BUILD THREAD Project Olds Cool (Recognition!!)
- Thread starter Rktpwrd
- Start date
Not on all Turna.
I saw a factory sunroof on an ‘80 442 in the auto wreckers last year. It had the glass top, I picked several parts off of it.
The pictures you posted in #783 of the rust under the vinyl made me cringe, and worry that is what ours looks like. But what a beautiful job you did fixing it. Could you see rust before removing the top in either the interior or exterior?
And how do you keep your garage from being covered in dust? I mean, do you sweep, dust and vacuum before every picture?
And how do you keep your garage from being covered in dust? I mean, do you sweep, dust and vacuum before every picture?
Jim, some of the rust was visible from the outside, especially if you knew where to look, and looked close enough. In reality what you could see didn’t look all that bad, but rust is like an iceberg: only about 20% of it is visible from the outside, the other 80% is lurking underneath.
If you look closely in these pics, you can see what it looked like before I started removing the vinyl top:
If you’ve got any of these same indicators, I’d definitely be considering the possibility there could be similar damage on yours. Not to scare you, but it is possible. A lot of it will likely depend on what kind of life the car lived and the local climate conditions before you came into possession of it.
None of the rust damage was visible from inside the car from what I could see when I had it partially disassembled for the new carpet and tinted windows, all adding to the surprise factor when I peeled the vinyl back.
As for keeping the garage clean, that’s just me. I can’t stand clutter, and I can’t stand a dirty shop. I don’t have a lot of room left in the garage with two partially disassembled cars in it, and it is definitely a working shop, so I have to stay on top of keeping it somewhat clean and organized. I don’t sweep and dust before every photo, or necessarily even once a week. I just try and keep it tidy as I go and sweep up the mess as it requires.
The dust that’s generated doing all this bodywork is definitely the biggest thing to contend with. It’s almost as bad as drywall dust, it gets EVERYWHERE especially when it gets airborne. During the really dusty work, I open up the big door afterwards and give everything a thorough blow out. That seems to help at least keep it in check.
Thanks very much for the compliment on my repairs! I really appreciate it.
Vinyl tops . . .
Weird, since it's common knowledge [now anyway] that the vinyl top was actually done to save money not having to muck with properly doing the body work on [primarily] the rear of the cab not as any sort of elegance as it was always marketed. Then later on we had the Landau version which I actually loved on my 84, looked rather elegant [I still miss that Cutty in case you can't tell?] yet it would have been covering the same mess in a rebuild. I just saw a 73 Mercury Cougar on Mecum that actually had a metal rear with a vinyl front. Car looked good enough that way albeit a bit weird and someone stole it for only $9000 [I mean complete frame off restoration for $9K . . . of course unlike like a 67, 73 Cougar was quite a boat and not a real high collector rating] but I wonder what they were hiding by doing the top that way?
Weird, since it's common knowledge [now anyway] that the vinyl top was actually done to save money not having to muck with properly doing the body work on [primarily] the rear of the cab not as any sort of elegance as it was always marketed. Then later on we had the Landau version which I actually loved on my 84, looked rather elegant [I still miss that Cutty in case you can't tell?] yet it would have been covering the same mess in a rebuild. I just saw a 73 Mercury Cougar on Mecum that actually had a metal rear with a vinyl front. Car looked good enough that way albeit a bit weird and someone stole it for only $9000 [I mean complete frame off restoration for $9K . . . of course unlike like a 67, 73 Cougar was quite a boat and not a real high collector rating] but I wonder what they were hiding by doing the top that way?
Garth,
most of the sportier cars in those years had the vynil tops that way. they had a racier look that way, I guess was the thinking... My oldest brother had a 73 charger like it, and my other had a 73 dart sport with the stripe that followed the roofline across the top... identical to this, but his was marlboro red/ white
Garth,
most of the sportier cars in those years had the vynil tops that way. they had a racier look that way, I guess was the thinking... My oldest brother had a 73 charger like it, and my other had a 73 dart sport with the stripe that followed the roofline across the top... identical to this, but his was marlboro red/ white
Glad you chose a pic with a good looking girl in it, made me totally not pay attention to the vynil misspelling
!
