I have been blessed in my life to be involved in so many things and with so many Great people! This web site has been created to share knowledge and expertise among a network of friends and associates. It is intended to be a collaboration of people who understand positive relationships so that everyone involved can succeed. I personally practice win-win relationships with everyone. It is my belief if you treat everyone involved like friends and family you can never go wrong.

Thank you for being part of this network!

Mike

I have retired from Cable One after a 40 year career. Thanks to Cable One and all the associates for all your support over the years. I have begun a new era in my life. There are several projects in the works here at Independence where we plan to continue living after 33 years. One project is a video documentary that has already begun. There is much more in the works. Please visit the site for news as we progress.

Mike Flood - 2007 Neewollah Grand Parade Marshal & Family

Contact Mike directly by email at mike@mikeflood.net

On August 19th, 2011 several of us attended the ribbon cutting of the Starmaker Exhibit at the Tulsa Historical Society. Here we are with the man himself Jim Halsey. Jim's new book Starmaker features information on how to make it in the music business. This is a must read for anyone interested in the music business. Left to right are; Norman Chambers, Ray Woods, Larry McHugh, Jim Halsey, Mike Flood & John Koschin. This group is also now called the Independence Mafia. I guess this makes Jim the Godfather.

Mike's friends Jim & Sherman Halsey. Jim is the Impresario of the Music Industry for over 50 years. His son Sherman is a major Director & Producer of music videos and TV Shows. The award list of this father & son duo is so long it couldn't possibly be shown. Please see their web site at http://www.jimhalsey.com/

Jim & Sherman Halsey at Memorial Hall right after the community presented Jim with this granite tribute for his contributions to the music industry and his home town over fifty years.

Senator Derek Schmidt & Independence Mayor Rick Mott helped Mike with The Jim Halsey Tribute event at Historic Memorial Hall during the Oak Ridge Boys concert on Saturday, October 27, 2007.                                  

Senator Derek Schmidt, Mike & Mayor Rick Mott at Memorial Hall on October 27, 2007.

Thanks guys for a professional and classy job! You made my job easy!                                                             Mike

Mike's friends The Oak Ridge Boys - Mike produced two shows with the Oak Ridge Boys since 1992 and also produced their show at the 50th Neewollah Celebration. In 2002 Mike worked with Sherman Halsey to produce "Inconvenient Christmas" that aired on many cable networks and TV stations across the country. Mike also produced a 30 minute Reflections Show special featuring the Oak Ridge Boys for Cable One.

The Oak Ridge Boys Show at Independence Memorial Hall during the 2007 Neewollah. This fantastic set was used for their TV series on The Nashville Network "The Oak Ridge Boys Live from Las Vegas".

Thanks guys for a great show and helping us with the Jim Halsey Tribute!                                                       Mike

This is Mike's 1967 Chevy Malibu Sport Sedan. The restoration was just about complete in March of 2007 except for the interior.

This is the old Malibu just prior to the beginning of the restoration in 2004. The motor and transmission had been removed for rebuilding.

This was the car just after the restoration began in 2006.

This is the engine after it was restored in March of 2007.

This is the Malibu from the rear in March of 2007.

This is the latest picture taken in October of 2008 at Riverside Park at Independence, Kansas.  The new interior has been installed in this photo.

This picture was also taken in October of 2008 with Mike's children and grandson at Riverside Park in Independence.

By: Mike Flood

I purchased the 1967 Malibu 4-door hardtop on a whim in 1999. For some time I had been considering owning an old classic. One day while driving down car dealer row in Independence Kansas there it was. It was all bright and shiny with a new hot rod orange paint job. I pulled in to the Chevy dealer who had it on display and purchased it on the spot for $3,200. I drove it for about a year. It wasn’t a real slick car, but it was fun to drive. The original 283 V8 ran good although it smoked a little. The 2-speed Power Glide transmission and the dual exhausts with glass packs made it sound and run like a real hot rod. The interior was mostly gold which was the original color along with maroon seats. It wasn’t very pretty inside, but I didn’t mind because I was having fun with the old thing.

Then one day during a weak moment I let my 16 year-old son drive the Malibu to school. Just after school I received his call that he had had a minor accident. I left work in a rush being concerned he might be hurt. I arrived at the scene realizing my son was alright but he had hit the back of a pickup with a large RV hitch. The hitch had gone through the grill, radiator, fan, and mashed the hood. At the time I was not concerned because I assumed the car could be fixed. Little did I know at the time the challenges of body work on 33 year-old classic?

The car was put into storage under a tree in my oldest son’s back yard. It was all covered with a large tarp waiting on the repairs. There it sat waiting for 2-years for me to find the parts and start the repairs. Little was it known at the time my business and family activities would keep me from doing the repairs myself. Then one day my oldest son called me to ask, “Dad, when are you going to get this old car out of my back yard?” I understood his frustration and decided to call my number two son who works in the parts department of a local car dealership. He is my family mechanic expert so it was figured he would have some good advice. We met at the Malibu in my son’s back yard to be startled at the degraded condition of the car over 2 years. The tarp had blown off and being under an old elm tree it was a mess. The windshield and back glass had leaked causing severe water damage to the interior and the tires had dry rotted. Initially my son and I had thought we would just hall it to the salvage yard. Then he suggested that we get it home in my garage and maybe seeing it every day would motivate me to get going on the repairs. We aired the tires, put fluid in the transmission that had leaked-out, charged the battery, and filled the radiator, which the water ran out about as fast as we put it in. Believe it or not the old beast started right up. We wired the mashed hood down and drove it 3 miles to the house. I’m sure my neighbors in the Country Club addition where we live were real pleased when they saw it pull in the driveway.


