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

[Grizz1963]

I am not a great public supporter of charitable causes as it is a very personal and private matter

HOWEVER.

I buy The Big Issue from a street vendor just outside Waterloo station every so often (he normally has exit 6 but it is shut during construction ). Its £2.50 but I always give £5.00 and do not take the change. Today he gave me a Christmas card, signed Robert with the magazine. Lovely of him and shows they feel the cold as much as anyone else, as much as the warmth of a smile. And certainly will see me support him through next year again.

Their motto is “A hand up not a hand out”

Support a seller before Christmas if you can afford it.

For the price of an overpriced milky coffee we can make a difference IN THEIR LIVES.

I know this is an international forum, so if nothing else, be kind, share a smile or say hello.

[Grizz1963]

Back to the Blazer

Got home tonight and stepped through the front door in the dark, onto a parcel.

Bugggerr!!

Opened it up, and a gift from a complete stranger.

Mark or Captain Slug on VZi had sent these from his personal collection, came of a K5 he used to own.

Not correct for the 79 but I am pretty chuffed. They came off his ex army Blazer.

I will try to remove the army paint.




Note the difference?





Also bought a 2 LED inspection mirror on a telescopic handle.

Have used a non lit one before, works well.



Looking forward to,the weekend to getting some,time to get onto all the email jobs left to do.

[Palf70Step]

Like the GRIZZER!!!!!!!!

[realvc]

It is a good thing your Blazer is not a project or you would be working in it a lot more

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by Palf70Step

Like the GRIZZER!!!!!!!!

Keeping in mind it is a clever photoshop

Originally Posted by realvc

It is a good thing your Blazer is not a project or you would be working in it a lot more

Indeed Vince, thankfully it is not




Amazingly, two months and 41k views on Retro Rides, and of course more on various other forums.

Thank you all for the generous contributions to this truck that thankfully is “Not a Project”

In a way it does not seem that long that this thing has cast a shadow on my driveway.

Waiting for the DVLA tomatrialise with new documents (through the mail slot) so it can get a new MOT) and by the recent reports on here, it seems their turn around times are impressive.
The Blazer has a slightly different issue, but it will be good to get the paperwork sorted so that I can get on with jobs and enjoy it..

Today I have some house and Christmas jobs to deal with, including making a rather large wall mounted spice rack with a slightly complex design.

Some small truck jobs, like fitting the new horn, cleaning the badges and looking at Google on ways to fit and wire the sound components.

Reminder.


Rough as a Badgers Butt.

But would you?

V8 Auto



Current look.

Prozac the Van that can looking on.




MoJo thoroughly enjoying this truck.

[Palf70Step]

Nice work on the cabinet Rian. It has been Yuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuucckk here today also, cold and VERY wet.

[aggie91]

Nice work on the spice rack. They will be proud to have it.

I think you need a few more hammers on the wall...lol

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by Palf70Step

Nice work on the cabinet Rian. It has been Yuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuucckk here today also, cold and VERY wet.

Thanks Bill,

Weather is fine for me wet or dry, but wet stops you doing a lot of stuff.

Originally Posted by aggie91

Nice work on the spice rack. They will be proud to have it.

I think you need a few more hammers on the wall...lol

I do have a few hammers

They came over the years.

[MacQuigley]

Hi Rian, Im no expert in this and that's sort of the problem that nobody is, or so it would seem. Everybody seems to have their own take on this.

Im not 100% sure but I believe your Blazer should be running black on white up front and black on yellow out back and both must be reflective. So you wont get away with the silver on black pressed front plate but you may get away with one thats black on white and you may get away with the rear as shown but it would come down to an individual coppers understanding of the law if you get stopped. What seems to be the case is that there are certain dispensations given to size of lettering on imported cars largely due to the fact there may be restricted space to fit a plate that makes the UK's spec.

What I am sure of is if you were to get plates made up with something any other text like the Rear Animals Wear Black on your plate you may get pulled as you are not permitted to have anything other than perhaps a garage name or the name of the shop you got the plates from on your plate. My mate got plates for a VW made up with the VW emblem on it. He was stopped, fined and got 3 points for his trouble.

