New Heights in 2012!

The van is going to the metal cleaners this month, weather permitting. I have to admit that it's a milestone that's long overdue. I'm tired of looking at blotchy metal. Is there a goddam end to this project? There's just a few more things that need to be done before that happens. Yesterday I went into thr shop and Victoria was perched up rather high, out of the way. It was an unusual angle to see a van from, so I snapped a picture.

One thing that won't happen before then though is the tracks for the side doors. As long-time readers will recall, they were accidentally thrown out about 18 months ago. Recently alternatives have been looked at, but none are really satisfactory IMO. Has anyone else cracked this nut before? To make matters worse, the left and right sills or rocker panels (whatever we call them) are not perfectly symetrical on my van, so whatever the ultimate solution,

Above are two photos of what a the pedal assembly for a LHD J Van. Duncan is on the top -- that's clutch, gas and brake. Want to know how to kill yourself pretty quick? Drive for 30 years using brake in the center and gas on to the right and then change them around one day! So, since I'm not in need of a clutch and I bought the Lokar pedal, Victoria is going to have a more familiar pedal configuration, which looks "smashing" while also avoiding the smash.

Finally, just before Christmas, you may recall, I bought a carb kit and a Lokar shifter. Well, like a lot of things, these are made in the US, and sometimes, not shipped outside the US. Luckily, there's a couple companies that agree to receive packaged on the US side, and then they email you when they arrive. It costs something like $3. Then you drive accross the boarder and pick them up. Normally it's not a big deal, except the weekend before Christmas. The shop opens at 9:00AM and I showd up at 8:15. I was the 6th person in line, and in the next 45 minutes, 120 other joined us. The parking lot only holds 6 cars, and people were parked all over the street. That said, I was out of there in 30 minutes.