About Us

jmt455 · 06-09-2013, 08:44 PM

Purchased this car from a forum member in March, 2012.

It's a Fremont-built GTO that has apparently spent its life (until 2012) in California and Nevada.

I asked a lot of questions and got a lot of pictures, but did not go to Nevada to look at the car. Here are a few of the seller's pics:

I knew it needed trunk floors and lower LH quarter repairs, as well as a patch in the left fender.

According to the seller, he bought the car (as a roller) in the mid-90s and started building it. He had installed a 1969 "big car" 428 and a TH400 with either a 2.93 or 3.08 posi. It was originally a non-hideaway car, but the seller had installed hideaways. They were not working and the vacuum hoses and switch were missing.

It ran, but the brakes were not working well.

Here is what it looked like when it arrived in Michigan in early April:

The black paint was mostly rattle-can touch ups to cover bare metal.

After spending some time checking it out, I decided to get it roadworthy and drive it as much as possible over the summer (2012), then get it ready for a winter paint job. My target was to have it on the road for the Woodward Dream Cruise in August.

After going through the fuel system and the brakes, I started cutting out the trunk floor and found that the left quarter was worse then I anticipated. Typical...rust is like an iceberg; what you see is about 10% of what's really there!

Surprisingly, the trunk braces and fuel tank supports were in great shape.

Had to purchase and/or fabricate a bunch of patch panels and had to replace the panel between the rear window and the trunk opening; it was really bad...

Got all that stuff done between April and July and pushed to have it on the road for August...

Rally wheels re-done:

Interior cleaned up, repaired an old, cracked steering wheel to replace the Buick wheel that was in the car, got the gauges working, got the dash pad crack repaired:

Pulled the 69 bumper off, refurbished the headlight mechanisms and the grilles/doors:

MADE IT![

]
Had it drivable by July 30.

A few rattle cans of flat black, and this is how it looked when we hit Woodward for the Dream Cruise:

After the Dream Cruise and a few more short trips, I started prepping the body for paint.

I brought it to the painter and he recommended stripping it to bare metal. A few old repairs were obvious and he wanted to make sure he knew exactly what was under all that flat black paint and old "hi-build" polyester primer.

Lots of DA time yielded some ugly surprises.
Looks like the car sideswiped a guard rail early in its life...

There was a triple crease running from just ahead of the door opening almost all the way to the rear wheel opening and even into the rear section of the quarter.

Must have happened a long time ago; the only paint under the repair material was the original primer and black lacquer!

I spent a LOT of hours on the Endura bumper. The bumper was sandblasted down to the bare ruber/urethane base. I opened up the worst of the cracks, filled all the holes and re-shaped contours with a special flexible epoxy material. Lots of work...

Here's how it looked when it went to the painter in early November:

In the meantime, I've been busy on the seats. Got the rears and the passenger seat done:

Here are more recent pics from the body shop...

These first pics are from early December.

Quarter skin removed, all hidden surfaces prepped for new skin installation:

Test fit new quarter skin:

Two weeks later, I returned to see that the car was wearing its first primer coat:

The door skin is loose and awaiting replacement:

New Dynacorn door skin. Turned out to be a very nice piece:

These next few are from December 20:

Base coat and cleared from the A pillars back:

As of January 7, the car was painted from the firewall back and he was working on the fenders.

Hood & bumper will be last.
The hood has some low areas that need to be corrected:

The body has been cleared, but still needs to be blocked and polished.

More to follow!

2013.01.21

Visited the body shop today.

First base coat is on the fenders and hood.
Started blocking this morning:

UPDATE January 25, 2013

While the car is at the body shop, I have been working on the seats and other parts to get them ready for installation.

The seats didn't look too bad, but when I pulled them out of the car I found a lot of rotten seams and some old rust stains. The foam was obviously in bad shape; it felt like you were sitting in the seat frame instead of a foam cushion.

When I took them apart, I found the typical rusty springs and some rust on the metal frames:

Got the frames and springs bead-blasted and painted them:

Re-installed the springs into the frames:

Sewed up new suspension units to replace the old, tattered burlap:

Front seat:

Rear seat:

Installed replacement felt underneath the new urethane foam buns:

Then added soft, non-woven pads and slip-sheets before installing the covers:

Then, after a lot of stretching and hog-ringing, I ended up with this:

I still have to re-install the plastic covers, but I think the seats turned out great!

These were ACI foam buns and Legendary covers.

UPDATE January 28, 2013.

Seats are finally DONE!

The top of the rear seat back has a few small waves along the emboss lines, but I think they will smooth out when they warm up.
All in all, I'm happy with the results.

Feb. 4, 2013

I've installed the gauges and woodgrain on the dash bezel...looks pretty good!