Somewhere I have the rules on this. I downloaded them when I was trying to decide what style plates to put on the Vette. If I can find them I'll let you have a copy.

[Grizz1963]

Thank you Bill

I would stick to the right colours.

But like the idea of having 19-79 and Blazer or Chevrolet on the top or bottom line.

If it comes to points, its very clearly not going ng to happen.

So I will see what else I can find out.

[MacQuigley]

I wanted to do the same with the Vette but decided it wasn't worth the risk. I cant see what difference it makes but they definitely don't like any additional text, as my mate discovered and boy was he fuming when he found out!

[ibrown50]

Number plates are covered by the Construction and Use Regulations 1986 (and subsequent amendments ). These stipulate the size of the numbers and letters as well as the spacing between characters and groups. The size of the plate itself is also mandated cars being larger in both respects than motorcycles. Anything manufactured 1973 or later must have reflective plates, white on the front yellow on the back. The only text ( numbers or letters) allowed on the plates is that of the vehicle registration, even dealers putting their name on the plates is technically an infringement.

Even in the correct colours the US style plates will be a pull. I’d have to check the law but I think they fall under traffic not motoring legislation so it would be a fine but no penalty points on your licence. Your best bet ( I’ve done this many times) is to get a motorcycle plate for the rear, they’re smaller so fit in the recess and although technically too small for a car legal in all other respects so you can feign ignorance if you get a pull.

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by ibrown50

Number plates are covered by the Construction and Use Regulations 1986 (and subsequent amendments ). These stipulate the size of the numbers and letters as well as the spacing between characters and groups. The size of the plate itself is also mandated cars being larger in both respects than motorcycles. Anything manufactured 1973 or later must have reflective plates, white on the front yellow on the back. The only text ( numbers or letters) allowed on the plates is that of the vehicle registration, even dealers putting their name on the plates is technically an infringement.

Even in the correct colours the US style plates will be a pull. I’d have to check the law but I think they fall under traffic not motoring legislation so it would be a fine but no penalty points on your licence. Your best bet ( I’ve done this many times) is to get a motorcycle plate for the rear, they’re smaller so fit in the recess and although technically too small for a car legal in all other respects so you can feign ignorance if you get a pull.

This from Wikipedia

The industry standard size front number plate is 520 mm × 111 mm (20½" × 4⅜"). Rear plates are either the same size, or 285 mm × 203 mm (approx 11"x8") or 533 mm × 152 mm (approx 21"x6"). There is no specified legal size other than an absolute minimum margin of 11mm producing an minimum height of 101mm (one line) and 199mm (2 line) on cars, and 86mm for one line import vehicles and 164mm for a two line motorcycle or import vehicles, with the overall length being based on the registration number itself, with the smallest number plate possible being 1 having an minimum size of 36mm × 101mm on a car, or 32mm × 86mm on a motorcycle or import vehicle; whereas a 7 character registration number without a 1 or I having an minimum size of 460mm × 101mm (one line), or 255mm × 199mm (two line) on a car, or 231mm × 164mm on an import or motorbike.



Lools like a perfect place to lose money and possibly gain points.

[Grizz1963]

Had a vacation day to burn off today, or lose it.

So I spent about 5 hrs at my desk, catching up with some hateful admin and record keeping tasks in my office.

It was cold outside, so worked well being stuck indoors.


The sun was shining indoors though.

My little Klingon seemed happy in the sun.




Happy cat, next to me in the office, under the electric sun.




Once done with my admin stuff, coffee, shower and then onto the phone with the DVLA to enquire about the Blazers paperwork status.

A lovely lady named Fran checked my details then put me on hold for two minutes and came back to say the paperwork should be with me in 3-5 working days.

Perfect timing for Christmas then.

MOT in the new year.


In the mean time I have the vinyl Euan sent, on the windowsill waiting for some sun to straighten out the strips before applying them to the Blazer.

