[GB SISSON]

Well, I am on my third social security check, was med-evac'd off the island by helicopter with a heart attack 3 weeks ago. I'm ok, but have an all new diet that I'm still getting used to. This afternoon my wife and I just got back from a trip to town in the woodie. I bet we have 1500 trouble free miles on it now. I wanted to share some recent work and a few upgrades since I last posted. About a year ago I installed all the glass except for the much needed new windshield. The glass is raised and lowered with a black nylon strap or lanyard screwed to a saw-kerfed maple strip glued to the bottom of the door glass. There is a short piece of 1/4" steel rod, angled slightly downward to hook the lanyard onto. Holes were melted through at intervals by a red hot chainsaw file. The first holes I melted were to hold the glass about 1/3rd of the way down so when we were in town with our dog, she could get good ventilation and not escape. Since then I have burned a few more holes in between. The long rear windows are sliders and in felt lined channel as are the door glass. Last April the mis-matched front seats were replaced with a very nice pair of re-upholstered '64 vw bug low back buckets, and seat belts from Napa. The seats were found in this condition at the annual Portland Or. swap meet. After that I installed a cool, period aftermarket heater that also came from Portland. I still only have about 3 coats of varnish on the body so it has yet to be exposed to rain. The heart attack thing set my fall schedule back a couple of weeks so I might not get those other 3 coats on til spring, but it's safe and secure in the shed when winter roars back into the islands. Winter's projects include floor and firewall sound-proofing, along with a front floor mat. Who makes a good one for a pickup? All in all a great success and that 3M 5200 marine polyurethane adhesive, along with the baltic birch plywood splines in the wood joints, finalized with the hardened star drive 1/4" lags, many of them 6" or more long buried in the joints makes for a tough and resilient intersection on the door and body joinery. I'm glad I made the effort to build this thing. I had thought about doing so for many years, and the events at the end of August made me rethink some of my goals. The way they fixed me up at the hospital was not the ideal, as I had burned up much of my earlier options by not sticking with the guidelines given to me 5 years ago with a triple bypass from a previous event. At 66 with an awesome wife and 4 grandchildren, I endeavor to make this repair hold. OK, enough of that, here's some photos I took today after our town visit.