[SD455DJ]

The hood is sans its primer coat and the original Palladium Silver paint beneath. Once the weather turns a little nicer and the roads clear up the Custom S will take a short journey down the road to the paint booth.

Dennis

[SD455DJ]

A couple of the doors had this tag under the door card...BAL is for Baltimore I assume, 49 for the week? It has an 11D build date on the trim tag (47th week of the year +/-), so probably means something else? Here are the stamps found on the hood (1B20?) and pass rear qtr. trunk opening (23369 X4G?).

Dennis

[SD455DJ]

The Custom S has been getting prepped this past week for painting sometime next week. The windshield and rear window were removed and minor rust was found at the windshield base that needed some metal work. Fortunately, the rear window channel needed only a little tweaking otherwise was in great shape. The rear window’s seal had a breach at the bottom channel and would let water in the trunk, but, fortunately the car led a garaged life, so no damage (rust) in the trunk. The entire interior is now out, save for the dash and steering wheel, so this is getting pretty serious for a ‘scuff and shoot’! The front fenders were removed and the back sides and inner fender wells were covered with something like ‘cosmoline’ that is practically impossible to remove, so more work needs to be done to get them ready. The original carpet (tags are still on the underside) got a first cleaning along with the original seatbelts. The front bench seat base is pretty ripped and worn (hence the seat cover) and we’re going to take it to the upholsterers to see if they can match the vinyl grain and pleat pattern. The seat back looks to be in nice condition.

Dennis

[b-man]

First rate preservation/restoration as expected.

[SD455DJ]

Originally Posted by b-man

First rate preservation/restoration as expected.

Thanks B-man! I don't know about first rate restoration, maybe a rejuvenation, but, whatever you want to call it, it will be a dependable fun driver when done. It's getting more attention than I thought it would receive in such a short time, but it will be ready for the nice weather this May.

We did discover the engine 'lean' to the driver side is due to collapsed factory motor mounts, the driver side being particularly bad, so new ones from Ames are on the list of parts to be ordered next week. We also have new DGA10S 2.5" mandrel bent downpipes also on order that will tie into the 2.25" exhaust system it has now (fairly new...10-12 years old and still shiny in places) along with new MagnaFlow (straight-thru design) mufflers to replace the Midas corks that are on there now.

Dennis

[SD455DJ]

The original carpet is in decent shape, just a little worn and sun faded, so going to do the 'redye' restoration. The jute back is in great shape too. This is the rear carpet and the tag fell off from somewhere...

The front carpet has a Nov. 1, 1968 date, while the rear has Oct. 31, 1968.

Dennis

[SD455DJ]

Here's the inner fenders with the brown-ish looking coating (cosmoline?) on the top and the results of a few hours of scrubbing with mineral spirits (did nothing), paint thinner (did nothing), then gasoline (did something). He even sprayed the cowls as seen in the May '82 picture. It took quite a bit of rubbing with gasoline to clean it off the cowls.

Dennis

[SD455DJ]

Fresh Palladium Silver paint applied this past week. The top of the dash and cowl and rear package shelf are getting painted tomorrow. It gets kicked out of the shop on Monday for reassembly. It's finally one color now!

Dennis

[north]

I had to do the bottom of the front seat on my LeMans wagon (the wagon version of the LeMans uses a Custom S interior). I bought some NOS material from the guys in Oregon which was a perfect match but we had to sew the pleats which were heat pleated originally.

[SD455DJ]

Originally Posted by north

I had to do the bottom of the front seat on my LeMans wagon (the wagon version of the LeMans uses a Custom S interior). I bought some NOS material from the guys in Oregon which was a perfect match but we had to sew the pleats which were heat pleated originally.

North, that's the bug-a-boo, you can't replicate the factory heat-set pleats at a local upholstery shop, so the sewn pleats will have to do. I have to remember that this is a driver quality 4-door sedan, not a RAIV Judge, so close enough is good enough. We'll see what vinyl's he can get to try to match the factory grain, so hopefully we can get a reasonable match.

Dennis

[KSZR]

That dash tach is not the easiest to install from my experience.

[GTO.PAUL]

Any chance you have some front and back carpet pics of the bottom side before install. Mainly want to see the seat track locations. Looking great! Thanks, Paul

[SD455DJ]

Originally Posted by GTO.PAUL

Any chance you have some front and back carpet pics of the bottom side before install. Mainly want to see the seat track locations. Looking great! Thanks, Paul

Paul, Here are the only shots I took of the backsides before reinstalling them.

Dennis

[Verdoro 68]

Wow, you guys move fast!

[SD455DJ]

Originally Posted by Verdoro 68

Wow, you guys move fast!

This situation is the opposite of body-shop jail...we only have a 2-week window to get the car in and out of the shop before the next cars need to move in, so it was a take it or leave it deal, and these opportunities come along once every blue moon. So, we pulled the trigger and accepted the challenge to squeeze the Custom S in, pitch in a bunch of labor and help out as much as possible to keep the progress moving. It's moving out next Monday or Tuesday, so 2-weeks to the day it moved it, so we have to move fast! It sure has been crazy, but it's been rewarding to see it change for the better...so quickly. And, of course, we are doing more than we originally planned.

Dennis

[b-man]

Now you’re just showing off.

[SD455DJ]

Originally Posted by b-man

Now you’re just showing off.

It's what I do best...lol.

Dennis

[SD455DJ]

We never noticed this before, but the underdash Kraco 8-Track player has integral speakers built-in to the sides of the body case. We've never seen this before, but I imagine this was one of their offerings if your car didn't have speakers.

Dennis

[SD455DJ]

Solved the mystery on the internet...Kraco KIS-444 "Instant 8-Track Stereo With Built-In Speakers"...

Dennis

[north]

My 69 Executive had a similar (but not identical) 8 track player when I bought it. Interestingly the original owner was evidently worried about doing any damage because he mounted that player on the floor but instead of screwing it to the floor he screwed it into one of those tissue-trash bins with the weighted flaps that sat on the hump. He also wired it directly to the fuse block to not cut the factory wiring to the radio.

I couldn’t stand looking at it but wanted to preserve at least his intent to have recorded music by replaced it with a factory floor mount player.