Most of the body work was done before I bought it, but the paint does not look nearly as good as it does in the photos. Once all the mechanicals are sorted I will get painted right and have all the panel alignment done.

Tomorrow starts the Rack & Pinion, 5 speed swap from automatic, 4 wheel power disc brakes from 4 wheel manual drum and the new Dakota Analog gauge install as well as the Hotchkis TVS suspension kit. Hoping to have it done before Thanksgiving so I can drive it during Turkey Rod Run.

Next phase will be the engine build and A/C. Car is a factory A/C car but is missing most everything so i am going to do a Vintage Air Kit. 383 with Fuel Injection are the plans for the motor.

If anyone in Florida knows of a good body shop in the Daytona Beach area let me know.

 

very nice!

 

Yes, very nice! What a difference a little paint makes, eh?

 

It does. It looks much better in the photos then in person. It has bare spots and dry spray all over it and the panel gap looks like crap. Once everything else is done I will have a nice paint job done and panel gap alignment. For now though it passes as a solid 6 footer.

 

Oh, so you rebuilt it to original GM specs?

 

I guess that is one good way to look at it.

 

I am always amazed when I see one of these cars with the whole back end off of it, I worked in a body shop for about 2 year (I was a young grind boy LOL) but the body man I work with used to always say never remove everything. You need a frame of reference. He use to adjust the trunk and doors to get a as close to best gaps he could. Then he would cut off the quarters and use the trunk and door as guides to get everything back where GM intended. He would then install the new trunk and doors to fit the quarters. Those fine adjustments almost always required welding\grinding on the doors and trunks. The original cars were not very good with gaps.

I have no idea how you would get the car back "right" putting all those non-accurate parts together with out the original factory jigs.

 

Little update - Rear was stripped and painted. front suspension is all installed as well as front brakes. Waiting on new rear axles as mine were bent then the rear brakes can be finished up. Ditched the rack & pinion since the kit converted from rear steer to front steer and made it impossible to use a front sway bar. Upgraded the factory steering box instead. Put on a new carb with electronic choke. Transmission is about 50% installed. Hopefully it can be done by next Thursday so I can take it to Turkey Rod Run.