.....and I'm well into it. Here are some pics of my 1967 GTO restore. It started life as a '67 base and I didn't get an original motor or rear end. I'm not doing a concours resto, just a "nice" frame off. I have a '73 455, it is a 4 speed car, and thankfully spent most of it's life in California. Just this weekend I lifted the body off the frame so I can clean it up underneath and do a total redo of the chassis. The finished product will be a 1967 GTO with a 455, aluminum heads, 17" aluminum rallye's, maybe vintage air, in the original Turqoise/Turqoise color scheme.
...getting a little impatient now. One new quarter panel is on, second is underway. Shop says should be painting in 2 weeks or so. He's going to reassemble all of it once more, while it is assembled I will take my bumpers over and get them all lined up, then take them off again. Have been accumulating parts like front/rear glass, polishing all the trim, etc. Got my chrome back, looks great, put my grille assys together and bumper assemblies. In the pics below I couldn't resist adding a shot of my buddies 62 fuelie vette he brought to my house for a photo op next to the Corsa. Next time I post I hope it is a pic of a freshly painted '67 GTO in Mariner Turquoise on a trailer in front of my garage.....
Pics look good. Nice Corvair with your buddies Vette.
Gotta voice my opinion here, so no offense. Ditch the red "455" in the grille. I would use the smaller "455" from the 1972-74 Formula455 fender emblem. It would better match the GTO emblem and I would affix it below & to the right ( looking at it from the front) just under the GTO emblem. I think it would give you a better balance in size, color, with the GTO being the prominent emblem, but make it known the 455 is under the hood. Just sayin'. :thumbsup: Click on the emblem to enlarge. https://www.yearone.com/Product/1967-81-firebird/wp16#prettyPhoto
Well, it's October 24th, almost 2 months after I was supposed to have the car back from the body shop. To be honest, an additional quarter panel, some passenger side wheel well damage repair, and odd fitting fenders did set him back a bit, but I'm supposed to go look at the car tonite and give the go / no go before the Mariner Turquoise is applied. Attaching some pics below. Hopefully in the next 2 weeks it will be in my hands again. I guess the good news is during the delay I knocked a bunch of stuff off the honey do list, and also accumulated all the necessary trim for the car.
......good news is paint has actually been applied, bad news is so far it's minimal. Was supposed to get the car back at Thanksgiving, but what I got was some pics of the underneath of the hood and trunk painted.
Using a Sherwin Williams tri color black / turquoise / clear. Early results look really nice.
Next target Christmas. So close, I'm sure 2-3 days of work would finish it, but that seems very hard for these guys to string together...
After I posted those pics at lunch I texted them and asked how they were doing. Seems working pretty hard, last primer today and start shooting end of week. Yeah, it's gonna be killer. I almost changed from the original color but now I'm glad I didn't.
Have all new chrome just waiting, everything to complete the car except upholstery which I will do over the winter.
Paint applied yesterday, he was sending me pics as he went. Using tri color, black, green, clear. As of last nite he had dome 3 coats of clear, he was wet sanding today then final 3 clear coats. I am supposed to bring wheels over today because the temp ones he has on rub the fenders and that cant be allowed anymore.
Got the car back on Christmas Eve. I was off work the week between Xmas and New Year so timing was good. Now going about the process of reassembly. So far have most of the front and rear trim on. The color is fantastic, so glad I went original. Going to take my time getting all of the outside stuff done, and then work on the interior, the last step. Should be ready for Spring unveiling!
Spent yesterday getting the front bumper on then moved on to the rocker chrome. This was not easy since there is so much on a '67. Also, almost all of it was missing when I bought the car so I had a bag of Ames clips of varying types and a bunch of stainless but think I decoded it. Also think my car had the type 1 rocker stainless while the Ames repro is type 2. Anyway, got one side done except the quarter extension, since I have new quarters there are no clip holes, so have to start from scratch. Next weekend! Also had a local guy polish the scratches out of my stainless pieces on the door sills, they look really good. Need to finish getting exterior stuff and and move to interior....
There are so many shades of aqua / turquoise. I originally painted my interior sheet metal a light aqua kind of matching it to the new door panels I had. After I got the car back from paint in the original Mariner Turquoise it seemed like the lighter aqua didn't look right. So I took all the interior stuff out again, including steering / dash and started over. Used an OER interior paint for '68 and up GTO. In the first pic below you can see the difference in the 2 dashes I used, old color on the right. Now the interior is a closer match to the exterior. Will start restart reassembly this weekend. Then I'll get to door glass, carpet, headliner, seats. Moving along....
By the way, I need to glue a new wood applique to my dash. Anyone ever use 3M 90 spray adhesive for that? Was wondering what the cure time was and how well it holds. Used the yellow tube stuff last time, not so good.....
Had a friend who some years ago used the 3M spray adhesive to reattach the headliner in a 1992 Lumina and it worked real well. Sorry but I don't remember how long it cured or if it lasted long as he flipped the car not long after.
Appreciate the input. I think I'm going to try it. I'll put gloves on, spray it, lay it in place, take the gloves off and work it down. My guess is you don't want sticky fingers and getting glue on the wood veneer. We'll see this weekend!
Wow, what battle. I had taken my interior apart to change the turquoise color after getting the car back from paint. I repainted all of the interior steel and plastic, and then set about reassembly and making sure all electrics work. First issue was my new turn signal switch, too big for the housing, was arcing off of the side and shorting. Ames offers 2 different parts, get the GM one, it is smaller and doesn't have this interference issue, save yourself a ton of work. Next issue was the Grant horn parts. Kinda rinky dink, took some quick re-engineering involving a nail head, a pen spring, a coil terminal, and a dremel. After 6 tries or so works like a charm. Then the rear taillights would not work, a lot of troubleshooting that led to a bad ground and poor contact surfaces on the body harness that runs to the back. Amazing what a bad ground makes an electrical system do, its like quantum physics, things defy reason.
Anyway, now all working and ready to move forward on interior. Below are some pics, and first outside time since paint and chrome installed!
looking very nice! love the exterior color. i noticed you had the vintage air ducting painted the interior dash color and that was a great move! really helps to integrate the ducting into the dash and give it a semi-factory look. i'm struggling right now with venting ideas on my vintage air system - i want a factory look in what was a non-air car. keep posting, interested in the final outcome.
Yes, I wanted it to look as original as possible. So far me experience with VA has been great, quality product. The factory controls work everything, and man let me tell you the blower puts out some real air. Defrost / Heat / and Vent Mode all very powerful. I have not charged the system yet. It's all sealed up but in the 2 years I've had it I haven't taken it anywhere yet. I would charge it myself but I'm supposed to have it vacuumed for about 45 mins first....
I was hoping my next post would be a finished car, but these last steps are slow. This week I found out the windshield I bought last fall is the wrong one. I ordered a 67, they sent me a 68-72. They made it right though, new one on the way along with a rear for cost. Then I found out my seat covers from Ames have a 14 week lead time, so I will miss my appointment with the interior guy who has a 3 month waiting list. Oh well, hope to have the correct glass in end of this week. Then a front end alignment, some exhaust finishing, and air conditioning vacuum and charge. Then I'll drive with the old seats until I can get in for the headliner and seat covers.
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