[TA455HO]

What's wrong with my bearings?



Chad

.

[Transamric]

I should have known! You haven't lost your bearings after all.

[unruhjonny]

ha-ha!
that's great!

I'd wager those bearings are better quality than anything you can buy these days!

[TA455HO]

Granted that one might have seen better days, but I have more that are unopened like the one on the left - should be in their wax wrappers. But, a little Gibbs spray and anything on the surface of that one race should clean right off.

Chad

.

[TA455HO]

Finally found a slightly more accurate shift knob. This is still the 1978? and later style. But, I do believe it to be NOS. Quite a bit different than The Parts Place reproduction that I've had for a while now. I don't know if anyone else reproduces these knobs or not.

• Both have a steel core. I've read that some have an aluminum core, but I am not sure about that.
  
• Both have very little give when squeezed tightly. The NOS one probably a little less so.
  
• The reproduction has a more rubbery, sticky feel to it. The NOS one is a bit harder and not sticky at all to the touch.
  
• Like others mentioned the grain is not as coarse.
  
• The bottom is very flat where the reproduction has a more rounded bottom and different black insert around the steel core opening.

Chad

[TA455HO]

Thought I'd better update my thread before the admins delete it.

I pulled out the door panels that I had Just Dashes restore back in about 1997. Sitting so long the packing peanuts had started to "become one" with the passengers side. Probably good I caught this - no apparent long term damage.

This was back when you couldn't get the 1971 standard interior from Legendary or PUI. These days they sound like a good option.

What do you think of these?









Good enough for show or go buy the Legendary ones?

Chad

[Transamric]

FWIW, I like what I see.

[weranc55]

They look good enough to me. Color looks a little dark?

[Norwood]

Originally Posted by weranc55

They look good enough to me. Color looks a little dark?

How can black be too dark ? Lol

[keith k]

They look nice!

[unruhjonny]

If you don't want them, send them my way

[TA455HO]

I agree they look a little dark all by themselves and that might be enough said. They are definitely not black. Let me share a few more pictures. Pictures are cheap so here goes.

These 1971/72 dark blue interiors are about as tough to match as the 1970 bright blue must be. Even though Seattle doesn't get a lot of intense sunlight compared to some place like California or Arizona, interiors still do fade some here and this car started out in Ohio for a few years before coming here.

Here's the top side of the original sunvisors. Cloth instead of vinyl so it reflects the light a bit differently. You can possibly see the stitching around the edges is basically gone. It is definitely a bit lighter in this picture.



Here's another with the door panel, visor backside, original glovebox door on that back inner part, repainted molding and part of a test panel for the interior paint.



Here's the back side of the original sail panels. Again, a little lighter.



Now, in this picture I've included the original panel that goes under the steering column - missing a small chunk in the lower right corner, too.. You know how bad this part fades. If Chris reads this maybe he can take a picture of his compared to other pieces.



Here I've pulled back a little farther and you can see part of the front seats that are also from 1997 era, but not Just Dashes. This was the PUI offering of the time. They, I suspect, dye them from a black. But you can see how well they match the door panels done by Just Dashes. At least from my perspective.



Here's about the same shot, but believe it or not this is WITH the flash on my iPhone turned ON.



Another angle. No flash on the camera.



Here's a close-up with the flash turned back ON. The difference between the under dash piece here is now far more obvious, but look at the back sides of the sail panels and the edging of the visors. Maybe not all that far off?




Here's some of the original seat back on the new seat upholstery.





Next to the even more faded under dash panel.



But, not as dark as black.





Trying to marry all of this together is a tough choice. Do I dye the seats and door panels a bit lighter or try the stuff from Legendary or dye some of the faded pieces to match the seats and door panels? The dash and console were also done by Just Dashes so they look the same as the door panels right now. I do also have an NOS dash pad in black that I was sort of planning on using instead of the one from Just Dashes, so I'll have to dye it anyway.

Chad

[eaglesan13]

Chad,

I'm assuming this was directed at me, so here you go. I took these pictures yesterday, with an odometer reading of 17,826. Everything in the interior is original (color-wise), with the exception of the plastic pockets in the door armrests. Mine had discolored (lightened up) over the years, so I had them repainted to match the interior. There is a little discoloration of the filler panel under the steering column and the ashtray cover, but there is very little discoloration of the glove box door. The rest of the interior plastics, (kick panels, seat backs, and the inner quarter trim panels all look good. This is probably due to the many years of indoor storage.

Originally Posted by TA455HO

If Chris reads this maybe he can take a picture of his compared to other pieces.

[eaglesan13]

A few more pictures...

[eaglesan13]

....

[weranc55]

Jmo but the covers and door panels are way off. If it was my car I would redye the door panels and replace the seat covers. Are the seat covers PUI? I had a 72 that had Pui covers and they looked like yours. I ended up replacing them with legendary.

[unruhjonny]

oh wow - when I looked at those photos (on my phone) last night I didn't have a clue they weren't black...

I completely see the (dark) blue now!!

Here's my take, and a slight departure from what is specifically being discussed:

As I've understood it, brand new, there was colour variance in pretty much all "coloured" interiors - variance between materials and panels;;
It seems to me that many cars are being over restored these days in that the colour variance is no longer being seen...
Frankly, if it were my car, I'd try to discern what was normal colour variance for that colour interior of that year, and not worry if your observed variance is reasonably the same...

Maybe I'm wrong, and I'm not trying to in any way disparage a car who's owner has gone great lengths to have everything match perfectly - but it seems to me, that if there was a colour variance from the factory, that seeing this shouldn't detract from the finished car.

[TA455HO]

OK, more good thoughts guys. Chuck, I appreciate your thoughts and they are PUI covers. I agree they just DID NOT hit the nail on the head with the colors. Suprising that two different vendors got fairly close to one another, but it's just not right.

Oxley at one point sent me this rattle can of DDL paint, which I think was for the metal ashtray front. I just sprayed some of that on some masking paper and I think it looks really close to correct - considering it is still glossy here.



Jonny - I agree things were not all one color and I sure don't want to make everything 100% identical. I've just always wanted to get some thoughts on these. The PUI seat covers almost show some of the black through the blue like they didn't give it quite enough coats to fully cover or something like that. Not that the color is correct anyway.

Thanks for looking and offering your advice.

Does anyone have pictures of the 1971 Legendary 201 or 211 trim code seat covers and/or door panels they could possibly share?

Chad

[weranc55]

Legendary covers

[weranc55]

PUI and legendary Difference