400 Days Later from Being Locked Up

[Travel'n Man]

Believe it or not, after 400 days of torture........my '72 Z car is finished, or at least 99.9% and ready for me to pick up from my body shop tomorrow before the snow starts flying in the afternoon. Wouldn't you know it as soon as it gets out of the body shop it's parking in the garage for hibernation for the winter. Once salt hits our roads tomorrow night thats it for the Z car until spring.

The quality of the workmanship is excellent. I did elect not to have the car buffed yet due to putting in the interior. The next stop is the front and rear windsheild and the correct muffler (but that may wait until spring). The interior should be fun and a lttle challanging. If any of you have any tips for the interior panels let me know (I do need the sequencing of the panels if anybody has done that recently). I did hire my tech to work with me for the past few nights putting in the headliner and the area around the headliner (I figured my wife might shoot me if I had her involved in that part - what a difference Duramat Ultimate makes - tremendous). The rest is sound deadener, dash cap, console, carpet, radio, speakers and so forth.

Just in case you are wondering.......... I did purchase the car from a deadbeat liar on e-Bay from California that totally misrepresented the car but I only had one option after I had it shipped from California to North Carolina............

Have a great weekend............I'll be in the garage!!

[280~Master]

Very nice. I love that color. Which orange is that? I want to paint my 280 the original 305 light blue or the 110 red have not made that choice yet? Still working on other items.

[Bonzi Lon]

Very nice indeed. I know what its like having the "new shiney bobble" in your very own garage.

My experience was: Don't put the plastic rivet pins in until the very last thing. Make sure all lights work first if behind panels.

Bonzi Lon

[Travel'n Man]

John,

The color is 110 Red PPG two stage. At first I thought it was 918 orange and the body shop mixed 1 gallon and it was the wrong color (I'm glad they didn't charge me for that - paint is expensive). The color was a great match to the inside of the spare tire well. Good luck on your choice. The 110 seems to change from a reddish to orange based on the light in the room. It is mixed with 90% orange so it's not pumpkin orange like the 918 but does have a reddish / or darker tint. This car was completely disassembled, all panels worked on and brought back to original condition. Some metal had to be replaced, then individually painted, and then reassembled. All of the weather striping was replaced and all the gommetts will be replaced over this week. It has been a long drawn out process due to most body shops are production shops and do not do restorations. Some body shops will take a winter project to keep them busy between insurance jobs.

I tried to post some more before and after pictures but they will not finalize. I'll try later this morning.

[Zak's Z]

Hey its about time it got done! Looks very good. I thought it might be 918 in the tumbnails then the full size pics you can tell its 110. I want to see the before and after pics when you post them.

Z

[Travel'n Man]

Zak,

Thanks. Once I get the interior in and the car buffed and finalized I post the before and after. They are calling for snow and in my area they use salt on the roads. I've been thinking since I'm a AAA member and get free tows, I might as well us them to get it to the window shop and the muffler shop and back home. At this point, anything is better than salt.

I've got the interior staged in my billards room so that is my project for the next several days and evenings.

Thanks for the kind words.

[EScanlon]

Mitchell, I'm a longstanding member of AAA (joined 1976) and even with AAA+ you're usually only limited to ONE tow per incident. That is, tow from where the car broke down to the shop of your choice (depending on plan and distance), and maybe to one other spot but on a referred services basis.

AFAIK, they won't pay for: return to; or from; or in between body shops for a situation like this. You'd be better off renting a trailer and doing it yourself.

FWIW

E

Edited November 15, 2008 by EScanlon

[Travel'n Man]

E,

Thanks for the heads up. I called the AAA last night and told them my car had no windshield and they said no problem. I still have 7 tows left for this calendar year because I have only used one.