It Just Keeps Getting Better and Better

I don't usually reach back to my AP English days in order to wax eloquent about a subject. HOWEVER, allow me to discuss the Hoopty progress in terms that dear Mrs. Coleman would appreciate ....... the Hoopty is turning into one bad mutha sucka!

Sure, sure, sure, it won't be done by the first game of the season, but we don't have tickets for a game until the Cincy game. Therefore, heretowith, henceforth, let it be known that the intended inaugural run of the Hokie Hoopty will be September 23rd (barring any unforeseen disasters or general laziness on my part).

Let There Be Sound
Walker kindly showed up on Thursday with a sony radio and two Xplod speakers in tow. Although Crutchfield was unable to deliver an installation package specifically for a Chevy G30 van/bus/Hoopty we opted to move forward with this daunting task. Despite all the work that lay ahead, Steve felt compelled to play jump rope with the speaker wires.

After several failed attempts to get actual sound Xploding from the speakers, the decision was made to use one of his lifelines and call someone who actually knew what they were doing.
Ultimately the speakers were successfully installed and Xploded nicely. Let it be known that the very first song played on the system was Nirvana's smells like teen spirit. Thanks Walkers for the donation of components and hard work.Clearly I have not held up my end of the deal - the final radio installation is forthcoming.


The Dent That Went
Here are a series of photos that stretch across a few weeks. The big ugly dent repair is almost complete. The before picture shows what damage a renegade canoe trailer can inflict.
Some holes were drilled and I did my best to pull it out (some).

A little paint grinding makes it look kinda terminator-like (or was it the other dude the terminator was trying to whack).

Some nasty-funky-stinky fiberglass bondo was applied. Hopefully this will adhere better.

Some regular bondo on top of that and sand, sand, sand. More bondo. More sanding. More bondo. More sanding. ad infinitum.........and here is the almost finished dent repair. A few areas being touched up with bondo glazing and we're in business. Hopefully the whole blob won't pop out and flop on the interstate while we're cruising along at 65mph.


Vinyl Tap
The biggest changes this weekend came from the installation of seat cushions. Those bench bones had been sitting around naked for long enough. It was time to set up a backyard upholstery shop. Vinyl, foam, plywood, staples and we're in action (despite having no idea what I was doing). Thanks to my upholstery assistant, Sophie, for taking the picture.
Not many interim pictures, so KaPlow - here they are! Oooh, is that bad ass or what? Not exactly perfect, but good enough for being called bad ass (or what). Note the flat black paint with cherry trim to match the rest of the interior. Yes, there is still some more trim to add, but it's looking niiiiice.

All seats lift up for access to some storage space. The maroon vinyl will be especially nice with the orange accent pillows we've got planned.It was a real family affair with Jeanell and Sophie making runs to the store for supplies, filling nail holes, putting poly on the trim, cleaning up Steve's overspray on the windows, and cleaning up many of my messes. Some families go to church on Sundays, we just work on our bus. Religion is where you find it.

Here's another shot from the back door. The pictures don't really do justice to the lounge area.
That back door shot (oooh, that sounds weird) gives a view of the back wall. The cargo area is plain white...... .... while the lounge side of the wall boasts some pretty nice cherry plywood that just happened to be curly cherry - bonus. The look of the black and cherry contrast has lead me to leave the black strips on the ceiling and above the windows as is. Saves me some work and keeps the theme going.

I still plan on adding some cherry door-jamb-like trim to the edges of the walls. We have a cool fabric on order to serve as the curtain between first class and herded cattle.
One additonal purchase. I won a very important eBay auction for this:

No idea where it will go or how we will use it, but we can't call ourselves Hokies without having a lunch pail.

So, there was a lot of progress over the last four days. This update has been a tad lengthy to show it all, but you will have to nibble on this one for a while because there won't be any progress next weekend. The Smiths are heading to Jeanell's high school reunion (I like to consider it a potential Hoopty donation drive). I won't give away the specific year, but let's just say that during the early portion of our high school years, kajagoogoo wasn't just baby talk.