My 1984 F150 2wd Flareside Project "Blue Mule"

[Rembrant]

Nice pics Cory! That area is beautiful!

Shaun, you'd probably find it a little cool up here when it's a blistering 75F out near the water in the middle of the summer...lol. Actually, it gets much warmer inland, but it's always cooler out along the water. Makes for a nice summer drive.

So after my running around and taking pictures this morning, the day's project was to get working on the interior. I've been neglecting this for a while for various reasons, but I really want to get this finished up so I can move on to other things.

I bought two cans of SEM paint. One Shadow Blue, and one BLueMist. It's hard to tell in the pics below, the the Shadow blue was very close in color to the ColorBond blue from LMC...it's just that the LMC version was a matte finish, and the SEM was more glossy. The Bluemist, which got very good comments from those that used it was much lighter than my '84 blue.

Door panel below is LMC ColorBond blue, and the left kick panel is SEM shadow blow, and the right hand kick panel is SEM Bluemist.

Below you will see that neither one comes close to the blue of my dash of footwell vents.

I'm aware that the correct SEM color for 1984 is the 3042 Dark Harbor Blue, but I'd have to order it out of the US, and with the current border situation, they would likely cost me $50 per can, if not more. So, I consulted with Mrs. Rembrant. Her advice was to go with the darker Shadow Blue, so that is what I did.

The sun was shining in, so not a great pic, but you can see how it compares to the color of the dash. At this point, I'm kinda tired of screwin' around with it, so this is how it will stay at least for the remainder of 2020.

I covered all of the door openings with 3/16" high density foam. It's not pretty, but functional. I hope it helps.

I even put some pieces on the back side of the door panel itself. I figured why not, every little bit will help quiet things down.

I just have to finish up the passenger door tomorrow. This evening I installed the passenger door speaker, and ran the wires into the cab. I might even get the stereo installed tomorrow so I can finally move this old truck out of the dark ages!

[Rembrant]

Looking good Cory!! It s Beautiful spot for a cruise! Gas is creeping back up now so enjoy it now 😜

Chris,

I hear ya buddy! The front rotors on my VW are gettin' all rusty because I've been driving the old Bull steady while I've been off on vacation...lol. As for the gas prices...the Bullnose isn't as big of a worry as the gas guzzlin 460 in the RV. I was hoping to get some miles on it this summer while the gas was cheap!

Either way, I'm going to drive the old Bull as much as I can this summer since I barely got to drive it at all last season. It just sucks that all the car shows and car nights have been cancelled. Just my luck.

[ArdWrknTrk]

Beautiful scenery, Cory! And good pics as well.

And I'd buy the 20/80 rule. But for me it is 20 out of every 100 shots might be suitable for keeping.

Notice how on many of your shots there's something, like the road, that leads your eye right on into the pic? That doesn't just happen. It is the mark of a good photographer.

The incredible advantage of digital photography makes itself apparent... again.

Do you remember bracketing shots, burning through rolls and rolls of film and only ordering contact sheets to save developing a bunch of unwanted pictures?

I used to print Cibachromes from slide film, mostly

I don't think I've had my printer plugged in in years, solely because it's so easy to share digitally.

And a single tiny micro SD is now over 400G.

I see the newest standard has an AMAZING R/W transfer rate.

It's an amazing time to be alive.

[ArdWrknTrk]

So after my running around and taking pictures this morning, the day's project was to get working on the interior. I've been neglecting this for a while for various reasons, but I really want to get this finished up so I can move on to other things.

I bought two cans of SEM paint. One Shadow Blue, and one BLueMist. It's hard to tell in the pics below, the the Shadow blue was very close in color to the ColorBond blue from LMC...it's just that the LMC version was a matte finish, and the SEM was more glossy. The Bluemist, which got very good comments from those that used it was much lighter than my '84 blue.

Door panel below is LMC ColorBond blue, and the left kick panel is SEM shadow blow, and the right hand kick panel is SEM Bluemist.

Below you will see that neither one comes close to the blue of my dash of footwell vents.

I'm aware that the correct SEM color for 1984 is the 3042 Dark Harbor Blue, but I'd have to order it out of the US, and with the current border situation, they would likely cost me $50 per can, if not more. So, I consulted with Mrs. Rembrant. Her advice was to go with the darker Shadow Blue, so that is what I did.

The sun was shining in, so not a great pic, but you can see how it compares to the color of the dash. At this point, I'm kinda tired of screwin' around with it, so this is how it will stay at least for the remainder of 2020.

I covered all of the door openings with 3/16" high density foam. It's not pretty, but functional. I hope it helps.

I even put some pieces on the back side of the door panel itself. I figured why not, every little bit will help quiet things down.

I just have to finish up the passenger door tomorrow. This evening I installed the passenger door speaker, and ran the wires into the cab. I might even get the stereo installed tomorrow so I can finally move this old truck out of the dark ages!

Unfortunate Cory.

I think Mrs Rembrandt is right though (for now)

Surprised LMC/Victoria doesn't offer matching paint for their panels.

Somewhere, down the road, you can match the dash.

[FuzzFace2]

It just sucks that all the car shows and car nights have been cancelled. Just my luck.

Man do I hear you on that one.

I was able to take my truck to the company 60th birthday party that they had a car / truck / bike show back in November then nothing.

