Building a Judge Conv clone
 

This might be nuts but-- I have access to a 1968 Lemans convertible from So Cal- I am in the car right from a dollars point of view and do not have a huge budget to afford a real judge- I want to restlye the body of the 68 to look like a 1969 judge convertible.

Can someone tell me what parts i would need to put this together--Is it bolt on possible or massive metal frabrication??:confused: Here are some thoughts

enduro nose
69 Valance
headlight bezels
Do I need Diff bumper brackets?
Hood with scoops
Rear bumper
Bumper brackets??
Tailights
Judge spoiler
Rally 2 wheels

Trunklid
doors w/o vent windows
the dash is completely different
Steering column
complete upholstery

I would say massive metal fabrication in the rear bumper/trunklid/taillight area. Not to mention the rear sidemarkers are different.

thats crazy - there are so many parts different from the 68 to the 69 it would almost be better to start with a 70. The frame is different in the rear, so all the lines, gas tank, and underbody parts are different. 68 had different disc brakes, different floor pans, different dash, steering column, the list is endless.

Ditto. You need to clone a 69 with a 69. You would have an enormous amount of work/money ahead of you to retrofit all the 69 stuff to the different 68 body and interior too. The years are very, very different despite some of the similarities.

I guess we need to look at it from your perspective which is: your truely trying to make a '69 vert replica to fool 99% of the people, or you would be satisfied at 50%. If you put a GTO hood on the car and an Enduro front end, a rear spoiler and paint it CR with a stripe you'll fool 1/2. The other route is foolish, way too much work and cash, you would have been way better off buying Gregs....:old:...In my opinion DW

There's a '68 Judge here in this shot from another thread.
Attachment 150879

Thats funny I am in the middle of cloning a 69 judge convertable into Lemans. I'm tired of all the attention I get for having a judge.

Judge Clone
 

Easy! Easy! Just one small problem-Gregs GTO is NOT for sale anymore! Its retiring to South Texas real soon!

Now that's funny!:jumping::old::D

Your NOT serious are you??:confused:

I think that you could make the front of the car look like a '69 fairly easily but the wing windows, rear and dash could really run into some money

If I had the $$$ I would do it for fun.

Well thanks very much for the insight here guys-- I may go the cosmetic only route or just do a 68 clone-- I wish I had the 5 gto's I have sold to buy my wife the house that dropped in value over 100 k over the last year or so-- Oh well cant look back only forward-- I will do whateber I have to to get back in the pontiac game-- It is the best stress reliever there is-- Where can I source the enuro nose, hood valance and spoiler near Ohio from a trust worthy and fairly priced person??

You can buy those parts repo from the catalogues.
Probably best bang for buck when doing a clone.

A 68 GTO vert is a really sharp car. They turn lots of heads.
A 69 Judge with 68 dash and seats, and 68 rear bumper/tlites and trunklid is almost comic book material,
I'd probably do some more reconsidering on doing one like that.

A 68 Ram Air II vert clone would be Killer and a lot easier.
They are just as rare as JVerts. Maybe more so.
Would add more recognition/acceptance/value to the finished clone project,
and fewer gigglers and finger pointers.

Guys who know these cars somewhat, they DO chuckle and point crooked fingers even if its just behind the scenes. The newer entries will insist on smacking you in the face with it just to be sure and let you know they aren't fooled. Then they try to make sure that everyone else around knows it to. That kind of thing 'can' deflate some of the joy of ownership and commrodity.

Its your deal all the way, anway you go with it.

*just an opinion.

Concur

Sorry for the joking post above but have you considered building a car that never existed? Or maybe a replica of an old race car, it would IMO be more interesting than just a clone. Perhaps a recreation of the famous Royal Bobcat pontiac white GTO with the gold stripes One other interesting fact about this car was that it was a favorite of George Hurst (who supplied the gold anodized wheels) and was used
somewhat as a prototype paint scheme for the very popular '69 Hurst Olds. The car was never duplicated by Royal in those same colors. Here is a link from ultimate GTO.
http://ultimategto.com/art26.htm

I've seen plenty of 68's with just the stripes and no J decals that look pretty darn good.

I also think that trying to change years on a car will probably more work than what it is worth.

But the bottom line is, you are the one building it and you are the one that has to drive it. So, build what makes you happy.

You could always build a one-of-one Potiac Lamnas convertible.
Now that would be a head-turner. Nobody's done that yet, as far as I know.

Here is a pic of my Lamnas before the restoration.

LoL thanks for sharing with us Pete