We got the car body onto the dolly today--a real milestone. With luck, it will go to the paint shop by the end of the week.

We also upgraded the wheels on the rotisserie. The paint shop will probably use it for stripping and for priming the underside. The original wheels might not survive rolling in and out of the shop.

Mounting the red wheels required cutting off the original plates and welding on new ones.

Bumper day! Mike let me try out candidates from his inventory.

Started on the rear, with the straightest bumper in the collection. First fit on the car, with my original top cap.

Left end.

Right end. The gap along the side fender recess looks big (but the cap is against the fender).

Overall the fit looks pretty good, just a bit high on the right side.

For the front, the straightest bumper had a small but distinct dent near the left end.

To mount the top cap, and have it aligned properly, I had to remove the dent. After some work with my press and hammers, I got it 90%--good enough for the fitting.

I also had to come up with a temporary fix for the modified dog bone, since the PO trimmed one by 2/3 to adjust for the crappy right fender repair.

Since I do not have a spare, I made a wood dog bone spacer.

Dig my temporary dog bone need to be bone-shaped? No, but why not?

Here is the bumper mounted, with the frunk lid propped in place.

The left end.

And the right (bad) side. Not too bad, but needs more work.

I have a dog bone if you want it. I will set it out for you.

Thanks, Mike--and thanks for the chance to look at your cars to compare bumper fit.

More bumper fitting today. In the rear, I elongated the holes a bit so the bumper sits lower. To get it to fit closer, I think I will need to shave some dog bones.

In the front, I redid the recess in the right fender for the top cap corner. Here is the way it was, with markings (hard to see).

And after a bit of hammer work, build-up MIG welding, and grinding.

With my son's help (and his willingness to lie on his back and weld upside down), we attached the support bracket for the center of the rear bumper cap.

From below.

We also redid part of the front panel seam, where we turned the PO lap joint into a butt seam. Welding was not solid, and multiple efforts did not improve things, so I cut a hole for a patch.

From the inside, after welding in new metal, and some rough grinding.

More bumper fitting, all on the front right fender, and mostly around the recess for the bumper cap end.

My ace assistant at work, in the second part of a welding and grinding cycle.

Although the recess looked good yesterday, grinding the shape made the welded metal too thin and made it crack. So today was weld-grind-repeat.

Here is the work in progress.

The final result, at least for today. The shapes and fit look good to me.

Overall top view.

I also started prep for transport to the paint shop. The plan is not final yet, but will require some tie-downs, preferably that do not touch the body and will work when I bring the car home with fresh paint.

For the front, the square tubing connects across the bolt holes for the torsion bar mounts.

Just enough clearance for a strap hook.

In the final countdown!

Gathering miscellaneous parts for the paint shop, I found out the car's name.

"The cable guy".....nice.....git er done there Bob.

Got some bolts today, and mounted the tie-down brackets to the rear suspension points. I added some quick-links so the straps can tie off with reasonable angles.

The big job today was some targeted rust treatment. After testing both Corroseal and Ospho, I chose Corroseal. It did a better job at penetrating surface rust and leaving a more complete coating.

With my son's help, we started with the trunk lid. I poured about a cup of Corroseal between the inner skin and the rear internal rib. We then tilted the lid in different directions to coat the inside, and then penetrate the trailing edge. After pouring off the excess, we propped the lid upright to drain and dry.

We then did the same thing with the doors, pouring some Corroseal into the bottom interior and coating the internal seam.

Last, I injected Corroseal inside the jack point flanges, including the second drain hole I added.

That's pretty much it. Tomorrow we will work to prepare the car and dolly for transport. Good friends should arrive with a trailer Friday morning, and then off to the paint shop.

Let's see what that Corroseal looks like?
Inquiring minds and all.....

Just for you, Doug. Not much access to see where I treated on the car.

Another rusty piece from a prior test. Equivalent amounts of Ospho on the left, and Corroseal on the right. I judged the Corroseal did a better job at soaking in and leaving a top film.

We wrapped up the loading prep today. First we tied the body to the dolly. In the rear I installed the engine cross brace support brackets, and used those.

In the front, I installed the suspension/steering cross member, and tied off to that.

We then moved the car over near the garage door. Ready to roll.

The doors and lids all loaded in my Suburban.

Today was moving day. Mike and Chuck (and Chuck's trailer) showed up around 9am. In about 30 minutes we had the car loaded and tied down. Car friends are awesome!

I was concerned about leaving the weight on the dolly wheels during transport, so we built a wood cradle to support the car under the longs. The cradle sat on jack stands, that in turn were screwed down to prevent shifting.

About an hour later the car was on the ground at the paint shop.

The body is now in the hands of Lin Coates and crew, in Bayfield, Colorado.