Is there anything left?

Michelle said the other day that she questioned whether or not we can call the bus a 1949. She figures that by the time I'm done I will have replaced most of the thing...so you can't really say it's old...it's really new. BUT I reminded her that even though in the years to come I will likely have to have parts replaced and repaired...despite her wishful thinking I will still be the original man she married.....for better or worse!

Today started by making a trip (or two) into Calgary to get sheet metal for the body panels. Upon returning....after a small detour to go see a patient as an emergency... I finally got to put hands on the ol' girl. Ron had puttered a bit trying to remove rivets and screws.

This is the drivers side. Although the panels looked OK from the outside you could see that there was some fudging going on. There was some questionable repairs done. Instead or replacing rusted( or possible damaged? panels)....they cut out the affected parts and slapped a new panel over top......I just couldn't stand it. So we removed the panel.

Underneath you could see the original emergency door...notice the crease just below the lettering, this is what makes me think there was some damage vs rust

But of course once the panel was simply covered....secondary rust set in.

Here are the new body panels.