Hello Dolly

One of the hardest things to pull off in this little project has little to do with metal and nothing to do with the car itself, but considering my available space and the time frame (however unrealistic) I figured that building this little dolly would be worth the time, effort and expense.  Whether or not that proves to be true remains to be seen, but now at least one month after making the decision, the dolly is built and ready to go.

I have no idea if it will actually work, since I built it by looking at a couple of pictures that I found on the internet, but if those pictures are true--and what, on the internet is not?--it ought to do the trick.  The trick is to to separate the body from the frame but store the two halves in the same space.

At first, I had planned to simply pull the body off and set it down on a plywood platform in the side yard, but besides seeming unnecessarily crude and predictably South Austin, it just didn't seem like a good idea, leaving it over there to rot, essentially.  Now, to be fair, having it on the dolly doesn't make it more likely that I will restore that body or even that it will be done in a timely manner, but it does ensure that the neighbors will not be offended by much more than the sight to which they are already comfortably--based on their reactions (none so far)--accustomed, or resigned, as the case may be.  It also means that I can look at the body as I work on the frame, which may or may not be an asset.

Now, it would be just delightful if I could call a few friends and make the move, but nothing is ever that easy, is it?  No, of course not.  I have all the body bolts out, as both Readers know, and the body is ready to move, but I have at long last resolved that other burning question: remove the doors and weld in supports?  The answer to this question is, of course,yes,but the obviousness of the answer didn't occur to me till I had built the dolly.

I was considering moving the body to the dolly without removing the doors, reasoning that leaving them in would not only be simpler and quicker (toward the goal of removing the body) than taking the time and trouble to remove them and weld in steel supports between the rear and front halves of the body.  Simpler and quicker, of course, but not better.  Looking at the dolly I realized that if I don't do that support welding first, when I do remove the doors, the body will fold up like a fortune cookie.  Not something I want.  This is a German car, not an Asian one, after all.


So, after all, even with the dolly built, I am another month away from liftoff.  Now the question becomes whether or not it's time to buy the welder.  A new toy?

Steering Out! Body Ready for Liftoff!

Sunday came this week with a threat of rain, but this is Austin.  The day dawned cloudy but by the time Henry stopped by to help me pull the steering column out, the sun was high in the sky and it was a perfect day for a couple of car guys to go play.

The steering wheel had been vexing me because I knew it had to come out but I just could not figure out how.  I thought it would be as easy as removing the two bolts under the dash and just slipping it out of the hole, but that was before I had a good look at it.  I could see that it also had to be disconnected from the steering box, which was no problem, just a couple of bolts holding a clamp on the spline, but it was the retaining clip at the top of the crushable cage where the steering column fit through the body that was giving me the trouble.

It looked like even if I pulled that clip off, it was going to hinder the easy passage of the column (especially that cagey bit) through the hole.  I pondered this as I detached everything else, but by this Sunday, that list was down to just a couple of things, and one of them was the damn steering column.  Fortunately I had Henry to assign this task to, and he delivered the goods.

Of course, it turns out that the retaining clip actually came off, so the problem wasn't as vexing as I'd made it out to be, but then, what problem is unlike this?  So, with no beer to slow him down, Henry had that thing out of the car in less than half an hour.  He also removed the broken-down plastic p-o-s steering wheel, which I am looking forward to replacing with an older more elegant version.

While Henry was working on the steering column I was drinking beer and working on freeing the last sticky spots between the body and the frame.  This meant I had to pull out the cutting wheel to zap a sloppy little weld right up at the front on the passenger side, but once that cut was made and we gave it the old heave-ho, lo and behold, the body lifted right up off the frame!

Success!  Well, sort of.

Not only didn't we have the strength to lift that sucker up right then and there, I didn't have the platform ready for it either, so back down it went.  I have most of the platform built (missing a sheet of plywood) so we can hopefully pull this thing next Sunday!

Gas Tank, Master Cylinder and Bumper Brackets

The body is still on the frame, but I found what I think/hope are the last two body bolts and removed them yesterday.  These were underneath the gas tank in the front of the car, so I removed the four bolts holding down the tank.  Part of this process involved removing about five feet of black canvas hose that was folded up underneath the dash.  This hose comes out of the gas tank and is attached to some kind of moisture condenser mounted up to the left of the gas tank, but why it is so long, I do not know.  It looks to me like one of those 'innovations' that was required for emissions systems sold in the U.S. market in the mid-seventies, but then again, I suppose it could have a genuine function.  I never saw a hose that long on a Beetle though.

