Pertti's 1970 Imperial Lebaron

[Mntac]

I've bought an ozone generator to remove mothball and musty smell from a barn stored 63 Cadillac. No mice, but it's a toss up which smell is worse. After a good cleaning and lots of treatments with the windows rolled up it actually removed most the smell. A couple green tree air fresheners and it was good to go. If you try this, dont breath the air it creates I'm told it can be bad for you.

 

[Pertti K]

You are just one example of the reason why I like to sell a lot of my cars to folks in Finland. Every one of you that I have dealt with is fair, honest and hard working plus all of you that I have dealt with love these cars as much as any of us. Most of the ones I have sold many cars to now are farmers who have time in the depths of winter to restore your vehicles and none of you is hesitant to dive into restorations and dealing with the many problems that come up. I attribute a lot of that inherent behavior to having to deal with a lot of troublesome farm equipment that is always breaking down and usually in very cold environments. That makes you tough, smart and competent. You all show an aptitude for restoring these cars with good analytical skills and good judgment. One of my friends has received 5 cars from me that were restoration projects and nearly every one of them is eventually highlighted in one of your classic car publications over there that represent restorations of all makes of collector cars and are absolute show level condition. I love seeing photos of the finished projects that you folks take on heartily. I will soon be shipping another car to the friend of mine who already has 5 of them and that one is a 1971 Charger R/T that needs a full restoration. I know it will be an award show winning restoration when it is done.

Keep up the good work and you have shown me more than I have ever seen regarding the original ATC in the C bodies and make clear some of the issues that make them so unreliable.
Thanks!

Well that's a bit too much, but thank you for your kind words! I'd like to see all Finnish car enthusiast as you see, but there are bad apples here too. Maybe someone who goes through all the trouble of finding a car overseas and importing it, also wants to take better care for it than average. Years ago it was also a good business but not anymore, the price difference is not that big and shipping is costly. But what is true, is the amount of world class restoration projects and especially custom built cars in a country of only some 6M citizens. I'm not a farmer myself, but I did grow up on a farm so vehicles and driving / fixing them has been in my life "always".

Never say never, but I don't think this will be a restoration project, not during my time at least. It's too good for that - or good enough to keep it like it is, how ever you like to put it. First I didn't like the dull and sloppy paint job it has and was already planning to have it painted some day with the original gold color. But then again, it has been painted in the 70's, so it's already part of the car's history, which you would loose, there is no rust and it looks ok from a distance, plus I don't even want to think the cost of a decent paint job for a car this size. Just had my '93 GMC Typhoon painted and it costed pretty much the same as I have put money in the Imperial, including the purchase price, shipping, taxes, everything... And it's only half of the size of an Imperial.

Also having a car that is not show class lowers your stress levels, you don't need to spend sleepless nights after every small scratch. Speaking of which, I had a close call last summer when I took the Imperial to work and tried to squeeze it to the tiny parking space, avoiding hitting other cars and especially the heater post on the right hand side of the car as I only have the driver's side mirror. And when I got out of the car, this was on that side.

 

[Pertti K]

I've bought an ozone generator to remove mothball and musty smell from a barn stored 63 Cadillac. No mice, but it's a toss up which smell is worse. After a good cleaning and lots of treatments with the windows rolled up it actually removed most the smell. A couple green tree air fresheners and it was good to go. If you try this, dont breath the air it creates I'm told it can be bad for you.

I did borrow one, but the ozone also causes plastic to go brittle in time so I only used it for a very short period and thus didn't do much. I've kept all the windows and trunk open when ever I can and cleaned the interior thoroughly several times, using for example a wet vacuum cleaner for the carpet. The rate of the odor has come down from the eye watering starting point to where you don't always even notice it any more. Of course in humid weather with all windows closed it still is there. But considering the logarithmic scale of a human nose (meaning that if the sense of an odor has come to a half, there is only 1/10 of the particles in the air), the amount of mold particles has had to come down dramatically within an year and a half. So I'll keep the windows open and let time do it's deeds. And maybe change the carpet, but let's see at least until next winter.

