Since I moved the Lemans into the basement today, I decided to start a thread to document the project. I purchased the Lemans through eBay in April. The car was located about 80 miles from my house so I was able to inspect the car before I bid on it. The condition of the car while not great is also not that bad. The car spent most of its life in a garage, however the shelf between the rear window and the trunk is rusted and there is rust on the quarter panels under the vinyl roof. I am worried about the roof, but until I pull the vinyl I won't know. The floor pan and the trunk floor are not rusted. I purchased the car without an engine. The eBay seller bought the car only for the engine block (matching numbers) for a 68 firebird project he was working on. It looks like the fenders and hood was removed since a number of bolts are missing and nothing comes close to aligning and there are no alignment shims.
EBay Picture - This is before the seller removed the engine and the front end. Why the hood and fenders were painted green with a spray can I don't know. Under the green is the same shade of red.
My plans are to restore the car to have a stock appearing interior and exterior with improvemnets that would not stand out. For the interior I plan on using a radio that supports USB/MP3. No need for CD now that 16GB memory sticks are available. I plan to add power windows, power door locks (electric) and 6 way power seats for both the driver and passenger side, cruise control and a rear view mirror with temperature/compass readout. Other updates include a tilt steering column and a Hurst dual-gate shifter with the mod that supports the 4L60. I plan on using the stock 68 guages and tach.
Exterior Upgrades - I have a GTO hood, GTO tail lights, and Enduro Bumper and hidden head lights to install.
My goal for this project is to create a car that could be used as a daily driver with good street manners. I'm not looking to make this a race only car or have a rock hard ride. If I want that I can drive my 06 GTO. That said I do want to improve the handling over the stock 68 suspension. Perhaps my 06 GTO was modified by its former owner, since its ride is bone jarring and hard cornering produces no body roll. I don't want my Lemans suspension to become like that of my 06 GTO. I want it to be somewhere in between.