Well lets just say the holes will be left open. Nick is getting ready to paint the raised section Gloss White with a 1/4" white pin stripe around it. Then the Grills, 400 emblems, and small front edge chrome trims go on and that's it. That's the way it was painted when Jimmy found it. Duane
Obviously, the holes will be left open to receive mail, leave suggestions, or deposit spare change or money to help with the resto.
May have to wait a few days for the hood paint. I understand tomorrow is dyno day. I may even stop over. Bill N. says, "It's a shame I was heavily into Chevys back then, I probably looked right past a Buick focusing on a Camaro or Chevelle instead." I can't fault you for that. The first Motion car I ever saw was a Blue with white striped 70 Phase III Corvette Coupe and it was sitting on a used car lot at the corner of Lincoln Ave. & Chester Pike. I was like 16 or 17 and was driving my first car, a 67 Mustang Convertible. I went back to look at that car almost everyday until it was sold. Boy did I want that car. Frank, I'm not proud, all change will be gratefully accepted. Duane
That's going to make that car look completely different than just a stock looking car..I can't wait to see the Hurst wheels on it..
Pat, The hood stripes combined with the special rear stripes and factory pin stripes should do the trick. If nothing else these cars never looked anything but bold. I remember seeing the outline of the stripes on the original hood when I first saw the car. The original hood was at the auction but it was so badly pitted/rusted and faded you couldn't see them anymore. Nick put them back exactly like they were. Duane
I need to post this so I may as well do it now. I do not see any way I can make the Nationals with the car. When we ran the motor you could tell that something was up. The motor ran nice and smooth but the heads were supposed to be already done and they were not. (I told Nick they were done.) Nick ran a pressure test and some of the valves were leaking......................so the motor is coming apart and the heads are getting done. I will continue to post pics of the progress for everyone's enjoyment. Duane
Duane, I'm sorry to hear that, but there's no shame for you or Nick. It was a very ambitious deadline to start with, and the car needed a lot of things done. Chin up, you can get them next year, and the year after that, and.........
If there is one thing I have learned with restorations it's this. The first part you don't touch/check out/fix is the first part that ends up biting you back. Duane
Next year is the 50th birthday for ‘69s anyway. It’ll be a great centerpiece for a display! This year bring the photo album (and some other GS-maybe the Xcamino!). Patrick
That's a bummer, Duane, but......I've done a couple cars that I gave myself a deadline/goal for a certain event to have them done and I didn't make it in time. It seems weird, but it's almost a relief when you realize you can't make it so you can stop worrying, stop pushing so hard, and just go a little bit easier. You definitely don't seem like the type to take it easy, at least from this thread's progress, but at least you can maybe go at a normal guy's pace for a while now
BG was a stretch I thought? here is a consolation fer ya I love that hood ! Buick should have done that for them all
Duane, I feel your pain as I just went through the same things with supposed rebuilt parts. My short block and trans were supposed to be rebuilt what a mess..... Something kept telling me to have the engine checked and I am glad I did. After that I decided to have the trans checked, someone went through the trans but did it incorrectly so I had it redone. I ended up having to bore the block and putting everything new in it. New rings, bearings, ect wasted. It is ashamed that after all the hard work to meet a deadline that something like this causes you to miss it... Nelson
Nelson, It's OK, we are still waiting on the back bumper too. Missing a show or two is no big deal for me. I have done thousands of shows, and worked a ton of them. The most I ever worked in a single year was 43 car shows......and that would have been from start to finish of the show. Not like regular "attendees" were you go to the show see what you want and leave. We actively started working on the car on May 26th, so if it's done on October 26th then that is only 5 months, and November would be 6 months. Still a very aggressive schedule figuring the number of parts on one of these cars, the trouble with finding 69 parts, which is certainly not a main stream vehicle, and the amount of work that needed done. Jimmy's health is not the greatest and is actually pretty bad. That is really the main reason for the big "push". He absolutely loved my Dad. Dad sponsored him for the Masons and spent a great deal of time with him. I believe that really meant a lot to him, especially because his father was gone by then. He has also been a very good friend to me. As long as the car gets done so Jimmy can see it finished and he gets his drive I will be fine with all of this. Duane
Duane - Has anyone dropped a tip to Hemming's Muscle Machines about this car and the resto? This is a no-brainer for HMM to publish. Worthy of half the magazine for the month it's printed in, and also worthy imho of Musclecar of the year!
