Scarlett – LS1 T56 VN

[SamParticipant TownsvilleLS1 T56 VN, HPW VX SS, WK Grange #0010 View build HERE Member since: July 13, 2015 Posts: 10]

It’s been a year by now since I bought a new body shell for my oldest friend. Today I have finally made a start. It’s a great feeling jumping into a project like this – an almost overwhelming mix of excitement, enthusiasm, and no small share of anxiety. Even though this is essentially just a repeat of the first build, I have the same feeling now that I did five years ago. I sat staring at an empty shell, wondering what I had done, thinking I would never possibly be able to finish it and questioning what madness had led me to tear it down completely. It’s this same thought process that led me to delay this round of work for so long. Even the tiny amount of progress I have made so far is slowly overcoming this block.

I think a lot of people may not understand why I’m so attached to this car. After all, it’s not particularly rare, or valuable, or historically important; it has none of the traditional hallmarks of what makes a car ‘special’. I’m going to try to go some way toward explaining its significance here.

My father owned this car before I did. It carried me to primary school, took us on family trips to the mountains, engraved its place in so many memories of my childhood. Ten years ago it became my first car, and it was the avenue through which I taught myself everything I now know, from basic servicing and maintenance to wiring, engine building and modification.

Most importantly though, this machine has been the only constant in the most turbulent years of my life. Through all the shit that’s happened, all the pain I’ve felt and all of the good times in between, it’s been right there with me. I could always rely on it to take my mind off things when I needed to, or just take it out for an aimless drive and reflect on all the hard work I’ve put in, all the experiences that have revolved around it.

When I moved away from home for the first time, I would work on it to remind me of my family, of life back home. When my first relationship ended in spectacular failure, I healed my mind with my hands, giving it a new heart in the form of an alloy 5.7L and six-speed manual transmission. With another failed relationship came the decision to purchase a new shell. An assault charge last year that landed me in hospital, then court, and out of pocket a significant sum of money led to the purchase of a freshly rebuilt engine and a turbocharger.

After all that, I have left it sitting abandoned for months. I realised that somewhere in the back of my mind that’s been eating at me; we’ve been through too much for that, it deserves better. I decided it’s time to do some work, and do it properly. It’s time for me to heal my mind with my hands, and once again rebuild this friend of mine made of alloy and steel.

http://www.facebook.com/ScarlettVN

• This topic was modified 9 years, 3 months ago by  Sam.
• This topic was modified 9 years, 3 months ago by  Sam.
• This topic was modified 9 years, 3 months ago by  Sam.
• This topic was modified 9 years, 3 months ago by  Sam.

[SamParticipant TownsvilleLS1 T56 VN, HPW VX SS, WK Grange #0010 View build HERE Member since: July 13, 2015 Posts: 10]

Here’s a few photos from when the new shell was sprayed. This was all done before I owned it. A fair bit of work went into the sheet steel, particularly the firewall and strut towers. The firewall was also switched with a VR/VS one so the VR Caprice dashboard actually fits correctly.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

• This reply was modified 9 years, 3 months ago by  Sam.

[SamParticipant TownsvilleLS1 T56 VN, HPW VX SS, WK Grange #0010 View build HERE Member since: July 13, 2015 Posts: 10]

A couple of random photos of the interior. The whole lot is VR Caprice leather. This interior is the reason behind the firewall swap. Electric everything.. it’s going to be an adventure wiring it all up, I imagine.

 

 

 

 

• This reply was modified 9 years, 3 months ago by  Sam.

[SamParticipant TownsvilleLS1 T56 VN, HPW VX SS, WK Grange #0010 View build HERE Member since: July 13, 2015 Posts: 10]

Progress so far…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[HDN05LParticipant Canberra ACTVS Olympic Edt 383 stroker Ute View build HERE Member since: March 2, 2015 Posts: 289]

Man that is a huge effort and an awesome back ground to your build. You are so right when you say ” heal my mind with my hands” that is so true and probably why most of us build cars. keep up the progress and congrats so far on the rebuild!

[EJ DUDEParticipant Perth1963 EJ Special View build HERE Member since: March 2, 2015 Posts: 39]

Sooooo many questions (it John, build305/tire me Chery black vs gts)

why did you decide to reshell it, what’s happening with the White car/mulberry and how did you come into possesion of the HPW SS? I loooove that thing.

[LF24Participant Ipswich- \'99 ls1 Holden VS ute - \'02 HSV Maloo R8 View build HERE Member since: March 1, 2015 Posts: 57]

I’ve been waiting on the continuation of this build   your original build thread has so much good info and helped me immensely!  Keep up the great work, I’ll be keeping an eye out for updates.

[SamParticipant TownsvilleLS1 T56 VN, HPW VX SS, WK Grange #0010 View build HERE Member since: July 13, 2015 Posts: 10]

HDN05L wrote:

Man that is a huge effort and an awesome back ground to your build. You are so right when you say ” heal my mind with my hands” that is so true and probably why most of us build cars. keep up the progress and congrats so far on the rebuild!

Thanks man, will try to keep the updates going.

 

John, firstly hello, haven’t seen you in ages. Decided to reshell the white car because it’s getting closer to 1,000,000km than I’d like, and buying Luke’s shell worked out cheaper than panel/paint on the floppy high km one. White shell and interior – whatever doesn’t make its way across to the red shell will be parted out and sold. Lastely, I bought the HPW SS earlier this year, because why not?

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