Just picked up this 72 Skylark convertible. Many of you know I have been looking for a car for myself to build. I found this convertible and thought I'd give it a shot. This car is mostly complete and interior is in pretty good condition. It also had all the paperwork and manuals. It has a 350/350, ps, pb, AC. Drum front brakes. In the bag of paperwork, I found a cam card for a Poston GS 350 cam when the engine was rebuilt. No idea what is in it. Frame is solid, fenders and core support decent, quarters are rusty and the trunk still had the trunk mat, and you know what I found when I lifted that up. I am probably going to try to get the engine started to see what I'm working with before I pull the whole car apart. I'll post more pictures later.
It looks pretty good to me. The GTO I am working on right now I have replaced the frame, the entire floor panel, firewall to floor panel, quarters, outer wheelhouses, trunk floor and some patching on the inner wheelhouses. In addition, the front fenders, fenderwells radiator support and passenger side door. The only origninal parts left are the roof, deck lid and drivers side door. Yours looks like it would be a piece of cake. Good luck on the build and keep us posted :TU:
I'll post the progress on here. And pictures. Taking it all apart now. Current plan is Fire Red with black interior and black top. We like the Red. Chris and Gerry, email me some of your pictures for inspiration. mark@texasextremeracing.com I found a 455 that I'll pick up in a week or two, so it will be a mostly stock 455/ turbo 400. All subject to change.
Will send you some pics Mark. Are you sure you want to do a black interior for the vert? Your'e in Texas - I think that black seats would get mighty hot with the top down on a sunny day!
Yea, black. Really like black, and would paint the car black, but that is so hard to make look straight. Black won't show the dirt either. I would have the white looking like a milk cow interior in just a few days, I can't keep anything clean. Yours looks great though. I like the look, but black it is.
Mark- I like the vert. Red with black interior/top is the only way to go Good luck with the build. Randy Brooks
And here is how it looks today. Floors, fenders, inners, core support are in decent condition. I will have to replace trunk pan and patch a small area behind driver seat. 455/400 build also coming soon.
More progress. All suspension out. Rear out. Gas tank out. Now I'm going to pull the engine/tranny and set aside. Clean and paint the frame and suspension components. Looking for posi carrier for the rear, and front disc brakes and will get the rolling chassis back together. Frame is pretty crusty, but hopefully will clean up good. Found the build sheet under the tank. It's rotted too, just like the trunk.
Plan is: Rolling chassis complete by March 2011. Engine/tranny built by end of summer 2011 I plan to drive it then, even if I don't have paint complete. My time frame is based on budget and time available. I can only work on it a few hours each week, and the only money I have to spend is from the parts I sell.
get er done. Giving yourself deadlines is a good thing. That thing is going to be sweet. Keep the updates coming!
Got new suspension parts in and the disc brakes. Got first coat on frame and some of the under body. Still need to patch the floor, and get a trunk pan. I will also get a new heater core and start putting the inner/outer boxes back in and start putting firewall stuff back on. Current plan of the moment? Dig out a 350 I have sitting around and a turbo 350, clean up the engine, change some gaskets and put them in with a stock 8.5 open rear I have. patch the floor and trunk, stick some fenders on it and drive it. I'll work on body work, and other fun stuff later. No sense in letting the car sit while I'm waiting on the cash to finish it. It may be the ugliest convertible around, but I don't care.
A little more done today. Patched the floor panel. Tyler welded it for me. Front control arms are painted. Found a good steering gear box and ready to start putting the front suspension on. Decided to buy new springs, so those are ordered. Just not real sure what to do with this trunk floor...
Patch it. Its a driver. If you start getting bogged down making it perfect you'll regret it this coming summer when you could be driving it
Yea John. That's the plan. Still on schedule. I'm going to cut the trunk floor out of another car I have and patch away. All new to me. Having fun. It's good to be putting stuff back on now. Oh, did I ever mention that current plan would have me driving this car and having less than $3000 in the entire project.