One thing I did see on my Beetles that I had not discovered on my Ghia until I pulled out the gas tank was the brake master cylinder.  I might not have seen it on my Ghia at first because it was so completely covered with dirt that it was only the protruding brake lines and wires that marked its existence.  In spite of being so buried, once cleaned off, it looked like the actual thing was in pretty good shape.  It's made of cast iron, but it really hadn't gotten much rust.  Whew!

The brake lines, though thankfully nearly empty of fluid, appeared to be in pretty good shape as well.  These will have to be replaced, along with the master cylinder, but it's nice to see that the car didn't suffer from too much mechanical neglect prior to being laid up.  The condition of the master cylinder is indicative of the overall mechanical condition of the car: dirty but functional.  Up under the hood, where I removed the brake fluid reservoir, years of spilt fluid had caused the paint to come off, but overall this area is relatively rust-free.  

Not so the lower edges of the body, of course, but at least the nose and headlight buckets are in good shape.  In the interest of lightening the load for the body removal, I took off the front bumper brackets but even though they weighed a lot, I don't think that will make much of a difference.  Though it supposedly only weighs a few hundred pounds, that body is still a heavy thing, and it doesn't help that it is stuck to the frame.  It's not actually welded in place, but the combined forces of thirty-five years have bonded the two halves together pretty good.  Once all the bolts were out, with some wiggling, I managed to 'crack' the body at the frame so I can see it is moving, but even Valery and I lifting together couldn't make it budge more than a millimeter or so.  

It looks like it will take at least four people, maybe six to lift it up and off the frame.  I am still considering removing the hood and trunk lid to reduce the weight, but I don't want to take things off that I will just have to store somewhere.

My thought is to keep as much as possible where it belongs just so I don't have to keep track of it or remember where and how it goes on the car.  That includes the doors, which I really do not want to take off until it is absolutely necessary because once they are off, it is hard to get them back on just perfectly.  The same is true of the trunk and hood.  If I do have to remove the doors, I will also have to weld in some supports so that the body doesn't twist and get distorted when it is moved.  Since I haven't bought a welder yet, that bit is still in the realm of the abstract, not the real.

Next: Body off!

Someday

Body Bolts

By this time, I've removed off just about everything that I need to before pulling the body off the frame, so it is time to tackle those body bolts.  The thing is, while I can see a lot of them, I am not really sure where all the connections are actually located.  I did some checking online to discover where most of them are supposed to be and I think there are 16 bolts per side of the vehicle.  Nine of these are located under the rocker panels along the two sides; two are on the bottom of the pan, up near the front suspension; one is under the gas tank up front; three are under the rear seat; and one is in the rear wheel well, where the body and frame are connected to the suspension.

Thankfully, in spite of all the rust infecting the lower edge of the body, the bolts were all easily removed.  It took the big breaker bar a couple of times, but by yesterday evening I had removed all 32 of the body bolts.  I left them in order as I removed them and took care to number and label them in individual bags so when I go to put it back together they will line up.  I don't know how important this step actually is just yet.  It may have been unnecessary, but my inclination is to mark everything as clearly as possible just in case it does matter how and in which order the pieces go back together.

In some cases, like removing the trunk lid or the doors, I know it is very important to mark the location of the hinge and the order of the bolts so that it will fit back together with the same tolerances, so I am following this principle pretty much on each portion.  Some things are so far gone or are so obviously generic that I can safely either discard them or store them in a catch-all bag.  The brake line that I removed from under the passenger side, for example, was so rusted that even though it came out without breaking it, it can be rehabilitated and will simply be replaced.  The bolts that held it in place were the standard 13mm, and are relatively useful, so they are saved but will also likely be replaced by from fresh new ones when it comes time to put in the brand-new brake line.

So, with what seems to be all the bolts out, just before I out the cover back on, I gave the body a few little tugs to see if it is going to just lift off the way I hope.  It didn't even budge.

Next: Welded?

The Spinal Tap

Even though it isn't absolutely necessary to completely remove the wiring harnesses in order to pull the body off the frame, it just makes me feel better knowing that they are out.

