As I pulled into Lenny’s garage on Tuesday, September 25th at 10am (an hour later than instructed) I was surprised to see him driving out. I figured he had to run an errand and I would wait for him. As I parked the car he drove up behind me and got out of the truck. He had a friend with him and Lenny’s wife and another woman were also there. “You’re just in time for a coffee, Bob. Your timing’s terrific.” I peeked into the garage and immediately could tell a bunch of work had already been done . I am beginning to realize that Lenny is an early riser! He introduced me to Mike Fortunado and his wife and before going for coffee showed me what they had been up to.

Below you can see that the hood has been removed – as had the headlights, radiator, fenders and a couple of the 8 bolts that hold the body on to the frame. Here, Lenny is working on the firewall – which separates the engine compartment from the front passenger area. It does very little to protect the driver from viruses though. McDonald’s oatmeal cups make great storage containers for nuts and bolts.

Mike is a retired machinist and metal fabricator who has been working with Lenny to restore Model T’s for over 15 years. He’s fit as a fiddle and another fountain of knowledge on restoring these cars. He’s also a patient teacher teacher. He has answered all of my ignorant questions so far! Above, he’s working to remove one of the frame bolts at the back of the car.

Many (or most all) of the nuts and bolts that hold everything together are rusted frozen. But with the help of some lubricant spray called PB Blaster – also referred to as “juice”, and “weasel piss” – many of them will come loose. Those that don’t, can be drilled out or torched. Above, Mike is using the torch to simply burn a carriage bolt off…. and in the process the firewall caught on fire! Weasel piss is not used to extinguish fires, by the way.

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The next challenge was to remove the steering column. Okay… sure, easy right? Not quite.. but these guys have very little difficulty. It’s just a couple of bolts…. The video below shows the beginning of the process.

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The windshield was next. Above you can see the two square holes where carriage bolts were used to attach the windshield frame. Below Lenny and Mike are working to remove the frame. You can also see that the firewall has been unbolted from the cowl. The box you see is where the coils go. The controls from the dash board are sitting in the coil box. I’m not sure where the CD player and integrated GPS went…

Next, It was time to remove the rest of the upholstery and the seat back springs from the front seat. More nests from mice and rats here!! The 84 year old mechanic has no trouble ripping out the 89 year old Corinthian leather. Below the upholstery is the gas tank. Interesting, isn’t it, that the gas tank is located under the driver’s seat. Probably this is why Henry Ford didn’t put an ash tray in the dash…

This is a good view of the front of the car, now. No radiator (which has to be replaced as there was nests in it as well), no steering column, and the firewall is loose. We haven’t removed the wiring, as Lenny thinks we can get the motor running still…. maybe?

The photos above and below are of the wooden “belt rail” around the front seat. This wood is in terrific shape and will not have to be replaced. This wood gives the sheet metal some structure and strength and is what the upholstery is tacked to.

The gas tank came with a very cool and rare gas gauge. The jury is still out on whether we can use the tank, but the gauge is definitely a keeper!

At the end of the day, both the car and Lenny are looking a bit tired. Lots of pieces came off the car today. Let’s hope we can figure out how to put the puzzle back together later on!