Thought I would start a new thread. How does July 8th look for everybody for an Eldersburg bbq, and cruise night? There's a local car cruise/gathering that gets 100-200 cars usually that I figure we'll be hitting up in the evening, and we can hang out during the day, throw some food on the grill, put back a few drinks (soda, water, beer, wine, whatever), and talk Firebirds. Heck - hopefully some people will even BRING their Firebirds (or at least pieces of them! hahaha) for others to check out.
So - July 8th, Eldersburg MD. Let's RSVP here if we could, and then we can figure out how much food /drink people should bring. As for who is welcome... I'm thinking we can include spouses/significant others, as long as they're not bored out of their skull! I guess it depends who all shows up. As for kids... well, I don't have any - but again, as long as your kid won't be bored out of his/her skull, I guess they're welcome over as well.
PS - when you RSVP, let me know if you're driving a FGF over or not. Would be nice to know how many "runners" we'll actually have!
'68 Firebird, 350-4, 2 spd auto, triple black, Dlx Interior
Got a couple other "very likely" people who emailed me too - will post the complete list once people have finalized their plans, and then I will send out directions and details to everyone.
'68 Firebird, 350-4, 2 spd auto, triple black, Dlx Interior
We'll kick this party off at 3pm. I'll fire up the grill and make my world famous hamburgers, and also some hot dogs. If anyone wants any other meat products, feel free to bring them! I'll also be serving up some side dishes and snacks and drinks.
I'll email those who are interested the directions and whatnot.
The car show starts at 7pm - and is only a mile away. We'll parade the birds over there.
Hopefully we'll have some birds to parade! Merv's bird is flightless at the moment, due to a lack of help from a certain unnamed forum member who never went over to help him finish it up (doh!), and Larry's bird is in more pieces than they were originally assembled from back in the 60's!
Let's cross our fingers and hope for some great weather - should be a lot of fun!
-Steve
'68 Firebird, 350-4, 2 spd auto, triple black, Dlx Interior
Merv's bird is because he has dinked around. Trust me on this one: If I were ready to hang a hood, I would be busting Steve's butt, or Scott's, or my daughter's boyfreind, the neighbor's--someone's butt for help.
I just got in from a weekend of my 30th, class reunion. It was criminal the way that the women were crawling on me. Criminal, that is, becuause they didn't do it while I was in school. When asked the reason--I knew--why was because they said that I looked like I was 12 years old when I gradguated. (This crawling all over is actually something that they have learned from younger women because women didn't crawl all over guy, even the "hot" ones, at least in my school.)
I had a hell of a time, and I have 2 prospects lined up, one of whom, is one woman's baby sister. (Put a lid on the cradle robbin' Steve; baby sister is 37. I guess that is cradle robbing when you're on this side of 50.) Baby sister is a crap's shoot, but it's more than major clear that the other one is solid exploration, with compatibility being the obstical. Her long standing previous commitments with her adult children and other family caused the postponment. In other words, her early 20's, hulking 6'2", 225 lbs, would kick my @$$ if I had managed to sweet talk Mom out of her plans. Interesting: she had a problem with a rejected man start to stalk her. The didn't restort to violence, but they did have a chat with the gentelman. PROBLEM SOLVED!
Anyway, if I forgo festivities and take advantage of the 2 remining days off, I might be able to peice it together enough so that we could we could have 4 birds. I know that I won't be able to colorsand buff the latest patches, and detail the car, but if it were together, it would be good enough so that its sisters will make up for its shortcomings. And to the Cramaro group, we can always point out the the car had #36 grit plastic and was still in a box at the beginig of the week.
Really, guys, I'm going to make an honest attempt to get'er done because we really need some birds there. Larry is over a barrel with bring his bird, and with the qualty/level of his restoration, it just aint gonna happen. I don't have as good of an excuse for dropping the mofo's in the grease.
Foose can do a frame off in a week. All I have to do is block some primer spots, smoke some base/clear over it, hang some sheet metal, pukey in a couple of peices of glass, and wash off the dust. I'll skim through the board, hit the sandpaper, and see what happens. If it does happen, I might need a 20 minute visit one evening to hold the hood.
Emails sent - if you didn't get a message from me, and are planning on making the trip - PM and let me know, and I'll send you the info.
We should have a bunch of birds there - it should be a real good time. (unfortunately you can't see the driveway from where the pool table is though - sorry! hahaha)
-Steve ps - Merv, let me know when you need me. As long as you're not hanging Cramaro panels on your bird, it will look FINE.
'68 Firebird, 350-4, 2 spd auto, triple black, Dlx Interior
Merv - DON'T RUSH! If you can bring your Coupe, fine. Don't rush the quality just to bring the car over. And, yes. I'm planning on being there Saturday so I can help if you need it.
Actually, to beat the heat, I'll prob be in the area early Saturday so that'll mean Smitty has more time to help you and Steve out with "whatever."
Smitty - if you're in the area earlier than 3pm, just let me know - I'll probably be running around doing last minute things to getting the place ready for the get together - you're welcome to come by anytime! Just let me know.
'68 Firebird, 350-4, 2 spd auto, triple black, Dlx Interior
I don't have to worry about compromising the "quality" because this new-age "sanding" rattle can primer doesn't block. You cannot touch the stuff with sandpaper without the paper instantly loading up.
The best game plan that I have come up with is using a #150 grit foam sanding pad from wally world and water. So what I'm doing is going from #36 grit on plastic to #150. I don't use finer grades on plastic because I have a tendency to undercut the plastic before I can feel out "straight." With sanding primer, it has never been an issue in the past. One or 2 hard #80 blocks, and you have the foundation for super straight bodywork. You cannot do it by skipping the #80 block because it's the most critical part of the foundation. So good enough will have to do.
I have some areas that have been buffed, and they aren't super $hitty, but as you had seen before, I'm super anal about a straight body, so anything less sucks. It'll be good enough for whatever life has in store for however long, and it looks a thousand times better than large rust holes and deep surface rust.
I plan to come, but no prospects of my bird, prolly not even next year either, lol. I couldn't get it on a roll back by then.
Amervo, if your car is done great. If it's not done, let it go until you're happy it's presentable. Come on a moped, bicycle or taxi or have me pick you up on the way there. We just want a group get together.
When you're ready to hang the hood, let Steve and I know. We will come hold it up while you turn the bolts. Don't struggle to hang it up by ropes, boards, prayers or rig it, just to hurt your results.