73 Imperial LeBaron 4door Amber Firemist met.

[Joerg]

My 73 Imperial got scalped today - doesn´t look bad - only three rust spots, that can be repaired (removing rust incl. primer and paint), before the new vinyl roof will be attached.





For now, she is quite grumpy looking - "grumpy car" instead of "grumpy cat". ;)

 

[Joerg]

...but her Imperial highness refuses to start, after moving on the ramp by herself yesterday.
Ignition lock is new.


but the coolant bottle is complete, only the washer bottle is decapitated...



The washer bottle is the hard to find one, I presume?

 

[Boydsdodge]

...but her Imperial highness refuses to start, after moving on the ramp by herself yesterday.
Ignition lock is new.
View attachment 577369 View attachment 577370

but the coolant bottle is complete, only the washer bottle is decapitated...

View attachment 577371 View attachment 577372

The washer bottle is the hard to find one, I presume?

ECU would be first look if no spark, then pick up coil. Roof not bad if thats the worst of it.

 

[Joerg]

The Roof has been done meanwhile, after removing three bigger dents (where did they come from?) on the roof.
What faults were hid under others vinyl roofs of others?
Oh, there was a bit of rain before, when I took the photos.

Chrome moldings were next, but I have no photos yet, as the underside is at the shop for dry-ice blasting, before presenting it to the Austrian DMV.

Motor is running - and starting - really fine now, after changing the carb for an Edelbrock 650.
Hoping to be able to cruise the Imperial in this year´s summer...

One more thing I was thinking of:
My Imperial is a model of 73, but the taillights are from the 72 model year and look quite nice, the car seems to never have had an accident.
Who would have changed the lights in the past 50 years - and why?
Or is it possible, that it was built in May 1973 with spare parts from 1972 - don´t think so - but who knows?
Should I change them - or leave them "as is"?

 

[Boydsdodge]

I may be biased to the 73, but I prefer the 73 tail lights.
Your Imperial is looking great.

 

[65Port]

Love the '72 tail lights. Happy accident. If it ain't broke..

 

[patrick66]

Some previous owner probably replaced the original '73 lights with '72 lights. Those are not parts that would be so-called "leftover parts" from an assembly line.

 

[MacLebaron]

Just saw your posts, car is really looking nice, congratulations!
Glad to see it back on the road. Enjoy it!

 

[Joerg]

Just saw your posts, car is really looking nice, congratulations!
Glad to see it back on the road. Enjoy it!

Thank you!
Did I understand that right, that you might know something about the history of this Imperial? I am very interested...

Or are you just happy that it will be back on the road again soon, as I am?

 

[MacLebaron]

Oh, just happy to see the car is back on the road. I do not know about the car. I am always glad when we can keep these wonderful machines running and being used instead of rotting away, or sitting in museums as eye candy.

 

[Joerg]

Finally, everything was ready for the technical inspection by the Austrian officials - and after two inspections my "triple pickle" passed at the third visit.
As some might know, the Austrian motor inspections are something like the German "TÜV".
From now on the "crocodile" is permitted to roam the streets, although she will be garaged from next week on - because winter is comin'... finally.

What took it that long? 2023 was the year of searching for a correct steering gear, where we ended up in refurbishing the old one, that leaked heavily in the beginning.
All the other gears were either the wrong model for a New Yorker/Newport or some completely different car - or leaked even more and couldn´t be fixed - strange.
Maybe firm feel would have been the right choice from the beginning, I don´t know yet?

Now I polished the weathered hood with a friend in the meantime, as some fixes soon should be done by the workshop before winter storage. The trunk should follow in spring, as it is weathered even more.

The sides are still quite nice and should stay like that for some time.
Lots of lead (Pb) in that amber sherwood metallic!

Oiling the seats with special oil for old leather after cleaning made them really soft again.

In winter storage the crocodile (Imperial) and the cream puff (Cadillac) will, maybe, tell each other some stories about the past 50 or 47 years, until next spring comes around - and BBTR2024 in Germany. ;)

 

[Boydsdodge]

Becarefull polishing single stage metallic paint. you may end up with stripes of clouds. This is a great write up of single stage paint restore.

The Secret to Removing Oxidation and Restoring a Show Car Finish to Antique Single Stage Paints

The Secret to Removing Oxidation and Restoring a Show Car Finish to Antique Single Stage Paints Restoring original and antique paint In the collector car hobby world, there’s a lot of interest in restoring and preserving original paint on classic and antique cars. Restoring the original...

www.autogeekonline.net

 

[Joerg]

Becarefull polishing single stage metallic paint. you may end up with stripes of clouds. This is a great write up of single stage paint restore.

http://[URL]https://www.autogeekonl...w-car-finish-antique-single-stage-paints.html

[/URL]

Thanks a lot!
I didn´t do it myself, but a friend did, who has done some older single stage paints already. Hope he knows about that, if not, he can read that article over winter - I will send it to him.
But something had to be done.

Maybe in May, there will be some more single stage paint metallic action, when the technical issues with steering gear and unstable motor idle, which are still present right now, could be fixed.
But for now it doesn´t seem to have swirls and I am quite happy with the result.

in the beginning...

Anyway, we are not completely done with it yet and the polished paint has been sealed for some protection over winter hibernation.
As you can see in the lower right corner on the fender, there has been a repaint some years ago and the hood has a lot of stains from "former abuse" (?) - don´t know what they did in the last 50 years - but the interior is still quite nice. Maybe hood and trunk had been exposed to nature much more than the interior...

 

[Boydsdodge]

Thanks a lot!
I didn´t do it myself, but a friend did, who has done some older single stage paints already. Hope he knows about that, if not, he can read that article over winter - I will send it to him.
But something had to be done.

Maybe in May, there will be some more single stage paint metallic action, when the technical issues with steering gear and unstable motor idle, which are still present right now, could be fixed.
But for now it doesn´t seem to have swirls and I am quite happy with the result.

in the beginning...
View attachment 622569

Anyway, we are not completely done with it yet and the polished paint has been sealed for some protection over winter hibernation.
As you can see in the lower right corner on the fender, there has been a repaint some years ago and the hood has a lot of stains from "former abuse" (?) - don´t know what they did in the last 50 years - but the interior is still quite nice. Maybe hood and trunk had been exposed to nature much more than the interior...

Something can be done, it just needs to be done right. No going back once the machine polish stripes your car.

 

[3175375]

Enjoy your Imperial in Vienna! My wife and I just returned last month from our honeymoon that had us in Vienna for several days. Beautiful city and area! The Lipizzaner horse stable tour was amazing.

 

[Joerg]

Something can be done, it just needs to be done right. No going back once the machine polish stripes your car.

As we had just started and won't continue right now due to the temperatures, there is time to read, before we go on polishing the crocodile. ;)