After all, one of the most frustrating things to diagnose about a car is the wiring, and in a forty-year-old car, it's a safe bet that one of more of those dozens of wires that make up that ugly snake of a harness that I finally managed to pull out of the left rear quarter-panel has gone bad at some point.  Either a break in the copper conductor or a worn place on the insulation is enough to cause havoc in the electrical system.  Without testing each individual wire I will never be sure that it isn't about to fail.  And it will fail.  Ask HAL.

So out it came.  Laying out on the hot concrete just pulled from the car, it looked sort of like a spinal cord, which is of course pretty much what it is.

Again, with no real need but a desire, I went around front and removed the headlights and turn signals.  Mostly I was curious to see if there was any rust in behind the headlights and I was rewarded with the sight of (mostly) rust-free metal under the eyes.  That front wiring harness will also come out soon, but there's no real rush and it's just fine where it is for now.  The headlights and turn lenses will have to be replaced, along with all the rubber seals and some of the screws.

With the wiring out, it's time to tackle the body bolts.

The Wires Must Go

Since my first major goal is to remove the body from the frame, disconnecting the wiring is an important step.  Although I pulled out the headlights and most of the front wiring harness, the fact is that it won't affect the body removal because that harness is contained within the body.  Not so the rear wiring harness, which of course runs through the body to the engine and rear lights.  I didn't really have to remove the lights, but in the interest of stripping things off for the long run, I went ahead and pulled both taillights out.

Not only are they old, and cracked, but after removing them I realized just how ugly they are.  Ugly, that is, when I saw the nice clean and sharp line that is left when the bulky red-and white plastic lens had been removed.  Seeing this line got me to thinking about how I would and can customize this car as it goes back together.  I don't want to build everything, or even most things by hand, since that would take more time and effort than I have or am willing to part with,  but I am intrigued by the idea of making this little car unique.

There have been a lot of improvements to automobile engineering since 1974, and while most of them can't be retrofitted to an old car like mine, there are many things that I can do, like sound and rust proofing, new instruments and above all, a new set of wiring harnesses.

I think I said it before, but this wiring harness is shot.  I have way too much experience--all of it bad--trying to diagnose and fix electrical wiring problems.  I would rather pull out the whole thing and replace it with brand-new wires, connectors and insulation.  It'll take a lot of work to re-wire this thing, but it will be worth it in the long run.

Not only the wires, but the relays and voltage regulator are also beyond repair and will be replaced.  It feels good, actually, to strip out the old nervous system without even facing the nightmare of figuring it out for now.
There had been a fire in the engine compartment sometime just before the car was laid up last; the melted insulation on the heaviest wire in the system--the battery cable--says it all.

Thanks to some kind of clamp or hook holding the wiring harness inside the right rear quarter panel I haven't been able to pull it out completely, but that isn't necessary to pull the body off, so I will leave it till then, when I can no doubt get a better look and angle on removing it.  For now, the wires connected to the engine are off and that's what counts.  I also disconnected the steering wheel from the body in front and removed the shifter.

Brake cables and lines will  be next, then I can start working on those body bolts.

Who knows?  Maybe it will come off tomorrow!

Broken Bumpers

 Having removed much of the stuff inside and on the front of the car, it was time to move to the back.  The goal is to pull the body off the frame sometime in the next couple of weeks, so I am trying to pull off anything that will hinder the body removal.  At the same time, I don't want to pull off things that really don't need to come off right now.  Eventually, everything will come off for the bodywork and paint, but for now, pulling something off just means that I have to label and find a place to store it.

The bumpers needed to come off not just because they are attached to the frame through the body, but also because they are a) trashed, and b) in the way when it comes to pulling other stuff out, especially in the back.  In fact the front bumper was already off the car when I bought it, so I just had to pull the rear.  This is where rust makes the job a challenge.  A couple of the bolts inside the bumper were so badly rusted and mangled that it didn't make sense to even wrestle with it now and I just pulled the whole thing off.  More than likely I will trash these bumpers and fit a set of older (ie 60's) style tubular bumpers.  It'll require some custom fabrication, but it won't be that hard.  I think there are even conversion kits you can buy.


Speaking of buying, I finally got my J-Buggs catalog in the mail, so between beers and banging my knuckles, I can at least figure out how much that part I just crushed/broke/otherwise destroyed getting out is going to cost me some day.

Next the wiring must go.

Tin and Rivets

 After the recalcitrant passenger side seat came..erm, was cut out, it was time to tackle the 'back seat.'  In the 1974 model, however, VW abandoned the pretense of building in a back seat and simply fitted the area behind the front seats with carpet covered wooden panel.

