Montana road trip

[jvo]

Just got home, its 11:00 PM here.  My buddy Ol' Jer and I left at 4 AM this morning, from Lethbridge AB down I15 to Great Falls, then southeast to White Sulphur Springs.  Had a really good omelette at Dori's cafe, and continued on down the road south to Columbus.  Called Alvin Stadel from the Pilot truck stop, and he came and met us downtown Columbus, and lead us out to his homestead. 
Neat place he has, back in the hills, really nice shop with more 57 stuff than I have ever seen.  He provided me with all the Fairlane 500 stainless side trim that I need to continue making my Ranchero / Fairlane conversion. The trim isn't perfect, but its nowhere near the price I would have to pay for the repo stuff, and my car is gonna be a driver anyway.  I can fix any minor imperfections in the trim regardless.
I also got a complete passenger door with trim on it.  Got a nice set of taillights, with backup lenses, complete and in very nice condition.  Got some more side window glass stainless that I can use to make my rounded top corners from, when the time comes.  I think I now have pretty much everything I need to complete my conversion now.  If I need anything else, I am pretty sure I know where I can get it.  Alvin has a lot of "stuff".  More "stuff" than I could tell anyone about.  And?.he is moving, so if anybody needs any "stuff", give him a call. 
We also met his wife, and got treated to a couple beers, and told each other a bunch of lies, and had some laughs, and had a really good time overall.  Alvin Stadel is a real standup guy.  We had a real good time today. 
Oh, and Ol' Jer and him cut a mean deal on a whole bunch of metal tractor seats also.
We got out of there late afternoon, drove back through White Sulphur Springs and had another great meal there, then continued on back to Great Falls.  Drove right past the stock car track where the Friday night races were happening.  We really wanted to stop, but needed to get home before they shut the lights off at the border.
Didn't even have any problems with the tax collectors at Canada Customs.  They waved us right through and we didn't even have to pay any tax on the goods we got.  All in all, a very enjoyable day.  Gotta love these road trips. 

[RICH MUISE]

Cool trip, but "before they shut the lights off at the border?" lol

[jvo]

Naw, the border at Sweetgrass is 24 hours, that was just a joke. 
But you oughta get up to visit Alvin some time.  He got his first 57 I think he said when he was 14 and he is at retirement age now.  And a wealth of knowledge.  There wasn't a question he couldn't answer that I could ask anyway.  I gotta go unload this stuff now.  I am real busy with some stuff for my daughter for the next few weeks, so I won't get much progress done on my Ranchero project.  There will be some sleepless nights ahead though.

[junior58]

Sounds like an awesome roadtrip, love trips like that. Just did a trip recently to pick up a 61 Mercury Meteor 800, real clean car, 292. Four of us flew from Palmerston North to Dunedin (bottom of the South Island), picked up the Merc and drove a solid 10 hours without missing a beat, Lance the new owner happy to do all the driving while we enjoyed a few beverages. Overnight in Blenheim, then caught the ferry between the South and North Islands (about a 3 and a half hour boat trip), then another 2 hours back to home. Loved every minute of it. (Sorry, a bit off-topic, just had to share)

[jvo]

Headed back to Alvin's on Wednesday.  Two more sleeps.  Got a bunch of work behind me that had to be done by last week, and now I'm free to go for a day to pick up the door posts and quarter panels from Alvin's parts car.  Going to cut the door posts out, as well as the front end of the quarter panels to the back window area.  Then I will have the proper door posts to graft onto my Ranchero project that will fit the hardtop doors.
Then, I will be able to continue with the project.  My daughter's restaurant renovation, summer holidays, etc. all get in the way. 
I don't seem to get a lot accomplished in July and August, that's the way it seems anyway.  Fall is coming, much more productive time of year for me.  Anyone else feel that way?
So, if its okay with Alvin, I might just take some pics and post them.  Love the road trips, especially when its going to get some new "stuff" for the car. 
Same as last time, leaving Lethbridge at 4:00 AM, should be at Alvin's place before lunch.  Hopefully only take a couple hours to cut them off the parts car.  Then back home.  Last time we were home by 11:00 PM, and even had time for a couple Budweisers with Alvin and his wife before we left.  A good time was had by all. 

[jvo]

Just got home.  Alvin, we realized after we left that we forgot to make up a bill of sale also.  I turn my phone off in the U.S., cause I don't have a package to cover it and the roaming charges just kill me.  Got your message after we got through the border.  We got lucky, as they didn't ask much, and didn't want us to declare anything, so we didn't need one.  I'll upload some pics tomorrow after I get some sleep, so I can tell everyone some lies about how much fun we had.  An 800 mile round trip from 4 AM to midnight is still not too much for me, so I guess I'm not an old guy just yet. 

So, when we rolled into Alvin's place just before noon, this is what we saw.  He had stripped one of his retractables of all the good parts, and had this frame sitting in the yard.  I had seen sketches of a retractable frame before, but never seen one in the flesh, and I couldn't believe how massive the x member is in the middle of it. Alvin was busy tinkering when we got there.

[jvo]

We got right down to business, as we had no idea how long it was going to take to hack the door posts and quarter panels off his donor car.  I backed my pickup in beside his retractable project car, and it was all I could do to keep from taking that home with me as well.  I have enough projects to last me the rest of my life already, but this deal he had with 2 retractables was almost too good to be true.  AND, it is almost rust free.  Anybody need a project like this, you need to get hold of Alvin.  Everything there to build a good car.