Here is the dash bezel with the woodgrain applied:

And some pics of the installed gauges:

There are some dark spots on the tach face in this is close-up, but it must just be a reflection; the part looks great

Update Feb.9, 2013

Time for final sanding and polishing; should be ready to bring it home for re-assembly by the end of the month.

Bumper turned out pretty good!

Still sanding the hood & fenders

It's starting to look good!

UPDATE: February 25, 2013

I won't have the car back before the end of February.
It's painted, but still needs more polishing and passenger door adjustments before I bring it home.

I helped fit the front bumper today. It's almost perfect, but we still might do a little more tweaking on the passenger side.

Hard to believe that it looks this good after all the work that was done...(new right quarter skin, new right door skin, minor collision damage in right fender, patch panels in lower left quarter and fender).

I think Bob did a great job!

I can't wait to get it home and start re-assembling it.

UPDATE March 23, 2103

The car is back from paint and I have started on re-assembly.

New parking lamp housings are very pricey, so I decided to refurbish my originals. I replaced the sockets and repainted the housings and the silver areas on the lenses. They turned out pretty good and I won't have to worry about poor grounds; I added dedicated ground wires and 3-wire weatherpak pigtails.

I took the shifter apart, cleaned, painted, polished and lubricated everything as required:

Pulled out the old floor insulation and cleaned up some minor traces of rust before installing new deadener.
The orange areas are original primer:

Gardening (knee) pad sure comes in handy when you're doing this task...

Then on to the rear compartment/package tray area. I am installing 3-point belts for the outboard seat positions (front and rear).
Got the complete set from Morris Concepts. Nice stuff!

The rear retractor mounts on top of the package tray. The belt load is transferred down through a bracket that anchors to the pinch weld flange at the top of the wheelhouse, just aft of the rear seat/trunk partition. The bracket is 316 stainless and about 1/8" thick. We discovered that the Pontiac (Tempest/LeMans/GTO) and Chevrolet (Chevelle/Malibu) body structure is a little different in the rear wheelhouse area. On a Chevrolet, you can drill the attaching holes for the lower mounting bolts in the pinch weld flange and the back side is accessible. On the Pontiac, there is a box reinforcement section behind the mounting area, so you can't get at the bolts. I installed heavy extruded J nuts for the lower attachments:

The rear retractor mounting brackets fit perfectly; more pics after I complete the installation.

I have not been able to get any outdoor pics due to the weather and the fact that I can't move the car, but here's how it looks in the garage:

Lots left to do, but it's coming along!

April 14, 2013 update.

It's been about 4 weeks since I posted an update; things are moving right along.

Completed the installation of the rear seat belt retractors:

Then masked and primed the lower dash panel:

Then painted the lower dash:

Installed carpet, shifter, rear seat divider, kick panels, E-brake mechanism and console:

Yes, I know it's a 69-72 console. Someday I'll find someone who wants to trade for a 68.

Then, on to the instrument panel, radio and glove box installation. Unfortunately, the in-dash tach did not owrk when I tested it. I re-installed the Rally clock:

Spent about 4 days getting all of that where I wanted it, including adding a ground terminal strip for the speakers, radio and 12V power port.

Then, it was on to the front end....

Surprise! I found a little area of flaking paint and a little bit of bent metal on the core support while I was installing the updated weatherpak connectors for the turn signal/park lamps:

Straightened up the damaged area at the outboard corner of the core support, cleaned/treated/primed/painted the area:

Now, time to install the valance panel:

And the headlight doors & grilles:

While I was working up front, I installed the new master cylinder and booster:

And re-finished the sorry looking washer bottle...it turned out great!

Now, I'm picking up steam!
My wife held the rear bumper in position while I bolted it up:

In the last couple of days, I got the front seats in, along with the 3-point belt on the driver's side.

When the sun made an appearance this afternoon, I pulled the car out for a few pics.
Here's what it looks like today (4/14/2013):

In the next two pictures, you can see the "Aux" input and the 12V power port mounted below the dash.
I plan to move both of them into the console, but I just couldn't bring myself to cut the holes in the new console bin liner yet.
Maybe I'll tackle that project later this year...

It looks pretty good in these pics, but it's actually covered with a fine layer of dust. Can't wait to see it in the sunshine after it's all cleaned up!

I've still got a lot of trim and detailing to do, but I'm very happy with the way it's looking so far.

UPDATE June 7, 2013

We've been on the road for several weeks; we returned from an extended (31 day) vacation trip at the end of May.
I picked up my stainless steel trim - all straightened and polished - and got started on installation.

I was able to get some loop carpet for the doors. Made my own bindings from some black vinyl I had laying around. They turned out great.