Vinyl tops suck, the end
. For my shop, I feel like that Simpsons episode where Lenny is living in a shack an says " Don't tell people how I live", then the wall falls off his shcack, that is my shop. I miss my old 17 by 37 ft garage. This 14 by 20 ft POS is ridiculous. When cars were massive in 70's, why build so small? Add in a terrible flip up door, which I chucked and replaced with tarps for now, that will get fixed this year. Add in that they built it in a hole, about 2" of ice and water on the floor right now and I am in heaven. Big cracks in the floor as well, awesome for floor jacks. Also backing up the hill in winter is awesome as well. I have considered a new shop but fitting in my property, permits, I would need in floor heat, sump pit, 10 ft plus ceilings for hoist, it would cost way too much but nice to dream. Either way that is why my shop is a mess, that is my story and I am sticking to it. I am going to try to purge so I can fit in the 70S with the new door closed.
Brief update...
It’s been a pretty busy and stressful week at work for me here, so I haven’t had much chance or inclination to work on the car a lot this week. But I did manage to get a few things done.
Last night I was able to finally finish up the rework (AGAIN) of the driver’s side quarter extension...
...which is great because I have about had it up to HERE with them.
The picture is a bit deceiving, it actually fits and matches the body lines and looks great now.
But seriously, if this latest rework wasn’t successful, I was about ready to rip them off, chuck them out into the alley as far as I could throw them, jump up and down on them in a fit of rage and frustration, run over them with the truck a few times, and then burn the remnants in a bonfire as an offering to the Car Gods!!
Then I would’ve started from scratch and made all new ones outta sheet metal and welded them in so they actually fit like they’re supposed to!
Anyways now that I’ve got THAT outta my system...
I also filled and block sanded the pinholes I had missed prior to primer...
...then revisited the body lines on the driver’s side I had already sanded. I hate “lazy” or “soft” body lines, I prefer to have them damn near sharp enough to cut paper on, and then knock them down slightly by walking by them with a red ScotchBrite.
Lol
They don’t encourage you to do this in production shops as paint is always thinnest on an edge, but hey, this ain’t a production shop and it’ll have lots of coverage and material on it by the time I’m done. It’ll look so much better with nice crisp, sharp body lines.
I also got the passenger’s side roof rail and sail panel blocked out...
...along with 3/4’s of the passenger’s side quarter panel:
That’s it for now, with any luck I’ll get to put in a bit more time on it on Saturday, as Sunday I’m back to work on Mike’s ‘57.
Thanks for following the progress guys.
Til next time,
D.
It’s been a pretty busy and stressful week at work for me here, so I haven’t had much chance or inclination to work on the car a lot this week. But I did manage to get a few things done.
Last night I was able to finally finish up the rework (AGAIN) of the driver’s side quarter extension...
...which is great because I have about had it up to HERE with them.
The picture is a bit deceiving, it actually fits and matches the body lines and looks great now.
But seriously, if this latest rework wasn’t successful, I was about ready to rip them off, chuck them out into the alley as far as I could throw them, jump up and down on them in a fit of rage and frustration, run over them with the truck a few times, and then burn the remnants in a bonfire as an offering to the Car Gods!!
Then I would’ve started from scratch and made all new ones outta sheet metal and welded them in so they actually fit like they’re supposed to!
Anyways now that I’ve got THAT outta my system...
I also filled and block sanded the pinholes I had missed prior to primer...
...then revisited the body lines on the driver’s side I had already sanded. I hate “lazy” or “soft” body lines, I prefer to have them damn near sharp enough to cut paper on, and then knock them down slightly by walking by them with a red ScotchBrite.
Lol
They don’t encourage you to do this in production shops as paint is always thinnest on an edge, but hey, this ain’t a production shop and it’ll have lots of coverage and material on it by the time I’m done. It’ll look so much better with nice crisp, sharp body lines.
I also got the passenger’s side roof rail and sail panel blocked out...
...along with 3/4’s of the passenger’s side quarter panel:
That’s it for now, with any luck I’ll get to put in a bit more time on it on Saturday, as Sunday I’m back to work on Mike’s ‘57.
Thanks for following the progress guys.
Til next time,
D.
