Almost near the end stages of the 68 Valiant I started freshening up just on on 2 months ago. Whilst looking for parts for the 61 Dodge Lancer I stumbled on the '68 Val that someone else had started then messed up their back in an industrial accident! "Easy Restoration" the ad said Price was right, lined up a tow truck to haul it to me from 3 hours south. First get it running, change oil and flush coolant then get brakes working , $500 for W/cyls + linings+ hoses+ line over the rear end, Now it has brakes and can move it around without fear of running into the GS or the Dodge or one of my bikes. "Easy Restoration" went out the window on bodywork which I do all myself after a lifetime of it. More rust that I thought, SURPRISE!...not really Gonna leave patina but after all rust was welded up and minor dings repaired it was silly not to repaint the lot, didn't bare metal as most of paint original and sound, a coat of etch then a few of hi-fill and the first block back with 120 dry revealed all the stuff I'd missed, eventually reprimed and blocked back 400 wet and sprayed single stage acrylic in Xmas and Boxing Day. Found a good reasonable priced upholsterer(very lucky there) He did the 61 Dodge for a great price and quote on the Val is fantastic too, In this game ya gotta do it yourself or know the right people. Ian just removed the headlining and will be back in 4 or 5 hours to refit the new one he's making up. So the cars coming together at a reasonable price only because I do all my own work except upholstery and electrical. I have a good old school auto sparky who I trust not to rip me off, I'll get him over once I fit the new carpet so at least he can lay under the dash in comfort. Car starts and horn now works. Nothing else electrical does I'm not foolish enough to waste my time on electrics when I could be doing something I'm good at. Hopefully when sell it Ill get what it's worth, it's not cost a great deal in parts and materials but as far as labour goes I woulda been better fixing someone else's car. In a way it's a labour of love and the satisfaction of turning a sows ear into a silk purse! Woulda made more sense if I was keeping it but I can't keep them all there's not enough garage space. Cleaned up under the hood and painted 225 Slant in some green I mixed up, it's based on a blue paving paint with a bit of yellow added to make Slant Green. "Easy Restoration" not really. It's a freshen up that's cost me minimal money and a couple months of my life. Turning out ok so far. But not a job for the feint hearted. Yet I still do it ...Crazy? ..it helps PIX TO FOLLOW...theyre on my phone
Second pic from top above was the pic in the ad I bought it from. So it's a barn find if that's a barn! More pics of the work I've done coming up
Ok, lot more work than I thought and got a nice burn on my lower leg from molten metal, still healing. Fell down my sock OUCH!
Rust and dents by now seemed never ending!!! Time to etch prime then hi fill primer , then block with 120 dry then find stuff I've missed! Guide coats soon shows em up! Then reprime and block with 400 wet. Val's got green interior upholstery and someone before has sprayed the roof green, not factory but a great idea So I got some left over metallic blue from my shelf of left over paints and added Solar Yellow till I got a nice Emerald Green and added some Coarse Metallic to it an extra, see pic. Came out wicked! More so after 1200 wet and a machine buff!
Then after spraying the roof green and clearing it I masked it off and mixed White, Yellow Gold, and a smidge of black to make Alpine White and sprayed the body, oh I did silver metallic in the style line scallop on the rear of the trunk lid a la V.I.P. Valiant and I think your Dodge Darts had similar
Then I clear lacquered over the lot and 1200 wet sanded and machine buffed... Once door gap was fouling with the extra layers of paint so I did what I shoulda done in the prep stage and reworked the area after loosening bolts , banging in wedges and tightening up again. Got it working good enough. These are the hubcaps it runs. This things stock as a rock and staying that way, got a set of whitewalls for it too. Ian the upholterer is doing up my bench seats as close to original colour as he can and today he took out the old crappy rooflining and stitched up a new one , four hours later it was in
Fantastic work. You have a lot of talent. Find a Hyper Pac for the leaning tower of power. Back in the 60s a Plymouth with a Hyper Pac often won stock eliminator at our local track. https://video.search.yahoo.com/sear...92b8f8f181f572371475cf87e015b914&action=click
Thanks but no this one's staying stock standard and will be sold, I got too many cars, there's another thread here I think on my 1961 Dodge Lancer post Coupe. It's a keeper it's got style. May warm up the 170 Slant a bit with headers and a 2 barrel carb. Or fit a small block Mopar. Gotta get this 68 finished and sold first but....or at least finished and on the road so I can do some cruising in it. See behind the 68 on my assembly line is the 61 Lancer. Here it is the day I bought it! It's next but I'm leaving the paint just the way it is.
