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.