The Buzz Bomb

This is my first car, bought in January '08 for a grand total of $550. It had a sad little rusted body, an insignificant 98 cubic inch motor and a four speed stick.  We test drove it  at night and it went well, for a $550 dollar car. We brought it home during the day, and discovered that there was blue smoke pouring from the tailpipe. Hmmn. New valve stem seals, a new muffler, and a few other odds and ends and she ran good. Then I filled the gas tank. The next morning, the garage floor was flooded and my gas tank was on empty. So, one gas tank later (thanks Dad) she was in good working order She sat like that for awhile (4+ months) with me working on her in my spare time. Soon, it was getting colder and I still didn't have it painted. I had heard that you could paint a car with rustoleum oil based enamel, so I bought some Gloss red with intentions of painting the whole car red. One day my father  and I were  bench racing and looking at the car and he mentioned painting it two tone. From there, the Buzz bomb was born. How style the car was an issue, because there is no real venue in the US that represents an 1982 Ford Escort. I don't get the tuner look, and it doesn't fit with any kind of sports car theme, so I decided I would do something outrageous. I was going to do a boss theme after the '69 and '70 boss mustangs, but that ended after I decided on two tone paint. While brainstorming for ideas, I decided to theme it after '60s NASCAR racers with hand lettering, racing number, and old steel wheels. It is a four cylinder motor and makes kind of a buzzing sound, hence the name. This was also the least expensive route, as I have limited funding. What follows are the pictures of the car between white coats and after the base was all painted. More pics will follow as I find the pics of the car as I got it, and as I work more on it.

10/12/08

Today I put the trim back on the car as well as my new grille with cobra logo. Not sure if I should paint the other trim like a racing number or hood lettering now, look realy good with just the two tone. Hope to take the tires off of the wheels and strip and paint the wheels silver. Whitewalls maybe? It is really gratifying to see your car come together after several months of work. Pictures soon.

Here they are.

My interior- The three switches turn on the cars power and the red button hits the starter.

I bought the Grant GT wheel for $5 at a swap meet, refinished it, and modified it to work on steering column.

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Page 2- Updates and other fun stuff