So, though it seemed to me to have been one of those bizarre "there...I fixed it" solutions for which car owners are rightly infamous, the first piece to come out was actually a replacement for the original piece of plywood that fit over the transaxle.

This piece of wood was not the original, but a replacement.  I can tell  because the rust had eaten away at the cross-member onto which it was mounted.  Whoever made the repair did so with an eye to utility and none to practicality, for when I drilled out the rivets and pulled the tin cover off the cross-member, it was not a sight to admire.  Suffice it to say this this entire piece is almost entirely rusted away, from the seat fitting all the way back into the area where the convertible top is stored when down.  It will all have to come out, and from what I can tell from the catalogs, these are not stock parts.  That means I don't have a lot of choices when it come to replacing it, which I most certainly have to do.  I can either find a 'donor' car and cut it out of that or fabricate an entirely new piece.  Either way it is going to be a lot of cutting, welding, grinding and sanding.  What fun!

I can't get to that just yet.  I still have a lot of stuff to pull off and out of this car.  I decided to stick with the sheet metal theme and go ahead and remove all the pieces of sheet metal that were riveted to the frame in the front, three in all.  These pieces in the front threatened to cover rust at least as deep and pervasive as I found in the back, but I think I caught a bit of a break here.

Removing the piece on the driver's side, I found a few spots of rust, but more basic evidence of a lazy repair job.  Instead of replacing the panels properly, they simply ripped out the old stuff and hammered and riveted in some new tin and covered it with carpet.  Considering how cheap the carpet was (not a woven fabric but a cheap spun-plastic mat) I can't imagine that this did anything more than keep the draft at bay on chilly mornings.  The wiring harness snakes up behind this panel but it's hard to believe that's the way it's supposed to be.  The entire wiring harness--front to back--is junk, and not just because it went through some kind of electrical fire in the engine compartment.  I'd rather start with a brand-new if somewhat expensive ($300) wiring harness than spend hours trying to track down a short circuit in a thirty-six year old bundle of cracking wires.


With all this tin out, I gave the body its first spray with compressed air.  I wanted to drive all the rust particles to the back and bottom of the car, but I don't want to spray the out around into the environment. I also don't want to wash it since it's had enough water on it already in my opinion, and the water will just leach all those nasty metals into the soil.  So, for now, I've accumulated a fair bit of rust detritus in the back and when I pull the body off the frame, it'll be time to sweep it all out and bag it for disposal.

Next, I am going to tackle the wiring and lights.  Although it's not necessary to separate the body from the frame, I want to clean up the body as much as I can before pulling it, both to save weight and take care of the easiest tasks first.  I also have to untangle and remove all the wires from the engine before I can release the body from its many entanglements.

Lazy Welds and Odd Repairs

Sunday was a good day, at least for tearing out bad bits of the Ghia.  I made some good progress.

First, I cut out the last bit of the passenger side seat, which had been tack-welded (fortunately by someone too lazy to do more than that) to the rail.  It was pretty quick and easy to cut the four welds and finally bang that seat out of there, but this kind of work is surely a sign of more serious problems to come.

Indeed.  Next, I went into the back, removing the rivets, tin and wood that had served as kick panels for the rear seat, then taking out wooden cover where the back seat panel is supposed to be.  There is a lot of rust down there, but actually, these pieces are easily replaced.  The structural elements of the body seem to be intact, but I have yet to tear out all the foam and insulation between the back seat and the rear firewall.  I suspect there is a lot of rust under that.

There is one more long tin panel riveted along the back rail that is there for a reason.  It's pretty clear that whoever 'repaired' this car last, didn't really care about how it might look, just that the rust was covered up.  A bit of tin and some carpet and hey presto, a 'new' car!

Next I removed the convertible top.  This was pretty easy, which after I removed some brittle old plastic covers for the mechanism, required only that I remove six bolts.  It lifted right out.  Then I removed the back window, which fortunately is intact, because I am sure it's one of the more expensive pieces on this car to replace.

Loki has been patient enough to come out and sit with me. He's the only one besides me that can put up with the mosquitos!

The Seat Must Go

Well, it's been raining every afternoon this week, so I simply haven't been able to take the cover off to do any work since last Sunday.  last week, I was struggling to remove the passenger side seat and couldn't get it to budge despite bringing in the bigger hammer.