.



And got distracted last night by mate Martin......

Personal plate?




Weekend tomorrow.

[Grizz1963]

Another weekend over.

Not a lot of Blazer time, but I did a few things and also relaxed a bit.

Awake and up by 3.30 this morning, by 06.00 I had spent a few hours chatting with Dennis in St Louis, and also spent an hour chatting to Lee the lawyer I met in September.

Then I ordered a 50 meter roll of 12mm yellow signwriting or pin striping vinyl off eBay to go with these two tones of orange once I do the sides of the Blazer




At some point I had a shower etc, then went for a walk around Rochester



Found a small farmers market where I bought some awesome bread, and also three French dried sausages.



Hot chips a must in Rochester High street



Came home with my treasures, bread with real butter, and starting with a pork and Roquefort sausage, followed by the smoked version and thirdly the black pepper sausage.

Started with my Old Bear knife, then switched to my trusty Opinel using the cutting board my friend Stanislav “Stas” from Siberia had sent me recently along with a photo of Katya his wife..........



Smoked



Pepper, amazing sausage



While relaxing and watching some catch up telly, I sent Stas in Siberia a pic of my cutting board and the food on it.

Instantly a reply came back, he was impressed and jealous.

We ended up chatting for about three hours on WhatsApp sharing info, he and Katya drinking beer and wine, and me with a Bud Light and light snacking.
Gotta love technology.

Stas and Katya relaxing late on a Sunday in their kitchen.



Weather today’s in Siberia was warm and pleasant.

-8’C outside.



I also ordered some duct tape off Evilbay to stick to the trucks rims, in order to help the trim rings find a place to grip, rather than pop off.

Monday soon, two day week for me.

[Larry64]

Nice tattoo you put on your thumb.

[Grizz1963]

Need I say more??

I have loads of little jobs to get to while I am off work for a few days, as long as the weather allows me.

Tonight on the way home I stopped and got some,paint stripper........ not a recommended product in my world.



They recommend applying, waiting 30 minutes and applying a second coat of the stuff inneeded.

Nope, not even maybe.



Including scraping, scratching and trying to move some of the military cameo paint from the badges, which took me 3 hours, RHD results were absolutely disappointing.

After three hours



Product absolutely NOT Recommended




After scraping with a sharp knife and trying to clean up what the chemicals could not do, I have realised that the only way to use these badges, will be to paint them all one colour and then to roller the high surfaces in a different colour to contrast.



So my quick first holiday job took a lot longer than planned.

More fun tomorrow as I have garage time coming.

[Grizz1963]

Plan B activated.

Plan C will be a pair of cheap used replacement badges

Primer, then alloy wheel silver and next up once dried completely, highlight them with a small brush and some red enamel.

You can see damage that was on there in pic, red paint will fix it just fine.

Should be just fine from 5 meters.



More later.

[Grizz1963]

MOT PASS !!


With the new V5c landing yesterday, my plan was to only MOT the Blazer in the New Year.

Then I woke up this morning and after a lengthy video chat with Dennis who was awake again, I decided to call the MOT station I have been using the last 10 years to see if they could test the Blazer today. No luck, it’s too big for their lift.
But I could call their other shop up the street, they said 10.15 was open.

So a quick shuffle of cars and I was off to the test station.

Stopped for gas, because I like to take pics at gas stations of the truck gathering fossil fuel.





A full inspection ensued, I felt like an expectant father at a maternity unit.

Every part was checked, even the individual safety belts on the rear bench seat.



Inspector said it was solid underneath and complimented the rust repairs, nice.



Brakes tested from inside the cab, rollers are pretty unforgiving.

[ibrown50]

Congrats on the MOT pleased to hear the DVLC sorted you out with a correct V5

[Grizz1963]

Right,

So after my successful MOT test, I went up to see PaulF whose press we used to get the bushes out of the A-Arms and previously using his brake pipe flaring tool when I was making the brake lines up for the C10.

His Split Window VW bus is so small compared to modern cars, but against this Blazer if will be even smaller.

