68 Polara restore back on

[HWYCRZR]

The daunting part will be the seats and seat hinge covers. It seems C body bench seat hinge covers are different than every other body style bench. (seem to be taller).
will probably post a wanted for the hinge covers. For the Seats, found some perfect samples of the vinyl (right weight and right grain) from SMS, but cannot find anyone who makes the seat covers (at least in my original pattern) I did have a quote for the rebuilding the seats and making covers from a local upholstery shop, that did classics, but he retired, and I believe the quote was well over $2K . I have done some upholstery and have a sewing machine that would handle it.....but can I? By breaking it down into sections and making good patterns and talking my time I could probably do it. Drawing out and measuring the stitching pattern will be key. The vintage vinyl is expensive so I don't want to experiment too much. Maybe I will find some cheap vinyl to practice my lay out and initial stitching. Here is what I have to work with.

 

[HWYCRZR]

Is it the guys out in Lake Park doing the body?

Yes you must have seen the signs in the background. They have been very patient with me for the time I took off. Now to get back into their schedule...

 

[livininharrow]

doing a beautiful job. i love your attention to detail.

 

[Polara_500]

Yes you must have seen the signs in the background. They have been very patient with me for the time I took off. Now to get back into their schedule...

Can't count the number of times I've thought about stopping in there to see about having them do a car for me but never did. Part of it was I was mostly near them on weekends and during the week it would have been on company time. So the cars just sit and collect dust upon the dust.

 

[Fratzog]

2K to do the seats doesn't sound completely unreasonable. You would be brave to attempt it yourself.

 

[HWYCRZR]

I will post a few more pictures of my before and after on my stub frame and engine. As you can see when I started all this my Daughter was 5 and wanted to help. As time flew by and two houses later, she is now 13 and has moved on to "other things"

 

[HWYCRZR]

Now the finished and detailed stub. That is my now 13 year old daughter.

 

[HWYCRZR]

Now the engine before

 

[HWYCRZR]

Engine bored out, crank ground, heads rebuilt with hardened seats. Should be good to go.
During and after engine build. I have aged a couple of years since this picture too. Last one was a few weeks ago, it is a little dusty, but should be mating it back with the body in June (hopefully).

 

[HWYCRZR]

As you have seen from some of the earlier pictures my interior was completely fried. This car had never seen a garage in it's life. Although dad did put it in his shop for about 5 years when it was in Colorado. After he backed into the right front fender with the Bobcat.

Here is a before and after of my dash. It was an expensive endeavor, but sent it off to Just Dashes to get it reformed, and recovered. It looks great, can't wait until I can get it in the car. You can also see my finished rear-end in the last picture with my new dash and package tray.

 

[65sporty]

The dash looks great

 

[HWYCRZR]

Speaking of Dash and as you can see the S/N tag indentation. Does anybody have a source for the Square headed Rivets that were used to attach the S/N tag? They almost look like a very small hex head. I tried to find pictures, but was not successful. I do have the tag and the remains of the rivet heads in a bag at home. I will try to remember to take a picture.

 

[HWYCRZR]

My fender tag decode - it seems fairly accurate, based on how the car is equipped. Fairly simple. This car didn't require two fender tags to list the options.

 

[HWYCRZR]

Just got word that I might finally get paint started by the end of January. Plan is to get the engine bay, underside and jambs.
Then can finally come off the rotisserie after about 8 or 9 years.

 

[Fratzog]

WRT VIN tag rivets I scavenged some off a car in a wrecking yard for my 70 Polara.Looking good. Thanks for the updates.

 

[polara71]

.... That sir is great news

 

[HWYCRZR]

No color yet it is supposed to be next in the lineup. They got sidetracked detaiing some cars for the local Toppers car show next week. Meanwhile sorting trim and accessing the damaged pieces. The fender peak trim that runs from front to back seeems to be a one year specific trim. The clips that mount on the weld studs are also proving difficult to find.

 

[HWYCRZR]

Trim accessible and in reach. Spent most of Sunday afternoon documenting which clips and how many go with each piece. Also need to talk to a trim guy to see if a couple of my pieces are repairable or if I will have to search some new pieces out.

 

[Polara_500]

Damn, those trim clips look awful similar, yet just a bit different. Let me look see tomorrow.......

And the dirty rats have the Topper's show on a weekend I already had other plans so I can't make it down.

 

[Polara_500]

They're similar yet different - might could be made to work, but not identical.

I do have a good handful of them though if you want to give it a try.
Mike