GREAT news

So after stalling this project for a while, Hubby and I went to an open house yesterday.  This particular shop has successfully merged a classic Mopar to a new SRT-8 frame in the past and have agreed to take on mu Coronet project.

I am just SO excited about this.  Will post more once additional details have emerged!!

I bet you are wondering what we've been up to!!!

Well, with so many fires in the proverbial fire, we have switched gears so many times, but with three cars in various stages of resto it is necessary to remain fluid and flexible.

Since Joe had purchased the Charger "to drive around", we were doing it no favors throwing ourselves in the 40 year old seats and driving all over.  So after a lot of flip flopping, we started with the interior of the Charger.  Those who have seen the seats probably do not need a reminder of what they USED to look like:

 The back seats




The VERY perished Driver's seat





































The Passenger's Seat

 The arm rest in between the the back seats:

And now some VERY boring but very essential photos of what happens once the seats come out and what happens BEFORE the very pretty upholstered seats go back in....

Spray painting the floor to prep them before adding insulation / sound deadening materials:

 So the floor was prepped and there are several different applications of the sound deadening material on the market, but with the seats already at the upholstery shop, we were in a bit of a time crunch and could wait to have the "Hushmat" or Dyna-mat shipped.  Plus the seat were going to be a small chunk of change, so we were also looking save a few pennies.  So...  we went to Home Depot and got some of the Frost King duct insulation, a couple paint rollers and multi-purpose tape and set to work:

 Not a BAD job, we will see how it performs and for the $$ saved, it is totally worth trying. 

We also started aggressively deconstructing the rest of the interior as the new carpet should be here tomorrow and of course the weather is going to turn tomorrow, so that will probably go in over the weekend.  Here are the body panels that we took out, we will need them refurbished a bit as the seats are SUPER nice!!!

Back panel that separates the "trunk" from the fastback; the carpet is so degraded you can see Joe's hand print in the carpet:

 From the trunk looking in:

The carpet in the fastback area:

 Same carpet OUT of the car:                       (Notice how nice and red it USED to be where the sun never hit it???)

 Where the back seats go:

 Interior body panels:

 Some REALLY nice 40 year old metal that we uncovered once those body panels were removed

 And now....  the moment you have all been waiting on (no not really, Joe has posted these ALL over the place).  The NEW seats:

New Year's Eve discovery/confirmation

This post is dedicated to our “Little Girl” Sansa.

 

When we adopted the Kittens of Mass Destruction in June of 2012, we often noticed that Sansa didn’t seem to hear or did not process the sounds she hears.  It is more than selective hearing or ignoring people when she doesn’t want to do what her humans say, she simply does not hear.

 

This was beyond evident on New Year’s eve, when the fireworks started popping and crackling overhead, the boys ran for their lives and Sansa jumped onto the couch to snuggle with me.  The quieter (or more distant) pops and bangs did not phase her at all, she slept through most of it; while the loud or sharper ones, she would pick her head up, look around the room and since the boys weren’t out to clue her in that this was bad or frightening, she put her head back down.

With midnight approaching, even our old Maine Coon female was no longer amused by the sounds and got off her couch to take cover.  It was only then that Sansa freaked out.  Still not entirely sure that she actually heard anything more than watched the “Big Kitty” react negatively to the loud sounds outside.  Had Wubbie simply gotten down off the couch in an unhurried manner or with her regular posture, I don’t think Sansa would have reacted at all!  But since Wubbie jumped down after a particularly loud bang and Sansa saw her jump down, and Wubbie’s posture was the “I am frightened”: tail down, belly almost to the ground, small quick steps to the bedroom to hide under the bed; only then did Sansa decide that the noises were somehow bad.

 

So, now I am trying to devise a sign language for her.  While she KNOWS what the squirty water bottle means and if you get her attention and she SEES the squirt bottle, she will cease and desist whatever behavior that brought out the squirt bottle.  She also knows what it means when you wag your finger at her in the “no no” gesture.  Those are the only two gestures she KNOWS and responds to appropriately.  Once she knows you are interacting with her, she is a very sweet kitty.  

 

Now that we know for certain she is either hearing impaired or somehow sensory  impaired; it is kind of a relief.  It is frustrating when I can call her name until I’m blue in the face and if she does not see me, she does not even acknowledge I exist.  She does hear some things and know what some sounds mean.  The little bell on her favorite toy will bring her running from the other side of the house.  Joe’s big booming bass voice she hears “occasionally” depending on how deep or loud he gets.  She rarely hears me.  If I meow in a certain pitch she becomes distressed and will run to me, but I don’t know what I am “saying” so I don’t usually meow at her.  It is also frustrating when you try to explain to other people what is happening with her and they say, “she is ignoring you”.  We know for certain there is something going on with her, we will proceed with this newfound knowledge.

She is a year and a half old and SO tiny next to Minion: