Yes, I just started with a hacksaw, pliers, chisel, hammer and screwdrivers.
Yes, and a huge amount of youthful "can do" enthusiasm-optimism and not to forget that
nebulous elusive  naiveté. Without that I would have never gotten started.
What puzzled me back then, and, yes, even today, is:
Why was a '54 Kaiser taking up space in a dealership's showroom;
almost a decade had passed, since this 2 door Sedan was new?
I saw this car late one evening while getting off a crowded expressway, and  driving
through town. It took up the whole show-window and looked phenominal and
mysterious the way it was lit with hidden spotlights. That night I could not sleep much.
I only thought about the '54. I had never seen one, and knew they only made very few.
I had gotten a really bad case of the incurable "Kaiser-Fever."
After all, I was already driving a '51 Kaiser which I liked tremendously.

At that time my family lived in an apartment and our cars were parked in city streets.
It just so happened that my mother bought a "summer cottage" a month earlier, some
forty miles outside the city, three miles from a lake. This "country-place" inspired me
to want a convertible. It had to be a car with very special lines, low-long-sleek.
My mother also liked the looks of the '54 and said :
"...almost like a brand new car...but where will you be able to park it?"
"At our summer-place, " I replied. "But we don't even have a driveway?" she said.
"So? So I'll build the driveway first." The next day I bought the 2 door Kaiser.
And now, let the following pictures, each tell a thousand words, and more...

OH ! Kaiser designer Howard "Dutch" Darrin's approval ?

Once I finished building the Convertible, I volunteered for the U.S. Air Force, and was
stationed out West, Nevada. I used my Kaiser as a daily driver on base, 99 per cent of
the time the top was down, I even upgraded  the transmission to manual with overdrive.
After serving honorably, I settled down in Southern California. There, years later, upon
a chance visit with friends to Santa Monica's Park, I noticed a distinguished elderly
gentleman taking snapshots of my Kaiser Convertible.
(I had heard that "Dutch" Darrin lived somewhere  in Santa Monica).
"Are you "Dutch" Darrin by any  chance?" I asked the gentleman.
"Yes, I am. I designed this car, but we never built a convertible !" Darrin looked closer
at my Kaiser, then said: " Very good... this is excellent work...who built this?"

"Mr.Darrin, I did it...I am the "redesign...  ahh...reworker," I answered.
Then I showed him a small photo album of the conversion work
I carried in my  glove compartment.

He then invited me and my friends to his house. I parked in his driveway. I listened
with my friends of all the cars he told us about that he had
designed and showed us photos of them.
Many were especially custom made by him for Hollywood-Stars and personalities.

Next to my car, in his driveway, was a new Volvo which he was at that very moment in the
process of redesigning.
That familiar "chrome slash" across the grill?
"Dutch" told me personally :
"In our mechanical automotive world, everything is balanced. Right and left,
top to bottom, all is equally balanced. This "slash" violates an unspoken code,
your eye is drawn to this, therefore, this Volvo becomes more visible........"

Reflecting upon this decades later, I realize I truly was in the presence of one of
the great "genius" automotive designers.

to help his mother who had gotten very ill; twenty-five years ago.
Ever since then he had tried to locate his Custom Convertible.
After a nearly 20 year search, Eric's car was found by a Kaiser-Frazer
Club member.  On January 14th 2006 the present owner allowed Eric 
and this K-F Club member to view  Eric's car and take some snapshots.

Surprisingly, it is only 99.9 miles from the New Jersey driveway where 
Eric had built/rebuilt this convertible in the early 60's. 
It is now stored in a barn and needs lots of TLC. There are no major damages,
as these pictures show..........

So my machine must now be on it's own, for a while...
I have done the best I could within my range of mechanical awareness's and home-garage tools available.
Now off to the mechanic-specialists that are going to refine it.

I take this very personal...
After all, I worked on my convertible again for seven months; and the elation, the surprise, the good luck of finding it again?
Well, it took a month for the  "nostalgia worship" to wear off.

I then settled down to brass, aluminum and copper tacks and started restoration.
That part that needed it most: the floor. While simultaneously writing a "photo-essay" documentation. The continuing restoration work, aided by the razor sharp editorial
skills of John MacDonald of Summerville, Nova Scotia, Canada.
John has several chapters about my "Kaiser stories" in  his 
"Automotive Library of Congress."
www.oldcarandtruckpictures.com    and   www.kaiserfrazer.ca

Now,
I have guided this  >one-of-a-kind-machinery< again towards its reawakening, 
towards a new future...
I have some bruises, cuts and scrapes and my hands feel a bit swollen.  I also learned new mechanical skills, and writing skills. 

My convertible is only seven miles away, awaiting a space on the new lift.
Quite frankly?
I am grateful for the master-mechanic Craig. He will work on needed items, that I do not have the knowledge or tools and skills for. We will discuss them first, then agree on work to be done.

Yes,
this is truly a new chapter :     a    PHASE II

                                           for me and my machine
                                     a custom 1954 Kaiser Convertible
..

..and, through the hills of eastern Connecticut, to...

Now working to restore and paint, ~including welding  and general repair ~ if needed.
A father and son team agree to provide quality body repair and paint services...which includes...

The NuChrome workshop knows, with...

So,  Mark carefully unwraps the finished items
from NuChrome, and...

 Some automobilists like to call them "doors."