body

It's Prime(r) Time, Baby!

It’s a sunny 60 degrees today. Low humidity, low wind, perfect for PRIME TIME!

My cousin was able to make some final touches to the body this week and put on the first couple coats of epoxy primer. Kind of looks good white, eh? But not good enough for me to rethink my color choice. With the primer on it makes it feel like the car is done.

Still have a long way to go though. The primer allowed him to see some dings in the body and also where the grinding wheel was used with a little too much pressure. It will need to be touched up a bit. But overall, looking good. Hoping the 2k primer layer will help to level a lot of it out. We’ll see next week.

Today I worked on priming the headers. I couldn’t decide if I want the headers to be black or aluminum in color. So, I ended up painting the vacuum canister (for the hideaway headlights) aluminum to test out if I like it, since no one will really see that. It is shiny and bright. I like it, but still not sure if the headers will be that color. My cousin brought up a good point that if they are black, it will hide spills, oils and such much better. We will see.

My package tray ( the rear interior piece that holds the speakers ) backing was all rotted. It was suggested online to just buy some 1/8” Masonite board and trace the existing vinyl, rather than buying a new one. The vinyl is in good shape so went with that method. Will need to clean up the vinyl and maybe re-paint it, before gluing it to the new package tray. Again, we’ll see.

All in all a very exciting day. The primer really makes it look like it’s ready to be driven!

But not.

Oh, and if you have been worrying about my missing taillight, you can sleep easy now. It’s been found!

Grind, Sand, Weld, Patch...Repeat!

This post will not even come close to showing how much time, effort, and detail went into restoring the body of this car. My cousin spent countless hours on the body (honorable mention to my uncle and brother). Fixing rotted parts, replacing floor panels, welding, cutting, and sanding. And often redoing areas that he felt didn’t look good enough. Filling the holes for the rag top that I don’t want to have on the car. It’s very tedious work, especially trying to bend sheet metal to match the curvature and lines in the body.

Really quite incredible work. Even more incredible to look at the progression of where it started. THANK YOU!

FLOOR

TRUNK

DOORS

REAR QUARTERS & FENDERS

TOP