Here's the carpet cut to match the door panel shape:

Made the binding by cutting a 1.75" wide strip of black vinyl left over from a previous project:

Binding and carpet ready to be sewn. You sew them "face to face", then wrap the vinyl around the back of the door panel after bonding the carpet to the panel board.

At the same time, I also decided to move the 12V power port and the radio "Aux" plug out of sight.
The 12V port is now in the console and the Aux input is tucked up under the dash; not visible, but easily reached.

I made new water barriers for the doors using heavy-gauge plastic instead of the coated paper and replaced the foam seals aound the door pull handles and window cranks.

I removed the stainless steel moldings from the door trim panels and polished the moldings.
Re-sprayed the trim panels with vinyl/fabric dye and put everything back together, including new "fuzzies".

Door trim looks great!

Moving on to the exterior moldings and trim...
I removed each wheel, undercoated the fender liners, touched up the brake drums and the visible portions of the frame rails.

Then I installed the freshly polished wheel opening moldings, new trim rings and snazzy new lug nuts.
Looks like new, except these are 7" wide instead of the original 6" wheels.

I decided to replace the side marker lamp lenses and bezels; the old stuff looked really bad when seen against the new paint.
Lined up the GTO emblems on the quarters...

I'm having trouble with the rear window molding installation.
First, I had the wrong molding clips; they were too short and made the moldings sit too low in the channel.
Even with the correct clips, the moldings don't sit flush at the bottom, left corner of the glass.

I think the glass is miss-formed, but I'm going to try to put some weight on the window when the temps get a little warmer.
Hopefully, a couple of days with 50+ pounds and temps over 80F will squeeze the butyl down a little bit.
No pics of this area yet; still working on it...

Still cleaning, but I'm just about ready for our first show:

UPDATE: June 8, 2103.

Made it to our debut show today; the POCI Widetrackers 25th Annual Spring "Dust-Off" in Davisburg, MI.
It's almost 25 miles from my home, so I got a little seat time in!

The view from the driver's seat:

Speedo actually reads a little high...

At the show:

In great company!

Simple Man · 06-09-2013, 09:06 PM

WOW!! Nice job! And I appreciate the pictures, it gives me new confidence for mine.

The Boss · 06-09-2013, 09:07 PM

The car is stunning - you do beautiful work!

jmt455 · 09:18 PM

Thank you for the feedback!

We drove it to church today; felt great!

Baron Von Zeppelin · 06-10-2013, 02:34 AM

WoW you did that car some handsome favors.
It looks Great.

Nice finesse operations you did to preserve original parts where possible too.
i dig all that stuff .

Many congrats to you JMT
enjoy the ride !

2002Z4CSS · 06-10-2013, 09:01 AM

Sweet car! Maybe we will see it somewhere here in Michigan. Looks like you took the in dash tach out for a clock?

jmt455 · 06-10-2013, 10:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 2002Z4CSS

Sweet car! Maybe we will see it somewhere here in Michigan. Looks like you took the in dash tach out for a clock?

Actually, I was trying to replace the working clock with that tach.
I found the in-dash tach at a local swap meet.
I tested it and found it didn't work, so it's sitting in the "spares" pile until I can get it re-built.

It's on my list of winter projects....

Chipper7 · 06-10-2013, 10:55 AM

Looks great where did you get your stainless trim straighten at?

jmt455 · 06-10-2013, 10:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Boss

The car is stunning - you do beautiful work!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Baron Von Zeppelin

WoW you did that car some handsome favors.
It looks Great.

Nice finesse operations you did to preserve original parts where possible too.
i dig all that stuff .

Many congrats to you JMT
enjoy the ride !

Quote:

Originally Posted by 2002Z4CSS

Sweet car! Maybe we will see it somewhere here in Michigan. Looks like you took the in dash tach out for a clock?

Thanks, everyone!

It was invited to be displayed at the "EyesOnDesign" show on Father's Day.
I still have some work to do before Sunday, but it will be there.
If you're there, look me up.

jmt455 · 06-10-2013, 11:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chipper7

Looks great where did you get your stainless trim straighten at?

A friend of mine owns Masterworks Automotive Services in Madison Heights, MI.
http://www.mwauto.com
He has a couple of people who do all his stainless restoration work; I dropped them off with him and picked them up a couple of weeks later.

They did beautiful work.

webfoot · 06-10-2013, 01:48 PM

Congrats, that is one very nice ride!

Mr. G · 06-12-2013, 10:32 AM

Very nice Joe! I am super happy that the car found a great home as you do nice work and it exceeds my greatest hopes for the car. Now go have some fun!
Mr. G

jmt455 · 06-12-2013, 09:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mr. G

Very nice Joe! I am super happy that the car found a great home as you do nice work and it exceeds my greatest hopes for the car. Now go have some fun!
Mr. G

Will do!