The old car was cleaned up and from the rear it didn’t look too bad. Occasionally, we had people stop to ask what we had there in the garage. This was fun because the “67” 4-door was always an attention getter. My son who is a great mechanic although he doesn’t like body work removed the damaged grill, hood, radiator support, and made the repairs to the old motor. This is where the progress stalled again. The body parts were somewhat hard to find. I became pretty familiar with Original Parts Group as well as many of the other major classic car parts companies. For example; there is not a plain steel reproduction hood available anywhere. You can get a cowl induction hood, but not a plain hood. It then it became obvious there would not be time for a hobby like working on an old car. I then began thinking about selling the car. My wife wasn’t very crazy either about the old thing in the garage in a state of disrepair! Then my son had a brilliant idea. He suggested that we look for a body shop to do the repairs. He felt if we got a local shop I could at least supervise and make the decisions about the repairs on the old thing. Now it was late in the year 2003, almost 3 years since the crash.

In the process of looking for a body man our dreaming got the best of us! We started dreaming of not just making repairs, but instead performing a major restoration. We finally found a well known body man who wanted to do the work quickly. We got excited about the possibilities! We also found a respected mechanic with great familiarity with old motors, transmissions and air conditioning systems. The car was towed to the shop and the motor and transmission removed for a complete overhaul and then on to the body shop. There the Malibu sat for 6 months without being touched. The owner called and said he just didn’t have time as he had hoped. This was the same guy that said he would get right on it! My son and I both believe he got scared about the rust that had been discovered around the back glass causing leakage into the trunk. Bye the way, you cannot buy a rear deck patch panel anywhere for a 4-door hardtop. You can buy them for a 2-door coupe, but not a 4-door. We also found there are no used panels out there either. Every salvage car we found had the same rust problem.

Now we had to locate another body shop and our spirits dampened! Luckily, we found a guy that had just restored and old pickup. The quality of his work was great and we made a deal to restore the body of the Malibu to as close to original as possible. The plan was to complete the work in 6 to 8 weeks. I was to obtain all the parts so I went to work. I am very familiar  now with hunting for parts on the Internet!

Then our problems getting the restoration done surfaced again. Tim, our body man became ill and was in the hospital for 10-days. It was several months before he was well enough to get back on the job. No sooner did he get started again he changed jobs to painting airplanes at the local Cessna plant. With this change of jobs he really had no time to work on our project car. Cessna was working him 10-hour days and Saturdays as well. This is not to mention he fell off a ladder breaking several ribs. The doctor wouldn’t let him do any lifting for 8 weeks. Our spirits dampened again! We considered finding another shop, but the car was completely dismantled and Tim was such a nice guy and he wanted to make the Malibu a show car for us. It was decided we would hang with him no matter how long it took. By now we were into the 2006 year. It had been almost a year since he started.

Now we jump forward to December of 2006. Much time had been taken finding parts, fabricating parts, picking a paint color, and working on the car. It was now Christmas day. All week long I had been wishing the Malibu might come home for Christmas. However, I had not called Tim the body guy in a couple of months. I knew it would be done when he could get it done. There really was no reason for me to call and bug him, because I had made up my mind I would not get stressed over the restoration time for this old car. 

I was sitting down with my Christmas dinner half eaten when things began to happen. I should have known something was going on because my wife had asked me to sit at the dining room table with my back to the window. I always sit at the other end looking out the window. Duh, I should have known something was going on, but I didn’t. Then my wife said something was wrong with the 3 year-old grandson’s electric truck that was in the garage. Everyone knows I always jump when there is anything happening with the grandson. So I jumped up from my half eaten dinner and was on my way to the garage. It was when my hand was on the doorknob it hit me that the Malibu might be home. I cracked the door as if I was afraid to look and there it was! The bright and shiny blue classic in its splender! The Malibu had come home for Christmas! Tim had hauled the car to the Country Club parking just up the street to unload the car. He then drove it part way and my sons and daughters pushed it the rest of the way and into the garage. Wow, what a Christmas present!

Now the car is not done yet. There are still a few body details to resolve and the interior has to be done as well. For about 2-years we have been storing about $2,000 of new interior parts for this work to begin. We need another hood. The 2nd used hood just could not be made straight enough for my taste so we are looking for another one. We need a hood catch and they are hard to find. I finally just found a used one on EBay. We will be installing new wheels, tires and exhaust system. I don’t like the loud glass packs here in the Country Club. I would say that in about a couple of months we will be ready for a shake-down cruise on historic Route 66 from Independence to Baxter Springs Kansas and the to Miami Oklahoma and back home to Indy.

The result of this major restoration will be as follows:

·         Completely restored exterior body with bright blue paint.

·         Rebuilt 283 V8 with Edlebrock intake and Holly 4-barrel carburetor.

·         Rebuilt Power Glide transmission

·         Rebuilt air conditioning to original with R12 coolant

·         New dual exhaust with Flow Master mufflers

·         New gold interior restored to original including a Custom Auto Sound stereo system.

 
It may be said the 4-door 67 Malibu is rare. There were about 12,000 of them made and I personally have only seen two others since 1999 and one was a salvage car. Many of the experts have verified this fact. I don’t know if this means anything as far as the worth of the car is concerned and it doesn’t matter to me anyway. I love the car and intend for it to be an occasional driver to entertain me now and in retirement. Maybe I can drive to Topeka to take my grandson to tee-ball game or maybe I will let my teenage some drive it to prom in 2010? This is the fun of restoring a driving a classic car, See you on the road!