changing horses

Due to my increasing disabilites, I am leaving the street rod part of the hobby, I considered quiting all together. But got to thinking that a 60's St Wgn would fit the bill + allow me to carry a wheel chair to events, drag races and cruises, ( I am NOT using a WChr yet, but am told that I will be w a 90% certainty within a year) My Club (MSRA #2551) has a cutoff of 1965 to enter a car in the BTT50's event every June, but that is only one of many events during the warm month's here in Mn.
I found a nice solid red on red 66 Belair Wgn locally, Cheap, titled (The Title part is EVERYTHING in MN) and solid. It needs everything Mech.freshened up, That is no problem for me at this point. It needs no metal panel replacements which is a good thing as I cannot do that any longer. My question? You can get everything for a hdtp and even to some extent a 2 dr sedan, but how about a wgn ?, I need all the plastic lenses - I see the fronts are no problem but have not seen the rears (w backup Lts) anywhere. How about interior door panels? seat covers? (red) door seals? tailgate window handle/mech.? I have a 468BBC/700R4, 15" Mag wheels w new rubber(yes, sized to fit 80% of 40's to 70's Chevys) and 29"x2.5" Cherry Bomb Mufs, I think the new Disc brake rotors and calipers I have will swap as well. All fresh or new, left over in my last unfinished rod project (41 Chevy tudor) parts pile, so I am ahead of the game there.

 

A lot of restoration parts will interchange. I would do a google search and order as many catalogs as possible some will carry parts that others do not.

I have a power wheelchair myself and plan on getting a hitch and a carier for my 86 wagon. The parts are there you just have to look a little harder some times.

 

I have a few catalogs from years past ,but I am sure they out dated . I have also been looking online at Chevy Impala parts supplier sites. I put Chevy-1966-Station wgn in my Ebay searchs as well

 

Good to see you could find a solid 66 Chevy up where you live.

 

For Taillights and most lenses, you can try the:
http://www.taillightking.com/index.html

For harnesses:
http://www.hotrodwires.com/

For almost everything:
http://www.automotive-links.com/ind/ind.htm

For everything else:
http://autopedia.com/html/HotLinks.html

My grand dad had a 1958 Belair up until he died in 1988. He lost one leg in 1964 to gangrene, and had the car tooled up to drive with one leg. Then he lost the other one in 1981, and had the car modified AGAIN to keep driving it. He died at 87 years old, getting into the car in his driveway, to go Xmas shopping. One determined old Mountie. My hero.

By the way, I'm only a few hours north-east, and once I get mine rolling, I'll be cruising our backroads for what the Farmers hang on to, and all the small towns where they keep the scrappers for spare parts. If you need anything (after the big melt - Spring roads are gumbo), let me know.

 

Sounds like one tough old bird , lot of them like that up in our north country ,mostly old loggers,But that age group (and mind set) is passing fast.

It came from ND + never saw salt like here, I made sure its clean underneith first, then asked about the title.

Thanks for the links -

 

Hey guys, North Dakota and Manitoba/Saskatchewan share the same border. Roadsalt doesn't work in -7C and below degrees (19F). We've got lots of old iron up here and great countryside (fields of grain to the horizon) while you're cruising the backroads for a 1920 to 1990 model of anything. Since we spend most of our winter way below -10C (14F), and we didn't really start until the early 60's, our old iron isn't flakey.

Winnipeg was rated by a Business Lobby group as the 19th best city to live in, yesterday. Too cold for the rich and infamous. But when the media talked to people on the street, they said they'd flush twice because it's a long way to Toronto. Actually, most folks were surprised we didn't win the top spot. Our commutes are about 40 minutes from North to South and East to West city limits, 5 minutes longer than when the streets are empty.

Thanks dGas for a shot at promoting the midwest's best kept secret.

 

"Roadsalt doesn't work in -7C and below degrees (19F). "
Mn. is the same. But they STILL use it anyway and because of the high acidity+moisture of our soil , a car just sitting OS on the ground is toast underneith in just a few years.

 

Here, they just spread sand with no salt when its that cold. The Farmers don't want sodium along the highways here, because they run their irrigation drainage along the edges of their fields, so even the Federal Highways abide by it. And really, the only major highway traffic are the big rigs, and few easterners running back for Christmas on the Atlantic coast. When there is an accident, most people here think it's a clutz from the East!

 

We say the same thing about the bozo's from the LA Basin comming up here for skiing! They kill themselves and others every weekend. The life flight helicopters are a busy bunch this time of year.

In 2006 the voters approved a bond issue to "repair and widen the dangerous roads". How can a road be dangerous, all it does is lay there not doing anything. Why is it the roads fault that Joe Schmuck has an accident. Any by the way look up the word accident. Has nothing to do with Joe Schmuck's collision.

Don't get me started

And before I forget.....get catalitic converters on the rear ends of all those methane and CO2 emmiting animals!

 

I'd eat more beans if I could bottle it! You ever used a dried cowflop for a frisbee? They're lighter and if you're competing, your opponent could never figure out if yours went further.

 

Kinda like a wine bottle throwing contest. After you empty the first bottle who cares.

 

You guys get to vote on government debt? Is that State debt? Or County?

Boy that would be a major boon to democracy, here. I'm not complaining about our current Provincial government. They've managed to work with the big surplusses thanks to selling more river-generated Hydro. But some of the Federal and City 'legacy projects' should have been on a short leash.

So what does the State or County do with its revenues. How come they aren't using them to build infrastructure like highways?

 

Yeah, they all look the same after awhile!

 

It gets very conveluted. We pay 18 cents per gallon of gas for road tax. Part of our registration fees are for roads. Part of the emissions inspection fees are for roads. But the road revenue is siphoned off to other things. The state government calls it borrowing. The key is that it never gets paid back. So back in 2000 or 2002 to voters passed a law that revenues that are targeted for specific things such as roads, education etc. cannot be borrowed by the govener or legislature. Simple, never pay back what you've borrowed in the past and those payments are diverted to other things. So, when the state wants more money the put a referendum on the ballot for the voters to decide. Typically the voters pass the bond because they are sick and tired of the lumpy, broken pot holed roads that should have been fixed to begin with but the money was borrowed and not paid back.

This last bond was for close to 100 billion dollars. 65% went to Los Angeles county to improve the state highway system there. The other 35% went for the rest of the state.

It's all crazy because in the normal tax situation that is supposed to fund roads the state takes in over 30 billion dollars per year.

It's the same way that most Americans pay their debts. Use the Master Card, get a Discover card to pay the master card. Use the Master card some more and get a Visa card to pay the Master and Discover card. Use them some more and get a 2nd mortgage on the house to pay the master, discover and visa cards. Use all three credit cards some more. File bankruptcy, lose the home to foreclosure. Start again. This process can be repeated multiple times, typically four to five in a lifetime. And when it cannot be repeated any more get a reverse mortgage on the house to pay off the last of the credit cards because the bankruptcy court won't accept the case when your in a hospice or only have weeks to live because you're approaching 97 years old by now and have already lost all your money in the indian casinos trying to hit the big one.

Whew, I'm out of breath.