Back then, the uneducated opposing driver's would chuckle about running a 6 cylinder opponent until having this experience: https://video.search.yahoo.com/sear...3807656c17fa4b6995d432c02b8ae9f1&action=click The chuckles suddenly stopped.
https://video.search.yahoo.com/sear...=a273a6d443dcc0e2542ebc892fa39a28&action=view This Hyper Pac slant 6 combo was designed by the late, great Tom Hoover and team who designed the 426 HEMI.
'68 Val is finished now and sitting at Lloyd's Auctions Gold Coast Australia, awaiting the fall if the hammer this Saturday lunchtime . The auctioneers hammer not the panel hammer....that's all done! Quick tidy up turned into almost 5 months , now I can get stuck into the Dodge Lancer. Poor old GS Buick been under wraps for 9 months isolating Went to start her up after finally able to get her outta the shed. Nuthin Flat Battery....charge for 24 hours and she fired up....good the throttle a bit at first once I get oil pressure. Brought her up to temp and shut her down again. Cruise coming up soon
68 Val sold at classic auction for $19500. Was hoping for a bit more but it's the market that sets the price at auction. Been getting stuck into the Dodge Lancer between other stuff. Fingers almost bleeding from wet sanding with 400 then 800 after blocking hi fill primer with 180 then repriming ready to wet sand. Got a few coats of jet black acrylic on yesterday as a base for Plum Crazyish purple metallic. A mate with a big shop that only uses 2 pack found almost 4 litres of Standox acrylic under a bench on a big cleanup and he gave it to me as he knows I'm still spraying acrylic. Still debating whether or not to get the bumpers rechromed as it's quite expensive and if I'd left it patina then I would've got away with them, but a nice shiny paintjob demands good chrome. Thought about body colour or even black for the bumpers. But if I end up moving it on there's no substitute for chrome bumpers is there... UPDATE on Buick GS turns out the battery was past it and failed again after the Drive In movies a few weeks ago, It's a proper American GM style battery with twin posts and bolt on terminals so had to pay a premium price for a battery with lotsa Grunt...it's an AC-DELCO which is a bonus too (made in Korea but!) Starts a lot better now. Shouted the Buick a good car cover too
Thanks...someone's gotta do it, and it's one of the things I do best. Got the primer-filler blocked with 120 , picked up on a few areas needed a bit more work , then sprayed another coupla coats primer-filler, guide coated, Wet sanded with400 then light guide coat and 800 wet. Prepwash and 3 coats jet-black acrylic, including the roof that Id sprayed with 2 Pak Truck-bed liner previous. Then I masked off the whole roof area and had a play with the 3 litres of metallic purple acrylic that my mate who only does 2 Pak found under a bench during a clean up, quite old looking at the outside of the can , but top quality Standox acrylic inside the can. Stirred it up good then added a good splash of coarse metallic and a glob of glitter metallic to the can and another good stir, mixed together ok. Poured into a big empty glass jar added 1.5 times thinners and started spraying, did around 5 coats and then mixed up some clear acrylic and sprayed a coupla coats then remembered some Red Gold pearl powder I've had in a jar for over 25 years , mixed that with thinners and added to one coat of clear over the purple. Followed by more coats of clear without pearl, lost count but it plenty on , added some retarder to the last few coats. Oh yeah unmasked the roof area during the latter stages of clear and sprayed a few coats of clear over the black "vinyl-look" roof to give that shiny Armor-All effect. The style lines that run from down the A pillars and in 30 mm below the windscreen rubber and along beneath the side windows ending midpoint below the rear window. This area has stainless mold on the GT model but is bare and wanting on the base poverty pack 2 door sedan(post as we call em here) When masking for the "vinyl roof" I got the brainwave to extend it down and along that style line. Worked wonderfully! I'm almost through the wet 1200 followed by wet 1500 and buffing with Juice Q-cut then Juice swirl remover and the deep blue tone purple is sparkling like the night sky in a galaxy far far away. Here's a few update pix