Then, after a failed attempt to loosen the seat on the rail with chemicals, I discovered why those efforts had failed: the seat is actually welded to the rail.  Not only that, but it's actually welded in crooked!  Oh well, it's an opportunity to try out my cutoff wheel, something I will be using a lot when it comes time to do the body work.

So, with a couple hours before work and a cool cloudy sky overhead, I am off to pull that seat out.  That and the dashboard are on the agenda, so we'll see how far I get!

Windshield & Wiring

At this point, I am still getting to know my new toy.  I know that I want to strip off everything from the body, but it's hard to decide where to actually start.

I settle on the removing dashboard, which is so rusty and rotten that it literally falls apart in my hand.  Still it has to be removed as if it were whole, and this means removing the windshield.  Now you don't actually have to remove the windshield to do this, but it certainly makes it easier, and in this case, since I am just stripping things off the body, it makes sense to pull out the glass.  First off is the aluminum strip that is set into the rubber gasket that actually holds the windshield in place.  This is actually a decorative piece, and in fact many rebuilds leave this off, for what is loosely called the 'Cal' look.

As soon as that is out, it's time to pull the windshield.  It's not as easy as just pushing it out, but that's to be expected since it is wedged in there tightly for a reason.  It really is a two man job, and fortunately my friend Dan, who was joining us for supper that night, pulled up on his bike. So, while some folks sing for their supper, Dan got his hands rusty-greasy-grimy as we yanked that bad boy right out of it's rusty socket.  It's one of those things that I wish I'd noticed, since it might have made it easier to bargain, but the cracked windshield is just the first of many expensive lessons I expect to learn before this adventure is all over.

Next, I turned my attention back to the dash.  Before I could start stripping the rusty crusty shell from the body, though, I had to remove all the gauges, switches, heater controls and wire for all of that. The easiest things to remove are the big ones: the speedometer and the tachometer, so out they come.

The wiring is so tangled and stiff that a lot of wires simply pulled out of their connectors.  No matter, it's all shot so it all comes out.  I am saving all the wiring for now, but I will certainly invest in a brand-new wiring harness, front to rear.  It's really no fun trying to track down a faulty wire; better to start fresh and face the nightmare of trying to plug it all in correctly.

Fortunately, all that's off in the future somewhere.  For now, I am having fun pulling out all the old and thinking about the new.

Twin Serpents

My second trip to the auto parts store yields about $30 worth of cleaning supplies.  In addition to the paint-removing scuff wheel for my drill, I have the requisite can of WD-40, plus some Liquid Wrench (a spray, a lot like WD), Rust Remover (a goop for really bad spots/bolts/screws), and some hand cleaner (with a 'fresh' orange scent).

My goal this evening was to get that other seat out, but of course I didn't even get that far.  I only managed to pull out half of the rusty spring cage.  The seat frame remains solidly wedged/rusted to the rails, so some chemical soaking is in order this evening before I start banging on it again.  The seat frame is actually slightly askew on the rails, so that's the real trouble.  A bit of rust remover plus some judicious tapping should do the trick next time.  In any case, it's looking more and more like nothing in these seats is actually salvageable, so I'm not concerned about how this particular frame looks when it finally does come out.

 I found another rust hole in the floor pan, this one under the seat on the passenger side.  This is good news and bad news.  The bad news, of course, is that there's rust in the floor pan.  The good news is twofold:  1) the holes aren't big, and 2) repairing them will be a good way to practice my welding skills.

Welding skills?  Why yes, indeed Dear Reader.  In fact, in one of my past lives, I was actually a welder. This was back in the Dark Ages, of course, before the Internet or cell phones, back when a kid right out of high school could find work in a torque convertor rebuilding shop.  I've written about this before, briefly, in a story about my arrest back on Maufrais Lane.

I admit, this was a very long time ago, and it is possible that my skills have diminished somewhat in the interim, but even so I can rightfully claim to know how to weld and maintain that it is merely practice I need to become perfect.

Since the imperfections caused by poor welding can not only be noticed but can actually be magnified in the context of an auto body, it may seem that my claim is a bold one, bordering even on hubris, but if one is prepared to admit that such welding might be done successfully by a skilled craftsman, one might also have to admit that with enough practice, I might actually be able to pull it off.  

Now, if I sound a little defensive, it's because I've already encountered enough raised eyebrows and skeptical looks to make me doubt myself, however briefly.  While I do realize that the consequences of the absence of experience can be detrimental to the process, I am not now willing to admit that I am unable to gain the skill necessary to produce a beautiful finished product.  