But I do have to say the state has lifted a little more of the stay at home Friday.

I was told of a cruise in not far from the house today put together for a car guy's birthday but he is in the hospital (not looking good) so they video taped it and took pictures and going to send them to him to hope cheer him up so off we went.

The wife and I did wear our N95 masks the whole time, stayed 6 feet apart and being high 80's sweated my butt off.

It was held at a burger joint so grabbed some burgers, fries and shakes and took them home to eat in cool AC.

I was the only Ford pick up of any year, 1 - 50's and 3 mid 60's Chevy pick ups.

Dave ----

[Gary Lewis]

It just sucks that all the car shows and car nights have been cancelled. Just my luck.

Man do I hear you on that one.

I was able to take my truck to the company 60th birthday party that they had a car / truck / bike show back in November then nothing.

But I do have to say the state has lifted a little more of the stay at home Friday.

I was told of a cruise in not far from the house today put together for a car guy's birthday but he is in the hospital (not looking good) so they video taped it and took pictures and going to send them to him to hope cheer him up so off we went.

The wife and I did wear our N95 masks the whole time, stayed 6 feet apart and being high 80's sweated my butt off.

It was held at a burger joint so grabbed some burgers, fries and shakes and took them home to eat in cool AC.

I was the only Ford pick up of any year, 1 - 50's and 3 mid 60's Chevy pick ups.

Dave ----

Cory - The darker blue does look good. And while you may want to hit them with the 3042 later, they look really good for now. I hope Big Blue's panels look that good.

Jim - I certainly remember bracketing. And now some cameras will bracket and merge the pics on their own!

[ArdWrknTrk]

Cory - The darker blue does look good. And while you may want to hit them with the 3042 later, they look really good for now. I hope Big Blue's panels look that good.

Jim - I certainly remember bracketing. And now some cameras will bracket and merge the pics on their own!

Not just 'cameras'

And of course the burst function if you hold the button down could only be accomplished with an expensive motor drive before digital.

SO much easier to get a shot of a catch (or one of my rockets clearing the pad) than it used to be.

[Gary Lewis]

Not just 'cameras'

And of course the burst function if you hold the button down could only be accomplished with an expensive motor drive before digital.

SO much easier to get a shot of a catch (or one of my rockets clearing the pad) than it used to be.

Yep. Last July 4th I took slow motion shots with my iPhone of my pop can "rockets" launching and got some decent ones. (The rockets are just a pop can with the crimped end cut out, a hole drilled in the bottom just the right size for a fire cracker, and the open end slipped down over a tennis ball screwed to a board.)

[Rembrant]

It just sucks that all the car shows and car nights have been cancelled. Just my luck.

Man do I hear you on that one.

I was able to take my truck to the company 60th birthday party that they had a car / truck / bike show back in November then nothing.

But I do have to say the state has lifted a little more of the stay at home Friday.

I was told of a cruise in not far from the house today put together for a car guy's birthday but he is in the hospital (not looking good) so they video taped it and took pictures and going to send them to him to hope cheer him up so off we went.

The wife and I did wear our N95 masks the whole time, stayed 6 feet apart and being high 80's sweated my butt off.

It was held at a burger joint so grabbed some burgers, fries and shakes and took them home to eat in cool AC.

I was the only Ford pick up of any year, 1 - 50's and 3 mid 60's Chevy pick ups.

Dave ----

Dave,

The demographic of the car shows are car nights is most definitely an older one, at least around here. At 48 years old, I'm often one of the youngest guys around...lol. I have three good friends my age that all had old cars and all of them sold them because unfortunately their kids had no interest in them. Two of them had these cars since the late 80's...one an early 80's Corvette, and the other a mid-70's Trans Am, and it's pretty hard to get the young fellas interested in that stuff these days.

[Sac79]

It just sucks that all the car shows and car nights have been cancelled. Just my luck.

Man do I hear you on that one.

I was able to take my truck to the company 60th birthday party that they had a car / truck / bike show back in November then nothing.

But I do have to say the state has lifted a little more of the stay at home Friday.

I was told of a cruise in not far from the house today put together for a car guy's birthday but he is in the hospital (not looking good) so they video taped it and took pictures and going to send them to him to hope cheer him up so off we went.

The wife and I did wear our N95 masks the whole time, stayed 6 feet apart and being high 80's sweated my butt off.

It was held at a burger joint so grabbed some burgers, fries and shakes and took them home to eat in cool AC.

I was the only Ford pick up of any year, 1 - 50's and 3 mid 60's Chevy pick ups.

Dave ----

Dave,

The demographic of the car shows are car nights is most definitely an older one, at least around here. At 48 years old, I'm often one of the youngest guys around...lol. I have three good friends my age that all had old cars and all of them sold them because unfortunately their kids had no interest in them. Two of them had these cars since the late 80's...one an early 80's Corvette, and the other a mid-70's Trans Am, and it's pretty hard to get the young fellas interested in that stuff these days.

I'm hopeful that this trend(of young people not being interested in classics) will continue to grow everywhere! That might eventually drive the demand and price down and enable those of us that are interested to afford the cars and trucks we want... I'm terrified that by the time I can acquire another project, I won't be able to afford the one I want, 1st gen Mustang. 10 Years ago you could get a running one for well under 10k, now you're looking at high teens for one that needs attention!