65 GTO

[tardis454]

I will be so happy to get this thing painted, and start putting it together. It had better come out nice or I will feel like a failure. ;)

You've transformed a rusted hulk into a classic American muscle car.
There's nothing FAIL about this project at all Todd

[Mater]

hard to belive this is the same car from page 1 amazing transformation

[Thumpin455]

Man I am tired of body work. Lots of sanding and filling today, now its red oxide again. One way or another it is getting painted Monday. I am done making it perfect.

[fahrenschnell]

This is the best thread on BS......Hands Down.

We are not worthy...

Seth

[Scott Liggett]

Looking great. I remember meeting an owner of a 64 GTO convert that his Dad ordered new. He still had all the paperwork including the list of things that were screwed up when they bought the car. I remember the list had 46 things on it including horrendous panel gaps. Doors, hood and trunk would not close correctly. The car's paint was so bad that they had to repaint it within a month of buying it. His dad called it a Friday afternoon car.

[Huskinhano]

Looking great. I remember meeting an owner of a 64 GTO convert that his Dad ordered new. He still had all the paperwork including the list of things that were screwed up when they bought the car. I remember the list had 46 things on it including horrendous panel gaps. Doors, hood and trunk would not close correctly. The car's paint was so bad that they had to repaint it within a month of buying it. His dad called it a Friday afternoon car.

Growing up in that era and going with my parents when they bought new cars the few times they did, I remember some pretty grizzly stuff. The worst I saw was in 1970 at the local Dodge dealer with the 4 door Coronet in the show room. You could have sanded floors with the orange peeled paint! The lead work on the seams and vinyl roof weren't any better.

That's what I don't like about Concourse restorations. Perfect paint with mile deep reflections and perfect panel fitment...Just wasn't so and not an accurate representation of how these cars were.

[Thumpin455]

Yeah thats why its nice to have a two owner LeMans post sitting here. I can tell how bad things were by looking at this one. I am just building a driver, but I want it to be nice. Kinda crazy since I know he will park it somewhere and an idiot will bash the door or quarter I have slaved over. Its just a matter of time before someone parks too close and have no idea what it takes to get rid of those dents, and how quickly and easily they can be put there.

Thats why I am going to shoot it Monday, its as perfect as it needs to be at this point. Back to sanding after having some lunch. I hate sanding......

[Thumpin455]

This is the best thread on BS......Hands Down.

We are not worthy...

Seth

Thanks, but I think some others are more impressive. Wait till the next new one goes up.. Of course that will be after the Mustang is painted, since its been in bare metal since 05..

[Thumpin455]

Ugrh. I am so sick of block sanding high build primer. Hopefully it wont need much more after this. It needed some epoxy to seal stuff up and adhere to the bare metal spots I found. Part of me wants to just paint it, but part wants me to fix the small bits that stand out.









One of the spots that needs reworked, not sure what happened but it hit bare metal and then wrinkled up. Also have some filler to knock down.



And another coat of epoxy primer.

[langleylad]

Fix the little bits , you'll be glad you did . I'm sure you have a lot of hours invested this far , a few more will be well spent . Great work .

[SpiderGearsMan]

hot damn that car is HOT !!!!

[Thumpin455]

Well my metal working might be ok, but when it comes to filler and bumping dents so the panels are smooth, well I am not so good at that. Today was spent adding filler to the spots where it was still low, reworking a major part of the drivers side quarter, and trying to fix flaws without screwing up the good stuff I had done. Worked most of today for marginal improvement, if any. Self learning this is a pain, I wish someone would show me how to make the quarters flat and not have my repairs show through. I think from now on I will take someone's advice and just wire wheel the metal, then clear it so all the Frankenstein metal work shows. Making it pretty and straight hurts too much. I am really sore tonight, and I just got in.


Here is the front quarter after fixing the not so great stuff..



Then after primer, but you cant see if its straight or not. It just looks gray. I know it will look good in pics, but in person well that is another thing entirely.



Passenger side needed attention too.







and after again..



Oh look here is the dash and the quarter extensions!



My daughter bead blasted these for me, they came out nice.



I am really sore and tired, going to bed. Might not even get up tomorrow.

[Scott Liggett]

Sleep in. Nice job.

BTW, I really like how those slots look. Too bad they are just skins to get covered in overspray.

[Thumpin455]

I like the slots too, gives it that period look. If I had a set of 15x7 for the front I would run them, even if they dont match exactly. The problem is all my 15" slots are 9" wide, and all the 6" and 7" wheels are 14s that wont clear the disc brakes. Been thinking about getting a set of Ansens and running Firestone RWL tires like these old Firehawks.

Im not sure the last coat of primer came out ok, didnt see any runs last night so there might be some surprises for me today. If I managed to get it on without runs, then it will be Yellow tonight. I just ordered the paint, going to pick it up in about an hour. The only body work I think I still might do is the roofline above the windshield where I had to weld in a new piece, that shouldnt be as rough as it is, so it might get some attention. Otherwise, unless there is some egregious mishap or oversight on the rest of the body, its getting shot as is. Im tired of sanding and its a driver, not a show car. Some jerk is going to bash the door in a parking lot at some point, why make it perfect.

[DanStokes]

I find myself informally teaching auto body from time to time - not that I'm an expert, believe me! But I often tell students that the hardest part is knowing when to stop. Sand the filler a little and it's ALMOST flat and smooth. Sand just a bit more and it's - yep, too low. Still a mistake I make and probably always will but at least I know the concept. It'll come to you as you do it.

I suspect you and I are at about the same level of expertise - pretty good for an amateur, too slow for a pro. While everything looks good in primer, the GTO looks GREAT, especially considering where you started.

You'll get it
Dan