And a couple pics of the donor car.  It was a crying shame that I hadn't found this site and Alvin before I got my donor car that I'm using for my Ranchero project.  This car would have made my life a LOT easier.  My donor car was in quite a bit better shape than most 57's I had seen, but this one has good body mounts, and inner rockers.  Just some exterior rocker rust.  Oh well. 

[jvo]

I suited up in my nice black coveralls, and got my reciprocating saw out, as well as a grinder with .040 cutting wheels, and pry bar, chisels, hammer, etc.   Nice hot day to sweat it out in black coveralls, but had to go head down and ass up for a couple hours to get it done. 

[jvo]

Now, whilst I am doing all the hard sweaty work, Jer and Alvin ( Jer in blue shirt, Alvin in orange) are laughing at me, and handing me the odd tool.  Only took about two hours of cutting and hacking to get the panels off the car.  They did however, help change blades on the saw and grinder occasionally, Jer sitting on his butt mostly and offering sage advice and I have to say Alvin was a big help chasing back and forth for tools and muttering the odd word of encouragement ( if you could call those words that). 

[jvo]

Whilst I was removing those wonderful black coveralls, Jer and Alvin proceeded to get me another window regulator out of another door that was leaning against the shed.  Alvin had taken a load to scrap that morning, and had put aside a couple of window regulators for me, but he was wandering around the yard uttering words that would make my grandmother cringe, cause he couldn't find where he put them.  ( Alvin has a little too much stuff)  So, he decided to take another regulator out of that door. 
He and Jer were struggling with that project, and there were some candid comments about how Alvin had to get the job done, cause a couple of Canucks were incapable of removing the regulator from the door. 
Well, it was a little more descriptive than that, but we had some laughs and they got the job done while I wandered around for another good look at his Ponderosa and took a few more pics of all the stuff he has hanging on the walls of various sheds. 
So, then, Alvin adds insult to injury and asks if I had needed any side glass.  I said yes, I will definitely need new side glass.  Then he groans and says, I took some to the dump about 3 weeks ago, still in the brand new packing paper, never been installed.  He says, YOU GOTTA TALK TO ME, I HAVE TO GET RID OF SOME STUFF CAUSE I CAN'T KEEP IT ALL. 
I can understand that yeah, but it still makes me wanna cry. 
Oh, and I might add, he has a shipping container in town with more stuff in it.  I asks, what is in there?  He just shrugs and says, " all 57 stuff". 
Oh dear me, oh my, I said.

[jvo]

Need any 57 Ford stuff?
Alvin gots lots.
I didn't even take any pics of one more of his sheds inside. 
AND, he has gotten rid of a lot of stuff that most of us would consider good stuff.
Thing is, he says he has responded to ads that people post wanting stuff, and nobody ever gets back to him, possible cause he is too far away, or whatever.
Regardless, if you are in the area, and need something ya need to pay him a visit.
Need a rebuilt Y block, complete motor? 
Need a runner Y block? He has several.
Need a rebuilding 312 or 292?  He has more than several.
Need any stainless trim? ( Well, I got the best stuff last trip, but he still has a bunch more.)
Fenders?  Good god, there's a pretty good assortment, amongst other smaller sheet metal parts.
In short, he has a bunch of 57 stuff, and a most of it has to go away.

[jvo]

And then there is his personal collection. 
By the way, I wouldn't have posted any of these photos without Alvin's permission.  You can also see by his shop that he does most of his own work.  He knows his 57's, no doubt about that.  He has owned more than a few of them in his life time, and he is an old, old, old sob as well.
Actually Alvin is a prince of a guy.  After all was said and done, we had to go back into the nice cool shop for a couple of cold Bud's same as last trip.   Oh, except for Jer, he has to be a pain in the butt as he doesn't drink beer, Alvin had to mix him up a rum. 

[jvo]

And, a couple pics of his 57 Tbird, and a pic of the Falcon he did for his daughter.  I did like the Falcon as well, cause its got 3 pedals in it, and I've always been a 3 pedal type of guy.
We never did get over to his other garage at his house, where his wife has a 58 Tbird, if I remember correctly. 
Imagine that, a 58???
With all these 57's present, you would think there would be some 57 Chevrolet's there as well, but none to be seen.  In fact, I don't think I saw a GM part on the whole ponderosa. 
The last pic is of our gracious host, and it was only about 3:00 PM, but damn, it sure as hell was five o'clock somewhere. 

Jer and I hit the trail and had 400 miles to do before we got home, and we forgot to get a bill of sale in all our excitement to show the tax collectors at the border.  Turned out we didn't need it anyway.  I rolled up to my house just before midnight.  A good time was definitely had by all. 
Jer isn't a 57 guy, but he scored some model A Ford hot rod parts from Alvin also.
Just a side note, in the very last pic, someone might wonder what the grey fender is in the corner of the pic.  Alvin bought a 31 Plymouth 3 window coupe from one of his friend's widows and is redoing it.  No Chevy motor there, either though.  Mopar in it all the way.
Love the road trips.  Where we going next?

[RICH MUISE]

just one word...WOW!! Thanks for sharing.

[alvin stadel]

Just a side note about the white convert. When it left Henrys house it was a 2DHT. I had a rusted out convert, and a fairly good 2DHt body it took awhile but I got it done, I tell everyone 1+1=1 . Trust me when I tell you can buy one with a lot less head aches and less money.  Take care, Alvin