The final patch

Time to start the new decade. Today I welded in the very last piece of sheet metal. This honourable final patch was somenthing I had forgotten to do earlier. It is situated in the left-most edge in the corner of firewall and cowl side panel just above the torque-box's upper end and is about 1" x ½".

I've used two bottles of CO2-Argon and about 8 kilograms of welding-wire while knitting this vehicle back to the current status. Here is a picture of my old but faithful Kemppi 180C Mig-welder which I bought used years ago for 100 €. I still may need it with this project but hopefully only for minor jobs, not for patching or re-doing my earlier welds.

Looking at my welds which were done a year ago, in the beginning of the restoration, one might say that they could have been done better. I think I've gotten better and better and even might be able to restore a more challenging project one day. The question is where to find such a project ? From here maybe. There are three things a man does not forget once he has learned them. 1. How to ride a bicycle. 2. How to make love to a woman and 3. How to weld.

Destiny is now covered with primer and most of the body parts are being fit, almost ready for painter. I think I finally found a guy who'll perform the paint-job for her. He dropped by yesterday and estimated 100-150 hours of his work until the job is done. 20 € an hour and that'll be 2 - 3000 € plus the materials. We agreed this to be done in March. I just hope that there won't be slippery on the roads until that because all of the painters consider insurance companies better clients and in that case my project would be postponed. A couple of shot of how Destiny looks right now.

We agreed that I'll paint whatever is inside the car and he'll do everything that's on the outside plus the undersides of the hood and trunk lid. Next weekend Destiny is celebrating her 45th anniversary. I think I'll cheer her up with new coat of primer and seam sealer. So let's start sanding.