 

[Pertti K]

Although there are still lots of issues do be dealt with, it gives pleasure and the next cruise is again a bit more enjoyable when you can tackle at least some of them. For example:

I tried to fix the leaking washer fluid reservoir but no luck, it was so brittle that you could hear it fall into pieces if you even looked at it. But I got a solid one from Furyfinn, it had gotten some overspray probably from an earlier engine bay "restoration" project. I didn't want to use any solvents on it but soda blasting cleaned it pretty good, not too bright to fit the rest of the patina around it. In the photo I have cleaned just half of it for comparison.

Some very strange rust holes (the only ones found so far) at the right rear door were fixed by my friend, it seemed that there was a small hole in the wheel well which had let the mud and salt get into the housing behind it. After that the car was good enough for the Finnish veteran vehicle registration. There was an absolutely mint Renault Alpine to be inspected at the same time as my Imperial, wouldn't mind having one!

Didn't like the bit too James Bondish look of the wire hubcaps, and also they were quite noisy, which could be helped at least a bit by adding pieces of fuel hose between the hubcap and the wheel. I'd wanted a more OEM look like road wheels, Mopar dog dishes etc. but the availability wasn't very good, and ordering them overseas is a bit pricey. So I went with a budget option, but I'm still keeping the pentastar hubcaps just in case I change my mind - or until I find something even better. Photo of comparison between white wall vs. not. I decided to go with the white walls. The front end has been lowered about an inch from the starting point and is now just right in my opinion - although you loose some of the land yacht captain feeling as the hood is not that dominant in the view in front. ;-)

 

[Pertti K]

The headlamp doors didn't always shut when turning off the lights, but did shut by just slightly rotating the manual wheel. At one point they stopped opening as well, so I took the gear and the contactor arrangement open and managed to get them working again - for a while. Soon the movement started to be very low, but some lubrication for the motor helped. Now they stop a few mm before they are properly closed and there seems not to be any adjustment for that, but I think it can be solved by twisting the operating bar a bit. Or opening the gear fitting holes a bit so I can rotate the whole assembly.

 

[Pertti K]

My friend who I mentioned in the Auto-Temp thread fixed the AM/FM radio, 8-track and clock for me. And another one gave me an 8-track cassette. Cool!

 

[Pertti K]

I've taken all the doors apart now, the left rear being the latest. Each one had some issues with windows and/or central locking, but this one and the front vent windows were the only ones requiring new parts. A new gear assembly for the motor in this case. Now I can fully enjoy the best features of a 4 door hard top! Also central locking and all 6 windows work as the are supposed to.

 

[MacLebaron]

I like it, enjoy!

 

[D Cluley]

The picture of the interior with the lights on is great. Looks like it could have been in the advertising back then.

 

[Joerg]

I love that gold interior - and that pictures!

 

[Pertti K]

Competitors from the old days. Guess which one I like more? (Hint: Caddy is for sale....).

 

[ayilar]

A 1969 Caddy (is it a Calais or a de Ville?) without vinyl top is a rarity. Both are great cars, but the Imp looks better IMHO.

 

[Pertti K]

Coupe DeVille.

 

[Pertti K]

2023 was not that active driving season due to a full engine rebuild. Started driving somewhere late July and had some minor issues to deal with (water pump, carburetor, oil pressure sender leaking etc.).

But now everything seems to be in order and 2024 cruising season opened today in frisky -24 C (-11 F) weather. There's a yearly classic winter rally during the first weekend of February, which is statistically the coldest weekend of the year. So wanted to check everything is ok for that.

No problems except for a new "clunk" from the front in speed bumps and such. Feels normal though, I suspect the shocks. Need to check for any loos parts though. And a bigger one: needed to adjust the temp setting form autumn's 72 F to 73! This is perhaps due to the fact that the rear seat heater is not working at the moment. There will be no passengers in the rear so shouldn't be an issue anyway.

