6/10/2009 Update
 

The driver's door and rear decklid have been mounted to the car. The hood was laid in place, but it still needs to be buffed out. The roof and cowl are still covered in dust, compare to the rear decklid and door.

http://www.mustangcollective.com/ima...103b36ed36.jpg


The front fenders, nose, rear bumper, side sail panels, and gas filler door were in the booth, but none of those pics were worth posting. All of the rubber side moldings have been painted, and the stainless trim is staged to be put on the car soon. I plan to go in again on Friday, 6/12/2009 to take more pictures, but the car should be finished in the body shop very soon!

Get some pics of the fire rig in the background while you're at it.

I will!

6/11/2009 Update

The hood was mounted, and the window moldings were installed today -

http://www.mustangcollective.com/ima...18cac360cd.jpg

http://www.mustangcollective.com/ima...18cad03b28.jpg


Yes, I will be removing the weathered purple window tint! The bumpers and fenders are painted and buffed out.

http://www.mustangcollective.com/ima...197d73eef1.jpg


I'll get more pictures tomorrow afternoon.

That's looking real nice!

Bill, your car looks great! I am curious as to where your car served in service as a CHP. Do you know the office location? 8336 is still looking for a good paint shop. lol

Bill the car looks great and at a good pace.

Thanks guys!

Yes, from the assignment card I knew the location number (#165). With that, I went on one of the California government websites (forget which one) and randomly search CHP stations for the matching number. My car served in Quincy, CA, which is NW of Reno, Nevada.

Bill,Here is a link to the chp office that your car was assigned to. Just some history you might want to view. That area of the state is very nice.

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgu...a%3DG%26um%3D1

As requested -

http://www.mustangcollective.com/ima...7dbc5d3739.jpg

http://www.mustangcollective.com/ima...7dbc63f650.jpg

The truck is a 1962 Autocar, and is no longer at the body shop. It was back in for detailed touch up of the rough body work, and will be painted by another benefactor who is donating the paint to the Elsmere (Delaware) Fire Company.

6/16/2009 Update
 

I took a few pictures today, but they didn't really come out that great. So I only hosted one picture to save on space.

The gas filler neck and door are mounted now. The side sail panels are attached, and the rear bumper is back where it should be. The tail lights were test-fitted for the picture (hence the tape still attached), but the rear is shaping up nicely.

http://www.mustangcollective.com/ima...7dfdf19950.jpg


The trim color on the bumper and side moldings isn't 100% correct for my 85. It's actually the correct 83 color, which is more matte black than the slightly grayish color on the 85/86's. I like it better this way.

i would love to get my hands on the assignment card for my 82 chp car. !!!!

6/18/2009 Update
 

Bacon is making daily progress in terms of looking again like a real car. The trunklid was remounted after being taken off to wire up the trunk light. Here you can see the side sail panel, side window trim, the rubber side molding behind the tire, and the spring-ball mount for the 66" CHP whip antenna.

http://www.mustangcollective.com/ima...a803cc660e.jpg


I was surprised to see that they mounted the antenna base, as my intention had only been to provide it to the shop so they could make sure the opening was properly sized. Had I known that, I would have left them the a-pillar spot lights too :rolleyes:

In this shot, you can kinda see that the driver's side front fender has been put in-place (but not secured yet). Neal had just lifted it into position when I walked in.

http://www.mustangcollective.com/ima...a803d1de62.jpg


I told them that I need to have the car completed by June 26th, which is next Friday. Neal said that's do-able, but he'll know for sure by early next week. There's only about 2 days left of work to finish, but he is working on other cars too.

6/19/2009 Update
 

Both front fenders have been mounted, and the side moldings have been attached. In this shot, I test fitted the 66" CHP whip antenna, which is visible to the left of the green line.

http://www.mustangcollective.com/ima...ba91bca225.jpg


I didn't leave the antenna on because it would hit the overhead lights. As most of you here know, the CHP used a retaining clip mounted in the doorjam by the top drip rail. I am in the process of recreating the clips using the same non-conductive phenolic material, but I need the car back to properly shape the aluminum bracket to the countour of the drip rail.

Here is a shot of the side moldings mounted to the car. They came out great IMO.

http://www.mustangcollective.com/ima...ba91c2f146.jpg


When I asked Neal if he was still on target for getting the car completed by Friday, June 26th, he smirked and said "should be". Ahh, nothing like getting a definite maybe to a question! But the car is coming along, and it is looking like it will be out of the body shop by the end of next week (knocks on wood).

6/23/2009 Update
 

Here's a shot of the underside of the hood. You can actually see the reflection of the air cleaner!

http://www.mustangcollective.com/ima...125ef762d4.jpg

I'll need to remove and paint the hood prop rod, don't ya think? The engine compartment will need a thorough detailing once it is back home. I will probably get some touch up paint and go inside the recessed areas of the hood to make sure those areas are black.

The front bumper should be going on the car this afternoon, so as it looks now the car will be ready to drive home this Friday!

:2thumbs: :yes: :2thumbs:

Assuming I have the car back Friday, I will be wrenching through my To-Do List Friday night and all day Saturday. Jack (our 13yo) is supposed to go to Hershey Park all weekend with the Boy Scouts, but he said if the car is back he wants to stay home and work on it with me. [good boy!] I need to get the car assembled ASAP because it was selected to be featured as the July Stang of the Month on a Mustang forum. The picture session will be within the next week, so I'll have no time to waste.

