She's so close to being there, and tomorrow she will have her new colors. Yes, it's a real GS, and yes I have shaved everything on the body that said GS about her. I wanted a fresh canvas to work with and with the amount of rust she had caked on her, she deserved a new look. A quick run down Bought the car almost one year ago to date, she was a pig. Texas red clay impacted in every crevice, floor pans that were rusted through, bad 455, shot rear end, and oh yes that little mishap with my friends at DAS transportation:blast: rusted quarters, top didn't work, windows leaked, rusted upper dash, blah blah blah BUT NOW she has a rebuilt 455 bored over .40 PnP heads, mild cam'ed, all either polished, painted or chrome. Built 700r4 with a 2600 stall, 3.83 12 bolt posi, new floors, front and rear suspension, front discs, the list goes on and the pockets are about empty, but this beuty is worth it. STILL TO COME Tomorrow I will post her new colors, her interior will be wild, fully custom, and one of a kind. A nightmare for our Buick traditionalist, but I had to build the car for me. She will have 18" wheels on all corners not sure of style yet, most likely chrome. When done, she will be magazine worthy and a stalker on the streets, both loved and feared. Heres a little pictorial time line
Jeff, The way I look at it - you resurrected a car that could just as easily become a project that was too big to finish. It's your car and you're doing it your way. It's one more survivor that deserved a second life. Cheers to you, my friend!
Thanks Steve E. I've got a real mix from a lot of Buick lovers, but like Frank said I did it my way. This will be a sweet car when i'm done and come back around 5 pst tomorrow to see the new hues, they are awesome. Thanks again :beers2:
I had a 71 GS455 (thus my username) and my plan was to restore it over time - yet drive it while I had it. Next thing I know, it's 4 years later and I've put about 300 passes down the drag strip on it and I've done nothing towards it's resto. At that point I realized I wasn't the person to restore a #'s matching car that was in good driver's condition and I'd rather be racing anyhow. Conveniently (or the opposite) it was time to buy a house, the car had been sitting in an outdoor storage lot since there was no room at the condo, and I wasn't going to be able to restore it anyhow. So it went to someone who could. I'm guessing it's beautiful and correct today - but it was close to begin with. Had it been a car in need of everything, and I were in position to sink the money into it, I would have likely replaced the unsaveable metal with something more strip oriented - as that was where my interest lie. It's really nobody's business where I (or you) sink our money into something that otherwise would have languished on the side of a house deteriorating into neverland - unless they're going to pony up the money to take over the project themselves. Had you done this with a #'s matching, all original metal, rust-free, perfect body and chassis version of the same car - I would have twitched a bit. It's still not my business, but I'd have recommended getting a Skylark or Special for that project. But that's not what happened. You created a survivor out of an easily lost cause. Look at the GSX that Toddsgs created: http://www.v8buick.com/member.php?find=lastposter&t=141093 Ultimately it's your job to do for yourself what you enjoy, as long as you understand that everyone has opinions and they may not equal yours. But it's not your job to create for yourself what someone else desires. Now get us those pictures!!! (and not that it matters, but we're now on PDT):Brow:
Who cares what it looks like, as long as you like it. The value is only what you want to place on it. Leave it to Jay Leno to make cars perfectly restored, alot of stuff is too expensive or hard to come by for others or often obsolete. I would enjoy dropping a Gran National engine in mine, but still have a built 455 to blow up first. Have fun, and if thats Black being a body man myself you had to have the body perfect, white and light is cheating while black is beautiful for perfect body. Have fun and congrats.
I like what you're doing with the car,it will be good competiton for a lot of cars out there.I've seen very few Buicks modified with the touring flavor but they tend to be very nicely built IMHO.I think yours will be one of those,keep the good work going.I particularly like the smooth firewall,that took guts and work to do:beer .What are you doing with the interior?A/C?
very cool. i cant stand it when "traditionalists" harp on people that spend their own hard earned time and money to do what they want. so kudos to you! :TU: it looks like your car will have the same paint scheme as my 72 only reversed. (mine is black on the top, silver on the bottom. keep up the good work and post pics!
Thanks everyone for the replies. The colors are actually off the 2000 Jaguar color catalog. The bottom color is Sapphire Blue, the strip is platinum silver, and the top color is minstal blue. The interior is going to be one off, fiberglass, leather, suede, polished aluminum, and chrome. I'm going for a very showable look that is also driven every sunny weekend. I'm thinking she'll be there by may 08 i hope ray:
Looking great. Welcome to the "personalized" cars world where we build them like we want them. My car's a hodge-podge of Electra & Wildcat parts, also got rid of the door handles and excessive trim. I enjoy quizzical looks from Buick people who can't quite figure the car out. http://home.comcast.net/~shinzan/buick25.jpg Devon
Devon, I really like your ride. I'm sure you get a ton of twisted heads when you're driving it. Thats the level I want to take mine to. I want to keep them guessing, and always impressing :beers2:
i was hoping that the so cal members here could recommend an upholstery shop. The shop I WAS going to take my car to just dropped an estimated of $12,000 on meou: That would put me sleeping in the car permanently
how close is the car to being finished? we definatley need to set up a cruise when youre up and running. what all do you need done with the upholstery? 12 grand seems a little over the top unless your going all custom. have you thought about taking a crack at it yourself? carpet is fairly easy to install and i hear the seat restoration stuff at year one and opg are pretty good as well. you could probably get everything you need for under a grand o No:
After the color sanding and buff NOTE: Look at the straight as a razor body, I love my body man :beer
