Cairo's (Michael) 6 - Part 2, 3.2 coming out and '95 3.6 going in... Options

[r_towle]

how is this going?

[Cairo94507]

Well we have sourced the NOS nose, left and right front fenders. So we should be seeing some great work soon. Thanks for asking.

[914350]

Mike located NOS left and right front fenders, they should hopefully show up next week. I've been cleaning up edges and trimming some sections off of a donner car that will be needed. I'll load some pics next week. I got a new phone and pics didn't get transfered. I need to download the pics off of my old phone onto my computer so I can post them.

[Cairo94507]

Oh man.... I can't wait to see those NOS parts, (nose, L&R front fenders) in Kent's shop with my Six.

These NOS fenders were not inexpensive by any means and I was very fortunate to have been contacted by a fellow member who offered them up for sale. Despite the cost, I was very excited to be able to buy them for my car.

The NOS nose was a great deal and I am very appreciative of the seller for that. I also bought a stock deep rear valance (4 cylinder) from him.

Thank you very much to fellow members aturboman (Robert) and Perry Kiehl. Both of you are great guys and great to deal with.

My commitment to my Six is to build it to the highest standard possible. That is what Kent is doing- no doubt at all. I am confident Kent could have worked with the rusted fenders and damaged nose on my car and absolutely metal worked them to be prefect. (Heck, I am pretty sure Kent could take a piece of sheet metal and make a perfect stock 914 fender from scratch for that matter.) But I do not believe that would be in the best interest of my build. We had enough issues with my tub needing to be corrected that I did not want to compound all of that with bad parts. These NOS parts will enable Kent to get my chassis dialed-in better than when it rolled out of the factory.

I am seriously looking forward to next year as all of the fabrication, metal work and repairs are in the rearview mirror.

Cheers,
Michael (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)

[Cairo94507]

So Kent has been pretty busy by the looks of it.... this is what happens when you wet-sand blast a car. This stuff cakes up like clods of dirt and holds moisture and causes rust. That will not be a problem now. I am lucky that Kent recognized we had an issue and removed this quarter panel. Apparently the other side is OK.

[Lucky9146]

So Kent has been pretty busy by the looks of it.... this is what happens when you wet-sand blast a car. This stuff cakes up like clods of dirt and holds moisture and causes rust. That will not be a problem now. I am lucky that Kent recognized we had an issue and removed this quarter panel. Apparently the other side is OK.

As you can see below in a copy of my response below to your comment posted on my thread I recently spent some time on your thread so I thought I would copy paste it here. The point is when I was reading your part one and saw the wet sandblasting pictures I was puzzled how on earth could that end up being OK and how could that possibly be protected from rust in those hard to get to areas that obviously wet sand could get to. Well I got my answer and unfortunately or really now fortunately it is being addressed! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)
(IMG:style_emoticons/default/white914.jpg)

Re post from my thread:
Your post caused me to spend most of last night reading both your part one AND part 2 in their entirety! Yes, I have read parts of them before, but only parts, and I decided I wanted to take the time on your thread and start from the beginning and get the entire picture. Wow you my friend have been through a lot! And I was sorry to see some of your set backs, hell I'm sorry to see all your set backs (IMG:style_emoticons/default/headbang.gif) and it makes mine seem rather simple in comparison. When it came time in part 2 for the entire front end to come back off I thought I had dozed off and somehow clicked back on part 1. Holy (IMG:style_emoticons/default/stromberg.gif)

Sure looks like it is now in the right hands and making good progress with NOS parts. I see that you have had tremendous support through the whole ordeal and that is fantastic. I will now follow closely your thread and wish you all the best in getting it completed! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)
(IMG:style_emoticons/default/white914.jpg)

[914350]

Progress pic.

[914350]

More.

[914350]

New phone, larger pics. Said no adjustment for pic size when I looked on line... argh!

[Cairo94507]

That looks like the former passenger side quarter. Glad that came off and will be replaced (correctly) with another complete panel to fix that widening we saw of the rear end as well as the length problem.

