Fiesta Days 2011

Today was the Spanish Fork Fiesta Days 2011 car show. We entered Thunderpig as well as some of Joe's cars and really had a great time walking around the show looking at all of the beautiful cars.

Logan stopped at this lemonade stand and was blowing kisses at this girl. Maybe he was trying to get a free sample.. smart kid! :)

All that walking around was tiring, so we stopped to enjoy a nice cold icy from one of the local vendors..

Zach had a lot of fun riding the big boy rides.. Next year Logan will be sitting next to Zach on all the rides, not just the little kid ones.

And speaking of little kid rides, this was Zach and Logan's favorite.. they road this boat around and around splashing water and ringing the bell on the boat. They had a great time.

After visiting the carnival it was finally time for the awards ceremony.. we were all tuckered out.

Look! We won a sponsors choice award!

But look what we also won... Best in Show!!

We were really excited to have done so well at the show. It's probably because this show felt more special than others. The officiators of the show gave out 3 grand prize trophys.. Myself and the winners of the Peoples Choice and Mayors Choice awards all had TV interviews as well as a chance to show off our trophy's at the local street stomp.. It was hard to tell if the crowds really cared that 3 guys walked up on stage in the middle of their dance to fist pump their trophies in the air as our names and trophies were announced, but it sure did feel cool to us. Especially to me when they said "Thunderpig... Best in Show!"

Overall we had one heck of a fun day and not only did we walk away with some great memories and laughs, but some really nice awards too!

Here is a better picture of our sponsors choice award as well as the grand prize.. Best in Show 2011!!

More work on the seats

The seats in Thunderpig look amazing.. there's no doubting that.. but the plastic seat covers that cover the sides of the seats leave something to be desired. In order to make them a bit more pleasing to the eye Joe set out to modify them to be covered in leather and extended to the base of the seat (where it mounts to the cab floor).

Here is the drivers side seat molding (painted to match the leather)

Here is the new seat cover for the passenger side.. As you can see it's been frankensteined a bit to include a new profile made of the existing plastic panel and a new metal panel with an extension to cover the seat mounting brackets.

Here's another view of the panel which shows how the new extension below will be hidden under the seat.

Now that the seat panel has been covered in leather it looks a lot better.

Now if only we can just figure out how to finish the carpet properly we'll be set! :-)

American Fork Steel Days

Today was exciting.. We got to go to a car show, play in the park, have a picnic, play with a cute puppy, then go cruise main street in Thunderpig! What did you do? ;-)

Thunderpig had a nice spot under a shade tree.. But when the sun started to shine on it, boy did it sparkle!

















Just before lunch time Jen noticed this sticker on the windshield of the pickup.. She said "did you put this here?" I of course replied.. "No! Why would I put a sticker in the window?"

Then the light bulbs turned on.. We won!!! Now where's our award? :)

Now that the pressure to win was behind us, we set off to enjoy the rest of our day at the park! What better way to do that then by having a picnic in the park!

Afterwards we went back over to check on Thunderpig.. Logan made sure the exhaust was still clean..

And that the step was still securely fashioned to the bed.. Logan loves to sit on the steps of the truck.. We joke and say they're actually seats, not steps. hah!

Then it was off to the park to play on the playscape! Zach has more fun running up the slide, then going down the slide.. Too funny.

Logan and Zach always seem to find the puppies at each show.. This was Logan's favorite.

Thunderpig ended up winning a nice big Sponsors Choice award! So I told Zach "Do you wanna go with me in the cruise with all the other hotrods since we won?" He said "YEAH!"

Logan and Mom drove down the block and found a great spot on the grass while Zach and I started the cruise

Here comes Thunderpig! Zach loved it.. We would zip down the road reving the engine and blinking the lights.. He had a blast.

From the looks of it, I think Logan had fun watching all of the cars drive by too!

There goes Daddy and Zach in Thunderpig!


Yep, we had one heck of a great day today.

Preparing for Steel Days!

This afternoon is the Steel Days car show in American Fork. Joe and I installed the door panels last night so Thunderpig can make a proper appearance to the show with as much of it's interior finished as possible. So.... What'cha think?

Joe is shown here installing the handle on the drivers side door "the first time" (soon after we realized that I had messed up the door latch when I had earlier taken the latch a part to grind down a bolt head that was binding with the latch mechanism.. ooops! heh heh)

Passenger door prepped for the new door panel (holes drilled for the fasteners, latch adjusted to open just right -- learned from the previous door, and an arm rest pull reinforcement installed).. ready to go!

Tadah! It's amazing how much better the door looks with some nice leather interior panels. I really think the door panels turned out great. Don't you?

Here are the rear cab corner speakers.. They look awesome and sound sweet too!

Now the fun part! Time to drive the truck back home!

It was a long night, but rest assured, the effort will be well worth the time. :)

This morning we woke up early to wax and clean the truck for the show.

The engine is nice and shiny.. Look at it sparkle!

Here is a shot of the drivers side door with the handle and power window switch installed.

Check out the interior now!






The underside of the bed is tough to clean, but is a unique way to show off the chassis beneath, so its worth the work. Only 2 hours to go till the car show!