The Journey Begins.... With a Fuel Pump

(Picture taken today)

Today was day one, in a very long journey of restoring the one vehicle in the world that means something to me. "Ezamo" the 1971 Chevrolet Impala. I learned a few things today.

• There is a very good possibility this car was gold originally and painted. The green paint (which is actually like a teal/turquoise and top coated with like dark green???) chips away to gold AND some of the body panels that were originally hidden by interior panels are still gold.

• WD-40 really does loosen anything. My trunk now closes after 8 years.

• They have tire pumps, like tire pumps for bike tires, that are big enough for cars.

• My dad's spirit is in this car.

The last one was amusing, and humbling. When I first sat in the car I could feel him. The car spoke to me saying "start me" and "drive me." Of course if my dad was alive, the drive me wouldn't happen. He'd know better with the condition it's in. He's definitely there, and he definitely wants to move. I know he's there because we're sitting there with the Cruze charging the battery and Ray under the hood trying to figure out why it won't start. Pulls a spark plug wire to test for a spark and only THEN does it decide to turn over. "Oh NOW you decide to start." Ray would say.

I didn't cry once today like I thought I would. Took some pictures of the car, took some notes on specifications. Ran some tests and figured out the fuel pump isn't pumping fuel from the tank to the carb and YES there's gas in it.... for all y'all that know my history of "I know there's gas" when the tank is empty. Yes... there is for sure gas in it. We joked when I managed to get the trunk to close and stay closed and we walked away with a rough idea for a plan.

Now, I shop for parts.

At the advice of family we have started a GoFundMe account for the restoration of this car. Information for that can be found here. If you can't donate money, that's ok. Help spread the word and share it with your friends on Facebook or Twitter.

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