65 Sportsman

Thanks; it’s called Grabber Blue, got it from TCP Global.

Thanks for the info...Me likey!

Painted the inside; I’ll give it a few days to dry and then tape it off to shoot the ceiling.

Looks Great, you're moving right along!!!

Trying to paint the ceiling was just miserable; there’s no way to hold the gun straight to the surface. You’re always at a weird angle and it comes out with overspray streaks. I hope I can hit it with some polish and make it a little better. At least there will be a headliner on the front section to hide some of it.

You need one of those Rotisseries to spin it where you need it... That Grabber Blue is grabbing me...Really like it!

Looks pretty close to the color of your van! Still have the one in your avatar?

Yes, it's sitting in my garage, I've been gathering parts but have been tied up doing projects on our house which we bought 6 months after we bought the van. I owned a blue 66 back in the 80's and when I saw this one, I was immediately brought back to that time in my life. I have a vacation coming up in April that I'm hoping to spend some time to try to at least get it running again and that way I could hopefully drive it this summer and just do work on it as I can. At least it wouldn't be sitting all lonely in the garage. Back in the 80's, I could drive around to the local junkyards and gather parts but now it's much harder to find parts. It's just fun to dream about things that I can attempt to do to it. This site is Full of People with the same love for these vans and lots of different ideas and tons of insprirational talent.

I hear you; my wife and I are about 10 years from retirement so we’ve been ramping up the house projects. We’d like to have all our remodeling done and the house paid off before we pull the trigger. Unless the Lord calls us home before then, that is. Glad you still got your van; they are cool vehicles and well worth saving.
Once I looked at the ceiling again, it wasn’t as bad as I thought. I got all the doors hung today. Now that the inside is painted I’m going to work on getting the drivetrain together and back in while my buddy gets the outside ready for primer.

I pulled the motor apart to check everything today. The guy I bought it from said it was low mileage and ran perfect. Thankfully it was as good as advertised. Super clean inside and almost zero wear on the cylinders and bearings. I’m just changing all the gaskets and seals and going with it as is.

Glad to hear that it worked out well for you! Congrats!

Here’s my spray can rebuild, hoping to spray the Slicksand on the body this week and start blocking it.

Nice work, It's gonna look great in the doghouse!

Time to start blocking while my buddy finishes up some work on the doors. I’m also getting ready to start putting new rockers and quarters in his 53 Chevy coupe as the trade off for him helping me.

Nice to have friends willing to barter and the body on your van looks to be in great shape...I can hardly wait to see how Great it looks when painted!!! You're moving right along.

Me, too! I’m ready to drive it instead of spending every waking minute working on it. I took a break from bodywork and started rebuilding the brakes and suspension. Also getting ready to start on the metal work my buddy’s 53 Chevy.

It looks clean and all original in the pic but there are a couple of cover ups.
If you check out www.tenwheel.com , its an online auto museum and search 1965 chevy deluxe , this very van in the one that comes up, where you see the primer, someone has tried to match the paint to not much success.

Also if anyone knows anything about my van please forward any info on it, I purchased last year but I know almost nothing bout its life , its had a good life and I owe a thanks to someone. I have the cali plates form the previous owner that are pictured on tenwheel.

So... repaint new, clear whats there to preserve or leave it be ?

Thanks Vin

Been doing lots of little stuff like cleaning crud of a big pile of small parts, changed the master cylinder to a dual reservoir instead of the single, painted the steering column, and put seam sealer on the floor patches I had welded in. I dropped the engine back in today and plan on putting Slicksand on the back doors this weekend. Also took the heater box apart, fixed the stuck dampers, painted it and pressure tested the heater core. It leaked like a sieve and is no longer available to I am going to use this one for a 2000 Pontiac. Just have to make a few mods so it’ll work.

Looks like that should work...Great to see you're still making progress. Keep picking away at it. We're all rooting for you! Thanks for posting pics. Great reference for future endeavors for the rest of us.

Appreciate the support! I hope to have it painted in May.

Are you taking it to a show in May?

I doubt I’ll have it all put back together in May but plan on some local shows this summer. There’s a weekend long show in Springfield, Illinois in September that’s really cool; it’s be fun to drive it to that one.

Sure is pretty you all do wonderful work on your vans here. Thanks for sharing

I had a few days off so I cleaned up several more things and bolted them on the engine, primered the back doors, and cleaned up all the pieces of the doghouse and painted them. I was going to use bedliner on the floor but decided to go with a full rubber floor mat so I just painted the floor. I hope to get all the guide coat sanded off the back doors this weekend.
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Nice clean work!