Have fun when you get it home but I'd resist rushing it too much trying to make a single deadline. Big "oops" potential with that plus you'd miss out on some of the satisfaction factor that comes with the project being in the final assembly "payoff" phase.

Agreed. My To-Do List is too long for me to try and rush through things, so I plan to start with mounting the CHP lights. Anything after that will be a bonus.

I find it ironic that all three 1985 CHP unit numbers 8302,8336,8395 are all getting restored at the same time. Bill your car looks great! My car is still getting estimates for paint. I did not think that getting your car painted in Ca you had to refinance your home to pay for it. If I can not find a paint job for a fair price I will show the car this year in its black paint job.

6/25/2009 Update
 

I stopped by Diver Chevrolet today (no, not to pick up a new Camaro!). I had them clean and detail the replacement seats.

http://www.mustangcollective.com/ima...3ab4a7ade6.jpg


They are still a bit wet. I know they aren't the original pattern for my 85, but they are a lot closer to original than what is in the car now. These look better too, despite some color fading and a small tare on the driver's seat. I'll keep an eye out for better, original seats. If I have to, I may get these recovered.

I will find out later today whether or not the car will ready tomorrow. If not, then it may not be done until Monday or Tuesday.

Here's what the driver's side bumper absorber looked like yesterday -

http://www.mustangcollective.com/ima...40cca206bf.jpg


And here it is this afternoon -

http://www.mustangcollective.com/ima...40ca3502d6.jpg


The new NOS headlight header panel arrived today, so the bumper will be going on tomorrow. The hood needs to be buffed out, and some trim needs to be installed. But the car MAY be ready to come home tomorrow evening.
:D

chp in progress
 

I just went through the same thing with my NCHP/CHP Clone, it all worth it in the end!

http://www.mustangcollective.com/ima...53a14c28af.jpg

Needs to be cleaned up. Now the fun begins!

:yes:

Looking nice.

Looks great Bill ! Looks like a really good paint job. Please keep posting pics.

Congrats!

looking good Bill. keep the pictures flowing.

Bill, the car came out great!!

Hey Bill, 8336 is waiting for CHP official door emblems and still trying to get a fair price for paint. I changed my sig so you can see what it looks like when your cars lights are installed. Your car looks Great! Another 85 CHP Saved.:2thumbs:

Looking great! Can't wait to see more pictures!

Thanks guys!

More pics will be coming soon. I need to wrench on the car today. Yesterday I successfully removed the purple window tint with a heat gun, single-edge razor blade, and 409 Spray Cleaner.

Here's a teaser shot of the newly-installed CHP lights -

http://www.mustangcollective.com/ima...bd7a80065d.jpg


The shot was taken in a remote industrial complex, and the lights were uncovered for the photos. Once Jack & I were done, the KC covers went back on.

More to come...

now that is a nice photo.....and looks like a very nice car !!

Me too...great photo and car is looking awesome.

Thanks guys!

In a previous post, I mentioned the KC Light covers. They are the 6" soft covers that come with the KC logo. Using acetone and a rag, I was able to wipe them clean.

http://www.mustangcollective.com/ima...ca406653e8.jpg


I bought two pair, and while driving I cover the three rear deck lights and "The Ruby" red spotlight.

Here's a better look at the car -

http://www.mustangcollective.com/ima...ca801912f9.jpg

What a great looking car and photo!

8/06/2009 Update
 

I returned the car to the body shop in mid-July. This was planned, because I had rushed the car out of the shop at the end of June to having pictures taken for a July feature on a Mustang forum (what a cool honor!). As it turned out, they needed to fix a few things. The hood had some imperfections that looked like specs of primer showing through, and the passenger 1/4 panel behind the door had a ripple in the clearcoat that looks like something had dripped on it (this was noted prior to me taking possession in June). I stopped by the body shop today, and they were detailing and cleaning the car for pick-up. It's done (well, at least as far as they're concerned - I have work to do still). The car looks great! They installed the new headliner and little trim items that had been left un-done, they repainted the hood, and ended up taking the passenger 1/4 panel down to metal again. Whatever caused the clear to ripple was actually down through the paint, so they went through and fixed it properly.

Since the weather here is cruddy today and the forecast for tomorrow is better, I will be picking her up tomorrow! We have family coming into town this weekend, but as time allows I will install the new dash pad and put in the new sound system. A new exhaust is also in the near future. I already installed the new carpet and seats, so it looks much better inside now. I am SO looking forward to grabbing gears again in it - what a fun car to drive! I'll post up pics soon.

Well, I have her back now. YES! It's so nice driving the car again. Here are a few quick pics. The first one shows off the new front license plate, which is a duplicate of the original license plate the car used while in the service of the CHP -

http://www.mustangcollective.com/ima...d7829251fd.jpg


The interior shots didn't come out as well as I had hoped, so I'll try again. Here's a side shot, where you can kinda see the new seats.

http://www.mustangcollective.com/ima...d782887501.jpg

Lookin' sharp...

Car is looking great!

Looks great Bill. That goes to show that you don't have to do an in service resto to have a very nice SSP.:thumbsup: