I'm currently going thru my '79 Grand Prix and thought I would start a thread to show my progress. I'll tell you about the car: My parents ordered the car from the factory in early '79 with silver paint and that red color of interior. They took me home from the hospital in it when I was born in '80. It was our family car until my oldest sister drove it in highschool. Then my 2nd oldest sister. Alas, the car became mine when my dad gave it to me at 15yrs old. I put a reman motor, rebuilt trans, and painted it charcoal with a new vinyl roof. Then put some 15" cast aluminum Progressives on it. Remember those from the 90's? Then removed the back seat and built a 4 x 15" speaker box to go back there running off of 3000 watts of power. It was rediculous. I'll try to dig up some photos.
About 5yrs later, styles changed and my skills improved (my interest in cars led me to restoration/hot rod profession), so I started going through it again. I shaved all the trim in the car, along with the door handles and drip moldings, installed '78 tail lights and grill, reconditioned much of the interior, and painted it slick black. I began lowering the car (I think Belltech spindles) and fabricating a roll pan. Then life happened and I parked the car under my deck.
Fast forward several yrs, a great wife, and 3 young boys later and I'm back on my project. Unfortunately, during that time, my heater box developed a leak in the seam sealer an it flooded my carpet turning my interior into a jungle. So, I changed directions and gutted the inside to start there. Before that, I pulled my heat/ac box from the firewall and painted/resealed it. Since I had it out, I replaced the heater core and evaporator. I just got done replaced my winshield and antenna lead (can I hope to finally pick up a radio station, folks?)
I'll stop the description here as I will return with photographs of what I'm up to. Mostly, I'm doing my work at the shop during my lunch break. So, its kind of the slow and steady mentality. I'm not setting any records (like when our shop built the T-bird on Car Warriors in 48hrs) but it is surprising me how much I have accomplished over the past couple months. I'm having fun with a mild custom interior and then I'll go back to air bag set-up. Stay tuned for pictures to come. I'm looking forward to sharing with you and asking for help along the way.
About 5yrs later, styles changed and my skills improved (my interest in cars led me to restoration/hot rod profession), so I started going through it again. I shaved all the trim in the car, along with the door handles and drip moldings, installed '78 tail lights and grill, reconditioned much of the interior, and painted it slick black. I began lowering the car (I think Belltech spindles) and fabricating a roll pan. Then life happened and I parked the car under my deck.
Fast forward several yrs, a great wife, and 3 young boys later and I'm back on my project. Unfortunately, during that time, my heater box developed a leak in the seam sealer an it flooded my carpet turning my interior into a jungle. So, I changed directions and gutted the inside to start there. Before that, I pulled my heat/ac box from the firewall and painted/resealed it. Since I had it out, I replaced the heater core and evaporator. I just got done replaced my winshield and antenna lead (can I hope to finally pick up a radio station, folks?)
I'll stop the description here as I will return with photographs of what I'm up to. Mostly, I'm doing my work at the shop during my lunch break. So, its kind of the slow and steady mentality. I'm not setting any records (like when our shop built the T-bird on Car Warriors in 48hrs) but it is surprising me how much I have accomplished over the past couple months. I'm having fun with a mild custom interior and then I'll go back to air bag set-up. Stay tuned for pictures to come. I'm looking forward to sharing with you and asking for help along the way.
My first GP was a 79 also.. wish i still had it.. :wink: sounds like a sweet ride!