 

[Boydsdodge]

2023 was not that active driving season due to a full engine rebuild. Started driving somewhere late July and had some minor issues to deal with (water pump, carburetor, oil pressure sender leaking etc.).

But now everything seems to be in order and 2024 cruising season opened today in frisky -24 C (-11 F) weather. There's a yearly classic winter rally during the first weekend of February, which is statistically the coldest weekend of the year. So wanted to check everything is ok for that.

No problems except for a new "clunk" from the front in speed bumps and such. Feels normal though, I suspect the shocks. Need to check for any loos parts though. And a bigger one: needed to adjust the temp setting form autumn's 72 F to 73! This is perhaps due to the fact that the rear seat heater is not working at the moment. There will be no passengers in the rear so shouldn't be an issue anyway.

View attachment 636582

That is a fantastic photo. Great work on the car.
Do you use a rest preventative? Fluid Film or here we have shops called Krown rust control, I have all my cars sprayed just to keep the rust away. I would rather wipe the oil away than see rust starting.

Krown Rust Control

This is Krown Rust Control

www.krown.com

FLUID FILM | Powerful Corrosion Protection & Lubrication

FLUID FILM® is Eureka’s own unique lanolin-based brand of corrosion preventive and lubricant, used worldwide in a multitude of industries and applications.

www.fluid-film.com

 

[Pertti K]

That is a fantastic photo. Great work on the car.
Do you use a rest preventative? Fluid Film or here we have shops called Krown rust control, I have all my cars sprayed just to keep the rust away. I would rather wipe the oil away than see rust starting.

http://[URL]https://www.krown.com/en/

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http://[URL]https://www.fluid-film.com/

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Thanks! And for the Imperial I don't use. I only drive on dry roads and if I absolutely have to drive on salted roads, I immediately wash the car and underbody.

For my GMC Typhoon however I do use, it was my year-around-daily for couple of years and I had the underbody coated with cavity rust prevention fluid which is meant for inside of body panels. It finds it's way in already started rust and stays elastic, not forming a hard protective cover for the rust to secretly do its deeds.

 

[Marv]

wow the coldest temperatures I had my Pontiac out was at freezing point. The car died on me at a traffic light and wouldn´t start again. The fuel was condensing in the carb before it could make it down the intake... Do you prepare your engine somehow for those extreme temperatures ?

 

[Boydsdodge]

The heated intake tube to air cleaner and the hot exhaust gas to intake manifold helps with winter driving.

 

[Pertti K]

Do you prepare your engine somehow for those extreme temperatures ?

Not really. Just make sure it's well maintained, the coolant has enough anti-freeze and the battery is fully charged. Usually I start form a warm garage, but in case that's not possible I have a 250 W heater that sticks to the oil pan with magnet. Also I added piece of cardboard in front of the radiator to help faster warming.

 

[Pertti K]

Last weekend we participated in the 50th Mobilistien Talwiajot (something like classic winter rally). The start was only 5 km from where I live and it's always the first weekend of February which is statistically the coldest weekend of the year. Of course that's in average and now the temperature was around freezing and it was also raining a bit at some time. The smaller roads that the 140 km route uses were quite wintery though thanks to lower temperatures and snowing the previous night. The route was not marked like it has been on previous occasions when I've taken part, instead we had a "note book" with distances in km's. That's a bit of an issue when the trip meter is in miles and a bit tricky to reset. Fortunately I got an idea to download a trip meter app to my phone the previous night, that helped a lot, and of course my wife helped even more as a co-pilot. Still had to take a few turns back when we missed an intersection.

There was a short ice track in the beginning and some tasks to solve along the route (to identify car makes and models but also some non car related tasks). We were on the 13th place in points within 150 participants, not bad considering I had to guess the answers to many of the questions...

Some high quality photos by Jarmo Nuora, mainly of the older cars that drove a bit shorter route: 50. Talviajot 2024

Lining up for the start

The notes

Photo by Pertti Pernu

Photo by Helena Minkkilä