In other words, just because I don't know how to do it well doesn't mean I can't learn.  In fact, I'm willing to bet that not only will I learn how to weld on this car, but I'll get damn good at it.  Of course, that level of skill will be reached at roughly the same time the project is brought to a successful conclusion, so the value of my ability may only be measured in this one car, but that's sufficient for me.

The careful reader will have observed that my arrogance extends not only to assumptions made about my soon-to-be-uncovered welding abilities, but also to the broader assumptions made about the success of the project as a whole.  While it may seem apparent, I must reveal that this is a simple, deliberate attempt to set myself up for humiliation should the result be anything less than my least bold prediction.  For the weak-minded and weak-willed like me, the fear of disgrace is as powerful as the lure of success, so I figure, why not employ them both in the service of my goal?

It is with these twin serpents looping about in my brain that I took the 13mm socket, and six inch extension and a ratchet and took out the first frame bolt just underneath the driver's side door.  It came out without even the slightest resistance, no WD-40, no Liquid Wrench, not even a lot of elbow grease.  It's just the first of something like two-dozen, so I am not celebrating yet.  

The smirk on my face is proof positive of the insanity which has overtaken me. 

Day One

The goal for the day was to take the body off.  One of the nice things about goals is that they give you a good way to measure achievement.  Or, in this case, the lack thereof.

Now, what I did manage to do, in the two hours and two beers after 5pm when I finally rolled the cover back, was to pull out the seat on the driver's side and strip off the seat cushion.  I couldn't get the seat on the passenger side out (even when I got the bigger hammer), so I had to settle for simply stripping it of all the rotten foam, sisal and rotten vinyl.  The result, while not pretty, is informative.

Hoo boy, these seats are shot.  One almost inveitable consequence of old seats in a convertible is the rust that can't help but form in the springs.  A couple of good rains with the top down is all it takes, and this car saw far than a few of those mishaps, I do believe.  I could repair these seats, but honestly I might as well just get a new, or 'new-to-me' set. After all, it is just the standard VW seat, so I should have plenty to choose from.  As likely or not I'll get some used seats and refurbish them myself.

What will be harder to fix will be the rust hole I found under the driver's side seat.  When I gave the car the initial 'once-over', I thought the floor pans were in pretty food shape, rust-wise.  I could see that the pan on the passenger side was dented (up, from something underneath) but I had the impression that both were relatively rust free.  Not.  As soon as the seat came out all it took was a little touch to open this hole.  Ok, I think this is not necessarily a big deal, but it will have to be fixed.  It may be easier--but not cheaper--to replace one or both of the pans, but hopefully I can patch the one and bang out the other.

There'll be no banging on the wooden deck lid I discovered in the back, however.  Although it's not rotten, it is anything but standard, of course, and will not be any easy fix, no matter what.  While someone definitely took some time to make this repair, it's so far from what I have in mind that it can only be pulled out and replaced. Oh, what fun that will be!

The cross piece that is currently being held together with tin and rivets may be more than a minor problem, as it no doubt has something to do with the structural integrity of the body itself.  Ugh.

1 day.  1.5 seats.

The Spending Begins

Well, I made my first purchase for the Ghia.  Two actually.  A car cover and the Haynes Manual.

Tomorrow will be my first day to actually work on it.  The very first thing I do will be to clean up some of the trash and throw it away.  There is a lot of stuff to be cleaned up, like the crumbling dash, the rotting bits of plastic and rubber around the doors.  The seat foam is shot and will have to be pulled out, along with the seat frames and the convertible top frame, which, though rusty, are salvageable.  The wiring is all bad too, not to mention fried where the engine fire was. The tires are also ready for the trash, but I will wait until I start working on the chassis and wheels before I replace them.

So, after a good bit of basic clearing and cleaning, the next step will be to remove the body.  There are about two dozen bolts holding it to the frame, and a first inspection seemed to offer hope that they are not rusted up and might be relatively easy to remove.  From what I've read, the body can be lifted off the frame with four people, hoping, of course, that it doesn't simply buckle at all the rusty spots.

Gee, did I mention the rusty spots? Oh, there are a few...like this one, just behind the wheel well on the passenger side.  There are a few more, which I will reveal slowly so as not to alarm you too much, Dear Reader.