been inspired to begin my 2+2
 

Having seen born11bravo restoring his 66 hardtop I am inspired to bring my 65 convertible back to life. It has been sitting in the corner of my garage for 14 years now. The plan was to start last year but mom got sick again so we pulled it out to take some pictures with her car. (garage got cleaned) Looking over some previous oil change stickers car was in Dayton Ohio for a long time. Any one from the Dayton area remember a Blue Mist Slate Metalic with Black top 2+2 convertible?

Have a couple items to finish on moms car before Pigeon Forge as well as getting her strenght up enough to make the trip.

more pics

You have a very rare and desirable piece there. It deserves no less to be in the same condition as that GTO and we need cars like that on the streets. I am sick of seeing all the SS Impalas cruising around. Very nice and good luck with it.

if it was in dayton, call Dick - he'll probably have known about it

he's dealt in pontiacs for 30 years - dayton the entire time

937-559-0731 i believe


P.S. Auto or manual?

Thanks Clay
Dick was not sure. He remembers a 65 being on the rusty side but not sure. I will get one of the old registrations and see if the last name is Rosenbaum?

Patrick

It is a 421 HO (WJ) with the 3sp manual and 3.73 Posi. Transistorized Ignition. Underhood lamp and reel out trunk light, power ant. rear speaker ps pb and hub caps.

previous owners
 

This is what I could find. Mom and Dad bought the car for me in Sept, 82 from Sam Widmeyer of Marion IN. He purchased the car from James Roseberry of Jonesboro, Indiana, in Sept. 1981

The service sticker on the inside of the door says Dave Ledford SOHIO 6308 Brandt Street Dayton Oh. 233-5232.

Their is another service ticket from a shell station but very hard to read.

Any knowledge or help would be really cool

Thanks all

Patrick

That will be a very cool ride. Keep us posted as to your progress. Good luck

Car needs to be restored. Get started and stay with it.

Day one: Remove front end
 

Some interesting markings. Any idea. The 373 may corrispond with the 3.73 gear ratio? The number 2 I have no idea. Pictures of the fenders. Since I have a complete rust free front end if any one could use these let me know.

If mom is well enough to travel we will be in Pigeon Forge and hopefully Norwalk. If any one is interested I will bring them with us.

more pic
 

These are the markings we found under 42 years of dirt.

that's a cool car, glad to see you working on it.

mike

Thanks Mike

Did you ever know of a Richard Funk from Portland?

i know some funks, carl is the most prominent name that sticks out, he has a daughter and a son who's names escape me now. there's also a gerald that i've met a few times.

i see you car came from the marion area, are you still in indiana?

mike

Yes. Down in Beech Grove. South East corner of Marion County.

I knew Richard when he was married to my sister for a short while. When I knew him he was an accountant.

Patrick

it may be the same family then, carl's son lives or works in that area. i'll have to ask him when i see him.

mike

Patrick:

That car is definitely a keeper! The great thing about that car (beside being a classic Pontiac) is that it is a covertible AND has the 421 HO tri-power to boot! That car is worth mucho-dinero fully restored, but of course you're going to shell out some serious cash if you want to get her gleaming like that blue GTO.

It looks like you'll have your work cut out for you, but so far there is nothing that I've seen in the pictures that looks that bad. I'm glad that you are starting on your project and that you were inspired by seeing my post on the forum.

Let's exchange notes as we go, and maybe we can keep each other motivated with updates to these PY threads.

Best of luck!
Dave

Dave

Thank you for the inspiration. It took 3 years to get moms gto done. Looking at the same time frame for my car. I plan on getting the body off the weekend after easter. The frame has a section of rot under the drivers door. That will be first to be repaired. Going to try and get the body blasted then sealed in epoxy primer. Taking apart is always fun and cheap. Putting back together is the expensive part. Will keep in touch.

With a sign on as born11bravo did you spend time in Iraq? IF so thank you and all those who serve our country for my freedom.
My neighbor just returned from 18 months. Had a few beers and listened to his stories.

Patrick

Patrick:

I'm looking forward to seeing that '65 at a Darksiders cruise-in someday! :D Thanks for your salute to the troops - I was in Iraq for Operation Iraqi Freedom II from March '04-March '05 fighting with the 2-162 infantry stationed in Taji. If you ever want to read a raw story on the war, there is a book written about our unit available on Amazon.com called "The Devil's Sanbox."
http://www.amazon.com/Devils-Sandbox...7388457&sr=8-1

Anyway, I plan on doing some more body work this week and will update my "'66 2+2 body work" thread with pictures and information. The are many similarities between the ''65 and '66 models years, so let's keep a good dialog of best-practices going.

Regards,
Dave

Dave

Great work. A friend of mine always said "one hour a day" and you will get it done. Keep it up. Some day soon we can have all the 2+2's lined up together.
I went to post some pictures last night but for some reason they would not post. Its gutted. Body is ready to come off the frame. Floor boards are perfect. The cowl is rough. Under the windshield where the dash meets the cowl is going to need some tlc and fabricating. A lot of elbow grease and some welding she will be as good as new.

Patrick

Almost forgot, their was a white 66 at the GTO nationals last year in Louisville. It was on display by Pontiac. I will see If I can find that picture.

Patrick,

I've never had luck with that posting system. I have found it easier to post them with a host and then use the [img]_____________[/img] feature. I use supermotors.net to host my pictures. It's free. I have never seen a 65 gutted, I cant pull up your pictures. I hope you can get it worked out.