So I asked him to take the Blazer for a drive, of course he could not say no.



We went for quite a significant drive.

The funniest thing to me, was that like me, he could not stop laughing like a deranged kid while driving thenBlazer.

What a pleasure sharing it.

While he was driving, it also became apparent just how bifpg this thing is.



After a few hours spent with him and his lovely bride Faye, who cannot do any wrong in my eyes 😁 it was time to come home, via my local village, Hoo St Werburgh where I needed to get some bread and food.

Turning down one of the street, I clocked a black Saab and a guy gesturing, instantly knowing it was Ashley, another Retro Rider.... so I turned around and we ended up chatting for half an hour or more.
Never simple or quick with me.

In the car park where I went to shop, there was a Toyota Corolla parked up next to me, had to grab a photo.

Shows again how big this thing is.



Then eventually homeward, and found the Yellow 12mm tape had been delivered.

Compared to the other vinyl that will go on the sides.



And also mocking up along with the newly painted side badges.



Lastly, the next job on the list, ensuring this is not a Project, will be getting my DA sander out and flatting back the paint that looks like it was applied with a yard broom.

Followed by getting some paint back on the sides, and then the vinyl lines and also the pinstripes

.



Well, this was a good day, in fact a good week so far.

Loads done, thankfully.

[Palf70Step]

Weekends are good. Glad things are going good for the Blazer.

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by Palf70Step

Weekends are good. Glad things are going good for the Blazer.

Especially the documents Bill.


Freezing out there though with the wind.



Well, that did not last long.

Was out for an hour down at the garage.

1’C out there and a decent chilling breeze.

But before I came in, I played with the extra BHP stripes that Euan had sent me.......

Too cold for Blu-Tac (Prestick or whatever name you use) to stick to the truck, so went to Masking tape.

This is just the first try, and there could be other options.

Number 1



Number 2



Number 3



Currently my favourite as the truck is actually quite big, so the single straight line is a bit lost

I am also thinking of another one inch stripe in black or red to use as accent, or these finer pinstripes I bought years ago.



And the only “sticker” I plan on adding to the truck, if you do not count go faster stripes.




Now headed out to The Isle of Sheppey to see mate Darren at Unit Engineering about a laser and some stainless steel cutting.

[ibrown50]

Looking at these pictures I am reminded of an article in the C10 Builders Guide earlier this year called "Wild and Wacky Squares",

There was the Desert Fox



The Spirit of 76 (sorry the picture isn't great)



The Sarge



And my absolute favourite the Mondo Macho (was it really called that??)



In 1985 you could buy the Outdoorsman, it didn't have cool stripes but it had a 30-30 Winchester complete with scope, gun rack and hat....How cool is that

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by ibrown50

Looking at these pictures I am reminded of an article in the C10 Builders Guide earlier this year called "Wild and Wacky Squares",

There was the Desert Fox

Attachment 1847614

The Spirit of 76 (sorry the picture isn't great)

Attachment 1847616

The Sarge

Attachment 1847615

And my absolute favourite the Mondo Macho (was it really called that??)

Attachment 1847617

In 1985 you could buy the Outdoorsman, it didn't have cool stripes but it had a 30-30 Winchester complete with scope, gun rack and hat....How cool is that

Attachment 1847618

Absolutely love all of these Ian, but like you, the one I would love to have is the Mondo Macho.


Thank you for posting them up.





While over at Darren’s place for a few hours, tea and cookies, to order up the new back full panel for the Blazers tailgate, I went through a collection of badges.

Found one to fit in the centre of the steering wheel, as the truck,does not have an original anymore, much as I would love to have an original steering wheel.



The Rock n Roll badge is for the infill panel between the rear lights.



While in their shop, I scavenged the scrap bin and found he two Indian heads and the deer, the Stormtrooper I had previously bought from Darren.

Plan for the Indian Heads would be either the front of two candles, as candle holders, or better still as exhaust embellishes on 3” exits, not sure it would work, but I like the idea.