Paint Prep, and.... it's gone!

Bill and Geoff came over to help get the car ready for a trip to the paint shop.

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Here, Geoff removes the inserts that held the radio antenna in place

Here, Geoff seriously prepares to yield the front bumper core like a sword.  Incidentally, Conan The Barbarian is Geoff's favorite movie.  Geoff mentioned that the bumper core is heavy, so it must be turned into swiss cheese...

Here, Bill uses the spot weld cutter to remove the stock battery platform.

Bill sheds a tear when he realizes that the spot-weld cutter can also cut a hole through the car and into China.

Success!  But, Bill was pissed when he realized that 60 minutes of work yielded a weight reduction equal to 12 minutes on a treadmill for Dan...  This anger was remedied with a cold beer...

... and by the chance to weld the washer-bottle bracket back into place.

Here's the car, ready for a good cleaning, and for a nice coat of paint.

Here's the car on the trailer, ready for the trip to Maaco.  It looks disgustingly similar to when it rolled off the trailer 6 months ago, but it is in fact much closer to being a real rally car.  The next photos will be of beautifully painted panels and assembly of those.  Soon, this will look like the bad-ass rally car that it will be.