There is only one thing more boring than block sanding, and that's watching the primer dry. That's what's been going on since the last update. I've chosen a dark color so the surface has to be straight. The final color choice has been made. With apologies to SkymanGS I'm going with the same Black Cherry color he chose. It was a hard decision between that and the Black Cherry from Chrysler. Side by side the Cadillac color is just a bit richer, it's hard to describe. The Chrysler color was just a bit more purple than I liked. Sean has begun painting the jams. This is the first glimpse of the car in her new color, and I'm very pleased with how it looks. I'm still waiting to get a quote on re-chroming a few of the potmetal peices. I gave them the parts a week ago and they still haven't been able to give me a quote. I'm not going to mention the name of the shop until the deal is done. I don't mind waiting for quality, but I'm starting to worry that my parts will get lost. That's a saga for another time.
I have been collecting parts for years. My wife thinks I could build a spare car just from the parts. Well some of those parts are now being called into service. I've got new weatherstripping to lay onto these doors. Now that they are rust free and straight they look wonderful.
The trunk is now painted black inside and it looks like Sean added some seam sealer. The trunk floor is far from perfect. It has some brazed in repairs that keep the weather out. I'll probably swipe lots of ideas from Smartin on finishing off the trunk. New weatherstripping is waiting for this opening also. The only weatherstripping I haven't purchased are the parts that go on the roof. I just haven't found a good deal on them. I may have to pay the price and buy them from the manufacturer. I like the plastic on the roof that says "This Side Up". I'm glad Sean got the right side up and didn't start painting the bottom of my car. :laugh:
This is my favorite picture so far. The drivers door opening is the one I'll be using most often and every time I open it I'll be thankful I paid the money to have it done right. The area around the hinges never looks right unless it's disassembled and painted this way. I keep telling myself "it's not a show car, it's a daily driver". But I can't stand to have the job done in a half fast manner. If you missed the pun say half fast to yourself a couple of times. :Brow: New weatherstripping and a little sound insulation in the door should give that solid "thunk" when closed. A door that rattles when you close it reminds me of an engine that deisels after you shut it off. It just sounds like the car is barely holding itself together. I'm thinking of thoroughly cleaning the interior metal and putting on some POR 15 and sound insulation. This should cover the last of the yellow paint and quiet the road noise a bit.
Great Job!!! Looks to me like you and your convertible are going to have one of those few great bodywork/paint shop success stories. Great to see it's coming along without a hitch. :beer
I mentioned earlier that the drivers door came from a parts car that was rear ended. A Toyota came to journeys end about half way into the trunk. The frame was bent, the sheet metal torn and the Toyota was decimated. The owner took the 455 for his Regal and sold me the rest. I got power windows and tilt steering along with boxes of parts that I hope will be useful. I took the drivers door because mine was swiss cheese. This door was far from perfect but I used it. These doors are freakin' heavy and I could never get it to align properly. You can see here how the top of the door was bent outward by the rear quarter during the accident.
Some of man's earliest tools were something heavy and a hunk of wood. It's nice to know how far we've come. The top of the door was fixed with a hammer and a chunk of 2x4. :laugh: If I had tried to fix this it would have looked like a caveman worked on it. When Sean does it this is what you get. :bglasses:
Now it's coming together. Don't ya just love those gold centered Keystones? Does anyone know where I can get a good set of window fuzzies?
SOOOOOOOOOO COOOOOOOOOL... I almost have all the pieces I need now for my resto: Hood 2 doors 2 fenders 2 inner fenders (already painted), with a fresh battery tray. What I don't have is the weather stripping.. I guess I will have to try to pick up a few pieces here and there. I could use new quarter glass too. Please keep the pics coming!!!
The quote came in from the Chrome shop. $650 for 6 pieces of trim. :shock: These are small peices, none bigger than a foot. These are the diecast peices that go under the endcaps (above the rear bumper), the little fillers that go on the hood above the headlights and the bit where the front fender meets the front bumper. I think I found 2 of the 6 pieces on the Buick Farm site. I hope they are the ones that go between the front bumper and front fender. Those are the most complex. I'm going to look into having the other 4 peices repaired and chromed by someone else. The peices on the hood are easy to replace so I can wait on those but the others should be put on before the bumpers. Thank goodness the rest of the trim is stainless. I can polish it myself. I'll keep you posted.
Reflections on bodywork The color on my Centurion was called "Colonial Yellow", or "Colonial Gold" depending on which brochure you read. I don't know if anyone other than the marketing department could explain what makes this shade of yellow Colonial. One of my favorite uncles called it Baby poop brown. (OK, he didn't use "poop" but this is a family board). Now that's putting the colon in Colonial. ou: My apologies to anyone who has a car this color. Of the dozen or so 73 Centurion convertibles I've seen I'd say 9 were this color. One aspect of this color that may not be apparent at first is that it doesn't reflect anything. The quality of paint on my car was adequate, but even freshly waxed it would not show a reflection. Take a look at this picture and you'll see what I mean. A few vague shadows on the hood but nothing on the side.
Painting your car a dark color gives you reflections. If the surface isn't straight you get wavy reflections, if the surface is prepared correctly you get nice reflections. This is one of the quarter panel extensions. It could be titled "Self Portrait of a body work guru". :eek2: NOW THAT'S A REFLECTION!!!!!
Front Valance Buick had to cope with 5mph bumper requirements for 1973. This meant the elegant bumpers they had used wouldn't work. The bumper on my car is like a battering ram compared to the 71, 72 Centurions. In a way it is a battering ram. To try and keep the visual weight of the front end down they kept the bumper as thin as possible and put a valance under it. In subsequent years they made the bumper thicker and did away with the valance. I can understand why. Having a painted peice of metal at curb height on a behemoth of a car was a recipe for disaster. Buick did increase the thickness of the metal to help it survive but mine was heavily battle scarred. Those tombstones they put in parking spaces are a menace. It took some major pounding and grinding to get it to look like this....
Bit by Bit Here's the inside of the trunklid. I'm always surprised how often you can tell a car has had a color change because the underside of the trunklid is either a different color or looks like it was sprayed with a can. This is how it's supposed to look. :TU:
Looking like a car again I had daydreamed about shaving the door handles at one time. But, I drive this car daily in good weather and I was afraid of the battery failing, or the pullers not being strong enough etc. Looking at this picture it gives me an idea of what it would've looked like with them gone. My door handles have some pits, and the chrome is hazed. In the future I may have them stripped and painted. Probably not. But it is really nice to see it looking like a car again.
Looking Sinister I liked Buicks moto "Fast with Class". I've got a 350 tugging this barge around so "Fast" isn't in the cards. I'll focus on the "Class". I got 3 of the 6 peices of Chrome trim from the Buick Farm, including the 2 complex peices from the front of the fenders. I also found a place that makes the odd christmas tree fasteners that hold them on. The quarter panel extensions have a chrome strip around the bottom. The place I asked for a quote on the chrome was nice enough to put a quick polish on. That will be good enough for now. I'll be hunting for better replacements. Those 4 peices should be installed before the bumpers are attached. I'll be polishing and installing the rest of the trim over the winter. Actually it's likely I'll let it slide through the winter and go on a mad polishing binge when the first warm day of Spring comes. :grin: Since I'm focusing on Class I never considered a "Rat Rod" treatment for this car. Here's a shot of it in black Suede. It looks menacing. This is the final sealer before color. I'm going to stop by the shop tomorrow after the first color coat is on. I don't think I'll sleep much tonight :sleep:
