SANDBLASTING THE FUTURLINER
| The date is mid-December of 1999 and the Futurliner is hauled from Don's pole barn to be sandblasted and primed. Here's Don's account of how the Futurliner was almost lost. "To move the Futurliner from the sandblaster to the paint shop was only a mile. However the route crosses a very busy railroad crossing where trains pass every 1/2 hour to every 1-1/2 hours. This crossing has a large hump and as the tow truck crossed the tracks, the Futurliner became disconnected from the tow truck. So now we have a 38-ton tow truck sitting across two lanes of a four lane highway and a Futurliner sitting across the railroad tracks. There were a few anxious moments but the driver did a lot a scrambling and managed to avoid an accident." | |
 A large tow truck hauls the Futurliner off to be sandblasted and primed. |
 The Futurliner is covered up for the night while it waits to be sandblasted in the morning. |
 The rig that provided the sandblasting power! |
 The sandblaster works his way through the Futurliner, creating a dust storm. The date is December 13, 1999 and for Michigan, the weather was unbelievably nice. |
 The Futurliner interior and frame has been thoroughly sandblasted and it waits to be towed to the paint shop for a coat of primer. |
 The tow truck maneuvers the now primed Futurliner back into the work bay on a snowy day. In back of the Futurliner is another, larger pole barn that Don was building to house the Futurliner workshop. He neglected to secure a building permit and had to tear it down and attach it to his existing pole barn. Live and learn. |
