Well, it’s a about time to update, huh? I like to do this every 6 months whether it’s needed or not! Sorry for the sparse updates. The fact is I just have not had time to do much on the car over the last 6 months. My car buying business is taking a lot of my time these days but that is a good thing! Between doing 2 radio shows, buying cars and doing my real job, I’ve been working 60-70 hour weeks. Now I understand why it seems to take others so long to finish a car project. Yikes!

2007 started out well, with Gene Southall contributing mightily to the project. Thanks to Gene, the driveline is in place and operational. Thank You Gene! Also want to give a shout out to Randy Carrol and his capable staff at Heads By Paul for building the 440. I will have a special engine rebuilding segment with pictures soon. Yes Randy, I still have my notes on what was done to the 440! (Now, I just have to find the pictures in my computer!) The car is now taking up space over at Colorado Car Clinic. Thanks to Dave Hansen for allowing me to store (and occasionally work) on the car

Here is where we stand: I have the doors installed after finally locating the hinges. They were in the trunk, Gene! The fenders are in place but not bolted on. I am going to try to locate some bolts and nut clips in South Dakota later this week. I will also be looking for another water pump casting for the engine. The one we used came with the engine but the lower hose is on the right side instead of the left. Gene rigged up a crossover hose for now but it will have to be changed. I could replace the radiator but since it’s brand new I hate to do that. The other issue under the hood is a power steering leak. Hopefully, it is just a hose but it might be the steering box. I need to troubleshoot that issue. The engine runs great by the way. Gene installed the new Edelbrock carb at The Auto Shop. It’s a 750 (I believe) can’t wait to get it on Tobi’s Dyno up at TC Performance.

I visited with Steve Pelletier last week and he is still up for doing the paint job. He does outstanding work so I’m excited to see how it will look. Steve showed me a 70 Cuda he just painted green. It’s an original 440 automatic. Sweet! We’re looking at March as the target date for painting. That gives me 3 months to get the fenders bolted on along with the rest of the front end stuff. I am concerned that things are not totally square up front. Steve said he would help square it up and get everything in place before he shoots it. (I’ve felt like shooting it a few times but I digress) I did get the hood from Steve when I was up there. I have to do some work on the left hood hinge. One of the bolts was twisted off at some point and rather than replacing the bolt they simply drilled a hole in the bolt and threaded in a smaller bolt. Guess we’ll have the drill the whole thing out and start over. It’s kind of a mess because the hole was not centered when they drilled it. Unfortunately, the bolt is (of course) the hardest one to get to. Little stuff like this is always a pain in the ass and slows things down.

I want to once again thank all Project Road Runner sponsors like Randy at Heads By Paul, Gary over at Blastech, Denver Bumper, Dale and Fred at Parker Transmission and Gear and the outstanding crew over at Shock Glass in Centennial. And of course, Thanks again to Gene and Dave for all their help. Look these guys up on the homepage and use them. All EXCELLENT!

Drive able by the end of the year? That’s the goal and I think it’s doable if I get the time.

Stay tuned and have a great 2008!

Tom Collins

12/24/07