3rd time to post pictures here goes again

more pics

yeh pics worked
 

Ok set camera to vga and snap away. The floor pans are neer perfect. There are 2 spots around the drivers seat belt and that is it. As you can see the cowl will need some work. Why could they not spend a little more time to seel the windshield?
More as we move forward.
Patrick

Patrick:

You've been busy. Good work! It doesn't look that bad really, just keep reminding yourself that once that baby is restored you'll have one AMAZING ride.

Have you ever used a rust inhibitor called Rust Bullet? I'm going to try it on my car I think. I have heard that it is much easier to use than POR-15 because you eliminate the pretreatment step. Basically with Rust Bullet you just clean the area up with a brush, getting all the loose stuff knocked off, and then apply it. Check it out......
http://www.rustbullet.com/Products/A...Automotive.htm

I think you're ahead of me now on your restoration, so I'd better get out to the garage and attempt to keep pace. :D

Dave

Just to drop a note. I used rust encapsor from eastwood co. when I took my cowl cover off. It went on smooth and looked good in flat black and you can paint over it. I did not have rust holes but some surface rust I knocked down. Good stuff.

I have not used either one. I plan on getting the body off hopefully this weekend. Then it goes to get media blasted. After that will have it sprayed with edp primer/sealer. This way it can sit until the chassis is done.
More to come
Patrick

Patrick:

Can you tell me how you managed to get all the tar paper and other gook off the floor? It looks really clean.

Man,

It looks like the glass is structural in a convertible.

Patrick,

I've been watching this thread since you posted it. YOU GO!!! I've been there many many times and you're attacking it in the correct fashion. You may want to see if you can locate a donar car for the cowl/dash section and graph in that section. If you have questions, just email me or check out the pictures on my web site www.clearcreekrestorations.com Keep us posted and the pictures are always a must.

The cowl rust is very typical of mid to late 60's GM cars, you're right, they just couldn't get the sealing and draining right.

When I see Dick at our next club meeting, I'll grill him about the car and see if I can get some more info from him.

-r-

-r-

ken 66
elbow grease and a scraper. I used a small pry bar that has a slight bend at the end. I was able to push and scrape and scrape and push etc etc etc. It did take some time.

64 cat
I believe I briefly met you at Steve's last Saturday. You were busy and I was just gawking at all his classics.

Patrick

bodies are HEAVY
 

Ok body is off. Auto twirler worked really well. Back end is a little heavier than I thought so we used the engine lift to hold the back end up. Lots of rust in the frame under the drivers door. Check out the replacement gas line. I sure am glad I did not drive this very much. Bad wiring and fuel lines. Fire waiting to happen.

more pictures
 

More disassembly pictures.

It sure would be nice to have the space to be able to work like that. The twirler is nice.

last couple pictures
 

Just think in 2002 this is how moms GTO looked. It came out ok.

When we were looking for our house we had requierements Mine was simple the biggest garage I could get and a basement. Garage is 24x30 Not much back yard but who cares. That is grass I do not have to mow.
Patrick

back to work
 

Things are getting a little back to normal after moms passing. The garage is cleaned out so look out. Hopefully this nice long weekend we will finish stripping the frame and get it dipped. A lot of rust. Thinking of building a jig and repairing the frame. Also looking into buying a doner car. Just have to see what I have to work with.
Keep you posted
Patrick

Patrick,

Sorry to hear about your mom.

Keep us posted and let me know when you want me to take a road trip.

-r-

Ron
Fridge is full. June 9th or 10th is ok.

Patrick

Dissassembly continues. The differential is out finally. These were some tough nuts to get off. LOL Years ago when I first took posession of this car I checked the rear end code and VJ was revealed. I again had to double check so out came some 80 grit and looky what I found. Then just to make sure we opened the inspection cover to check the ratio. 41-11 = 3.73 yippe all there.
Will be sending the unit to Ron at Clear Creek and he will have completely redone for me.
By the way nice add in smoke signals for Clear Creek Restorations

Lucky dog!!!!!! That 3.73 sure would be nice to have, and with a posi to boot. You for sure will have a very desirable piece of history in the Pontiac community. I have seen a bunch of 2+2's pop up on ebay but only one convertable in the last two months. It's good to see you working on it and thanks for keeping us updated.

Thanks Hitman
Moving forward after moms passing.
Takinhg the rear end to Clear Creak in Lebenon OH
Will attempt to get the front springs out soon.
Need the proper tool. Last time on moms car the left front got stuck so I reached in and grabbed it. Yep broke my hand. Lesson learned.
Patrick

Patrick,

EH? you like that add? I've already add a few hits off of it. Maybe some day I can retire and just work on old Pontiac's :D

If you go to Autozone, they'll loan you the spring compressor for free (buy it and return it), and it shouldn't take you but about an hour to get them out, (and probably less painful than a broken hand).

See ya' tomorrow.

-r-

Yeah, make sure you get the one that goes up thru the shock hole. I bought one but it was for a strut type. I rented the right one from advance, and it made life very easy.

frame to far gone to repair?
 

Maybe not to far gone. If it was the last of its kind I would have repaired. However mine is not. Tin Worm Carnage did its damage. Now looking for a good boxed frame. You can see where the boxed welds just split open. My guess thawing ice.
Patrick

more pics of frame
 

yet some more

more frame
 

still more and lots more

a few more
 

more frame almost done

10 more i think
 

wanted to make sure I pictured every spot

Wow!!! I've never seen frame rust before. What factors come into play for thick metal to rust like that? Guess i'm lucky down here. On your car it is worth it due to what it is. A run of the mill Cat like mine would quickly become a parts car if I found that. Keep up the good work.