For not having an official work party today, we sure got a lot done!Greg, Kitty, Ray, Laura, Russell, Bill R., David C., and Greta were all there today.Kitty came by and finished installing the curtains. The sliding door gave her fits, but everyone chipped in and figured it out.Greg and Russell worked on cabinets all morning and most of the afternoon.Russell got the windshield wiper assembly in and helped troubleshoot the washer system. The new switch works great, the motor works and the squirters spray as they should. There is some kind of air leak somewhere that still has to be found but the fluid itself doesn’t leak. Russell also helped me finish putting in the bolts at the CV/axles. Mike and Wayne had gotten the axles in earlier this week but 5 of the bolts were in such bad shape that they could not be torqued. I brought some from home so we were able to get the five new ones in and torqued down.The really hard job went to Bill Ross. He volunteered to get the front door latches installed. The passenger side went in without a lot of drama and the latch and interior opening handle went in with some modification of the lever arm rod. But the driver side was a real bear. Bill and I fought it for a looong time with little success. So I called David Cissna to see if he could help. He came by and after seemingly forever he and Bill figured it out successfully. David had to remove the window felt channel among other things to gain access to make things work. Then the outer handles went on and both doors now close and lock. It was a long, tough, frustrating job that they just wouldn’t give up on and were finally able to get done. Very, very impressive effort! Took a lot of grit. Thank You.And Greta was there with an amazing lunch for everyone. What a nice, nice job she does for everyone. Makes our whole day! Thank you Greta!

A lot got done at our work party this week. And it was because the turnout was substantial and everyone worked like crazy.

Well, we somehow got a fair amount done on Saturday March 29 build. The weather was perfect but we took two steps forwards and one backwards without our fearless leader (John Manning), who was visiting his son and grandsons in LA.  David C. worked tirelessly on the drivers and passengers front windows. The rubbers and aftermarket pieces did not fit perfectly, and he had to modify the parts so that everything fit perfectly. David C. also worked on installing the rear latch and things onto the engine lid. Well, the latter was again an exercise in frustration, in that the seal for the rear latch we ordered said it was for a '71, but it did not fit our latch.

What a great turnout for this week’s work party.  New faces, tons of work being done and just a good time had by all.  Thank you everyone.  

What a great start to this year’s “Raffle Bus Work Party” season.

Thanks to Clinton Ronan, Sue and Miller deMar, Greg Berlucchi, Bill McCusker , Wayne Olsson, Reuben & Michelle Rettke and of course Russell for working so hard at today’s Bus Build.

December 2024: Raffle Bus Update

Thank you all for helping out on another busy, dusty, loud and very productive work party.

Many thanks to everyone who came Saturday and helped on the raffle bus. It was another loud, dusty day of sanding, patching, scraping, wire wheel/brush and cutting away rusty areas and getting them ready to weld in real, steel patches.

Big Thank you to everyone for helping do a lot of difficult, dirty, dusty body/interior sanding and grinding at Saturdays work party!  We got a lot done!  

We had a great turnout this Saturday and got a ton done on the new Raffle Bus. A special thanks to Clinton for helping everywhere and to our newest club members, Reuben and Michelle Rettke who just pitched right in and took on removing the Deluxe stainless belt line trim and cleaning and shining it up. Sarah and Sue Rice worked on that trim and on the dash and a bunch of plastic pieces that were a mess. 

We have our new Raffle Bus #34 for our next ABC Jamboree 2025! Here's a few pictures of us picking the bus up and transporting it to our workshop (Russell's garage) for its transformation. Check back often for images over the next several months as we turn this bus into your Dream Bus!