump the fender when you open the door, though.

Once the car is resprayed with clear, it should be given back to me for interior work. I plan to Raamat and Ensolite most of the interior, with the goal of getting it quiet enough to listen to the Alpine stereo without having to crank it.

I had a hard time deciding what color to paint the grill and tail light panel. The car is a high gloss metalic blue, with excellent chrome trim and bumpers. Most people seem to paint these some version of black. The shop did a motorcycle tank in Hot Rod Black, and I knew that was it. It's black, but a bit different than usual. See attached picture. The bumper isn't on it yet, but I think it'll contrast nicely with all the shine on the rest of the car.

So I wait. Shouldn't be long now...but I've been saying that for a month. The good news is that my birthday is coming up, and my wife wants to by me some new wheels. Probably going to get Konig Rewinds, but am open to suggestions.