I finally got my rear tire today, from a very nice man who said he had never heard of a project like this in his 25 years of working on cars. It is a 205/45/17, with an outside diameter of about 24.25" and a total weight of 33.4 lbs for the wheel plus tire. This means I can finally begin work on the trailing arm, as well as the rear wheel skirt and the chain drive.
I already began working on other things this week, completing the long overdue tasks of building a "hood" and mounting the windshield, which is also the door. You will notice that I also have my first section of body in. Sadly, that is what will be covering the entire car. It is about 31 gauge galvanized steel, which comes in 20" x 25' rolls for roofing. I know it looks ugly, but I was not willing to pay for and work with fiberglass.
Contrary to what I had read, my Harbor Freight flux welder was able to weld the 31 gauge steel, however it was a difficult and slow task with mediocre looking results, so I decided to simply screw the body on. Here is the welder with the lid cut off and a 10 lb spool mounted in place of the standard 1-2 lb. Amazingly, it still works fine.
I suddenly have numerous things to work on, enough to keep me very busy in the coming days. More updates to come.