Lucky9146 -

Thank you very much for taking the time to review the complete thread. Yes, I have had a lot of support from our members and others. I am so thankful of that. When it is tough going, that is very helpful in remaining positive.

This poor Six build has dragged on so long, languished for about 5 years with no real progress aside from being disassembled and then cobbled together poorly, that a lot of people probably gave up on the car and the thread. I almost gave up too. I came close to listing the whole thing for sale any buying something else for fun. I was very upset about the whole thing and unsure what to do. My car was in pieces on the other side of the country! I talked to a few valued members and friends and finally said, enough is enough.

My love of the Six won out and I decided I had to take the reins and put an end to the B.S. Thankfully, unbeknownst to me, Jim, Andy and Kent, (the founding members of The Justice League, as far as I am concerned) while busy with Jim's incredible car, were apparently often talking, scratching and laughing about my build as it went from bad to worse. Jim reached out to me, (one of the better days of my life) and offered up their services - dedication, skills and expertise, to restore my car correctly.

I knew this was going to blow my budget, but I really wanted my Six to be done correctly. A build I would be proud of and not ashamed or afraid to drive. This was my 3rd Six and I had loved my first two so much I knew I had to do this.

We all have that one car that kind of takes us back to our youth. Though I have had a ton of very nice cars, the Six was that car for me. I discussed it with my wife, told her how much money I had wasted, what it would likely take to recover from that event, and then finish the car. Thankfully, my wife, who loved my last Six as much as I did, maybe more since she cried when it drove off with its new owner, said to just get this one built right so that we could enjoy it. She actually thinks she will be using it as her daily driver when she retires shortly.......I told her she is keeping the C4S as her DD.

That pretty much gets us to where we are now except I had no way of knowing apparently all of the work previously done was done so poorly it would all have to be re-done for my Six to reach the level I expected. Good thing too because I do not believe Kent would have accepted the car if I had said I just wanted a clean driver. For that he would likely have referred me to another shop. Rightly so too. Kent is one of those rare guys who knows, loves, works with and restores metal. My Six needed his skills desperately if it was ever going to survive the experience it had been through and be returned to the car I expected it to be. Oh, and not to let the cat to far out of the bag, but Kent's skills are not limited to body restoration and paint.

So that kind of gives a quick overview of how and why my car has been being restored for 5.5 years now.....

Best wishes everyone. Keep your eye on this thread and watch as this Six comes along.
Cheers,
Michael (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)

[Larmo63]

We toured Kent's shop Saturday morning before we all drove our cars over to the Pelican event. Wow, there was some questionable work torn off of that car. Kent showed us all of the finer points. He surely has an eye and feel for a 914 chassis. I'd love for him to paint my black car from the doorjambs out after your car leaves.

It will be worth the wait, and you are in such good hands with those other two guys helping on re-building it into a running, driving car.

[Cairo94507]

Thanks Larmo63. I believe people will be surprised when they finally see close-up pictures of what Kent had to deal with when my Six arrived, after all of the work I had previously paid to have done.

Glad you got a chance to see my Six in progress. Yeah, I can only imagine how a black 914 would look after Kent gets his hands on it. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/first.gif)

[Cairo94507]

The fenders shipped separately. One down, one to go. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)

[ConeDodger]

I hope to someday see this car in person. Good to see things getting done! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

[rhodyguy]

Wow. Just wow.

[914350]

Pic.

[Cairo94507]

My poor car.....well we have to get it back to what it was meant to be. Sad that it has had to go through such a tough journey to get it all straight. In the end, it will be better than factory built. Keep at it Kent, you got this.

[sixnotfour]

The left rear got removed also ???

[Cairo94507]

Maybe......not sure.

[jeeperjohn56]

Hey Mike, your car is going to be a awesome car and will be a show car like Andy's.I'm glad that you found the right guy.Kent will do you right good luck can't wait to see it finished.