Sunday, Sept. 13, 2026

The house is a complete wreck right now, we are having a company called Re-Floor come in to replace floors in the living room and library as well as the hallway. This is a project my wife wanted, so that’s why we’re wrapping $11k up in flooring, going from carpet to linoleum. Not crazy about it, but hey, she wants it.

TAILGATE COVERING. The tailgate is mostly covered with the new 16-tile 12×12 self-stick tiles. Unfortunately, the tiles aren’t sticking as well as you might expect, but that’s OK. I have some flooring cement — contact cement — arriving Monday so I can secure all the loose edges.

Actually, it all looks pretty good. I have to trim the vinyl on the lower edge on the tailgate, but that’s just so I can also hit the holes for the trim work. Today the new cover plate for the tail gate latch arrived. I was disappointed when I opened the package — the eBay listing easily led one to believe the cover was a chrome one, but — SURPRISE! — it was NOT. It was a nice clean cover but in gray primer. Despite my initial disappointment, I went on and installed the cover. It fit perfectly and looks great. Now I decided late last night to order a new chrome cover.

SCREWED-UP SCREWS! ARRGH! The trim on the tail gate was still equipped with 70-year-old phillip screw fasteners, most of them appeared dull and/or rusty. I took one of the screws with me to the hardware store. A young man — a man who has never impressed me as being one of the sharpest tools in the drawer. But he was eager to wait on me and off he went to the fastener section to get my fasteners.

I needed 20 screws that matched the original one I gave him. I let him work and get me the screws. I didn’t look over his shoulder or question him. I later realized that was my mistake!

When I got out to the car, I glanced at the screws Mr. Clueless had retrieved. Aww hell! The diameter of the screws was 50 percent larger than the original, and the head of the screws was a standard phillips head — it didn’ remotely resemble the head on the original screws, which were actually slightly recessed heads and had a domed head.

My new screws were nearly $11 — and they’re going back to the store on Monday. I realized that the original screws were basically the same type of screws used on the tail gate were essentially the same as the other garnish molding screws. I had extra screws, so I used them to secure the trim on the tailgate. They looked great. I didn’t need the damn replacement screws anyway!

On Monday, my new quart of adhesive will arrive, and I’ll have the chance to complete the tailgate by regluing the loose tiles

HEADLIGHT UPGRADE. I bought a set of LED headlights for the 55 Chevy, cost me about $42 total. They look great — much brighter. The fitment was tight, and I’m a little worried that the space in the headlight bucket may be insufficient to allow proper cooling. I may need to adjust the headlights after I run them a bit. We’ll see.

I hope to complete a video on the tail gate this coming week, and also a review of my new LED headlights.

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