Well, I finally bit the bullet and took Uncle Jim's Riviera apart. I dechromed the whole car, gutted both doors, took the engine and trans out for detailing and removed the whole front clip. I reassembled the fenders and wheel wells for transport to the shop. There are parts everywhere! Its getting dropped off Tuesday AM. I figure I made the body guy's job a bit easier. Its been a long time coming. I cant help but wonder of uncle Jim would be happy or pissed I took his car apart!
I got tired of looking at cracked lauquer paint and dried up bondo. The left quarter is the only panel that has plastic in it. The damage was done in 1973 and amounted to a crease down the side. The rest of the car is amazingly straight and rust free. There are about 30 worm holes in the right side door. But no bondo. Its all leaded. My uncle said he never damaged the door so the car was bought that way. I assume it must of gotten damaged before being delivered and was repaired by the factory. Would the dealer use lead? Here are a couple of pics of the soon to be history 70's repaint
Somew more pics. Check out how nice the bottom of the car is. Zero rust. All metal. The fenders are so nice, if I put an e coat on them, they'd pass for NOS. More pics to come. I cant wait to see it after it's had a visit with the dual action sander.
Know any good glass guys Steve? :bla: :beer Front and rear glass is coming out for sure. As rust free as it is, there is a small amount of rot (less than the size of a dime) at the base of the dash where it meets the glass. And the rear glass looks like it was leaking a bit. I cant wait for them to start on it!! I wanted to get it to the shop today, but I had to work all day. And I have a full schedule for tomorrow :af: it waited this long, another couple days insnt going to kill me.
Jason im jealous of your project....its a better car then mine :rant: haha i hope to have mine done by december.....does yours have front discs to? good luck, i read your post about the story of the car, your uncle would be proud:beers2:
Thanks! I hope so. Im lucky its this solid. Frankly, Im amazed as it was used daily even in the winter. The floors are amazing too. Looks like the day they were put in Thank God this one has front drums. One Riv with discs is enough. Both stop equally well and the front drums are a hell of a lot cheaper to fix
Yea it took me three months to find a rusty set of discs and i spent $500 on. i need to cut them. HEY I have an idea....why dont you give me that stage 1 aquamist and ill give you the discs :Brow: :Brow: lol good luck again, sorry I couldent sell you the quarter. now I know i will need it for porkect number 5. lol (still have 2-4 to do) If i sell the car Ill let you know. by the way... the stage 1 in that color is my favorite car. does it have a black vinyl top w\black interior? thats my dream.
Let me know whan you get dont with that one. I've got a 72 Lark that could use some attention like that!
The old girl went to the body shop a couple of weeks ago. Its now patiently waiting its turn. There's a Corvette thats being finished up. Once thats done, the Riv is next in line! It was a little sad to see it go. I wound up having some separation anxiety (seriously) the next few days. Its the first time the car has been out of my care since I became caretaker. Once it gets into the rotation at the shop, it will be worked on till completion. Im hoping to have progress pics soon. Meanwhile, back at the ranch...Im detailing, cleaning, polishing and painting all the crap I took off. The longer it takes, the better. I have alot of work to do! btw, the tow truck driver was about 26 years old and weighed about 350 lbs. Luckily he didnt sit in my car. He was telling me that working on his car kicks the crap out of him and he gets all out of breath. Really?? Jesus, dont you look in the mirror?? The guy is one cheeseburger away from a heart attack.
Can't wait to see progress pics, It should help urge me on! Wish farming mine out were an option for me, but I have to do it on a shoestring budget. A very thin, thread bare shoestring at that. p :TU:
Brings back memories Jason - . . . were you gonna pull the front 'n rear glass to check for rust or corrosion and reseal the glass ? o No:
Thats the plan Randy. The body shop has a good glass guy he uses. I'm going to let him pull the glass. Randy, when you get a chance, can you post a picture of your grill? Im in the process of stripping the old spray can bright silver off of it (yeeech). I want to repaint in it in the correct black. I wanted to see what shade silver/ gray you used for the eggcrate section.
Jason - get out the masking tape, 5 minutes to paint, and hours to prepare ? ? ? :laugh: The egg crate portion is 'argent silver' - Krylon #1403, Dull Aluminum Cast, the recessed solid filled in sections of the egg crate are flat/semi black so they give the illusion that they are open, like the rest of the grill (I cut some black vinyl fillers, as the were too damb hard to paint). The flat open grill surround is an unknown darker pewter grey colour, but I did mine custom - 'colour matched' to my medium grey metallic paint, so it matches the body colour of the car. While it's not concours, it suits me just fine, and very closely resembles the proper appearance of an original grill ! :beer :TU: Check out the front shot here - if it's not clear enough, lmk, and I'll post another pic. http://www.v8buick.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=142690&d=1246368111
