"The Orange"

[motorman7]

  I am starting a new restoration for a local owner.  This one has a good history,so I am looking forward to the build.

The brief background is that the owners family had an Orange Z (looks to be a Series 1) growing up and apparently the car was sold some time later (Not really sure on that part).  The family referred to their Z as "The Orange".

     To make a long story very short, The dad, the original owner, retired and the kids bought him this orange Z for him to work on in his retirement and bring back the memory of his youth.  Gee that sounds familiar.  Unfortunately, part way through the restoration, the father passed away and the Z is now

owned by the daughter, shown in the first picture here.

The owner contacted me and asked me to finish the restoration ( I will fill in a bit more background on this later).  So anyway, the plan is to finish the restoration that the father started.  And of cou rse, we will take this to a very nice level of restoration, similar to my previous two cars.  We still have some decision to make on the AC, and we will most likely stick with the mags and the round tops, but otherwise we will keep this very stock.    

Below are some pics of the car.  Other than the body, the car is in very nice condition and was derivable.   Also, car has an original uncracked dash and a nice assortment of restoration parts to be installed later.  Also, the passenger seat is original and in great condition.  That is pretty rare.  So, Lots of pics of the car are shown below.  Will document the build here as things progress.

Edited October 14, 2019 by motorman7

[motorman7]

Engine is about ready to come out.  Will probably do that next weekend. 

Wrapped those carbs in bubble wrap and set them aside.  No need to touch those or the balance tube.

 

[Patcon]

Looks like an excellent foundation. Floor boards don't appear to have any jacking damage and the splash pan looks to be in nice shape

[motorman7]

Yes, the underside of the car is one of the best I have seen.  Just a few minor depressions in the frame rails which I may just correct with some filler.  Otherwise the floor pans are near perfect. 

There seems to be a number of bondo areas on the car itself and the doglegs are pretty rusted.  Probably a result of its time in Pennsylvania.   Miguel will cut these areas out and weld in  new patch panels.

[grannyknot]

Those SU's look like they are fresh from ZTherapy. A real cream puff, looking forward to the pics.

[CanTechZ]

This is a great project with an equally great story.  I look forward to seeing this one progress.

[TMagda]

Looking forward to this project. I am a friend of the owner and strangely enough, although I have always loved Z cars, and owned a '70 240 and a '78 280, I did not know she had this car! Came up over dinner a few months ago and when I received the link to this blog it was no surprise I was already a member of the site!

[motorman7]

7 minutes ago, TMagda said:

Looking forward to this project. I am a friend of the owner and strangely enough, although I have always loved Z cars, and owned a '70 240 and a '78 280, I did not know she had this car! Came up over dinner a few months ago and when I received the link to this blog it was no surprise I was already a member of the site!

Good to hear from you!  Look forward to your comments and input as the build progresses.

 

Here is a little more background.  This car is a very early '73 with a build date on the drivers side plaque of 9/72.  The serial number is 122XYZ.

The owner of this car contacted me after meeting the new owner of the orange Z that I sold last year.  The owner of my orange Z provided the information to her and we were able to discuss the restoration of this car.  Funny how things work out, small world. 

Early on, we were discussing moving back to the original Flat Tops, however, after reviewing the extra parts, there were no Flat tops or original balance tube.  Also, a number of the unique '73 tubes were also not present.  So the better way to go was to stick with the current SUs.  And, since the SUs and balance tube look near brand new, we will stick with these.

For the interior, the only changes we will make is to install an original radio and install the diamond vinyl onto the center console.  The rest of the vinyl looks like it just needs to be cleaned up.  For the seats, there are new, good quality seat covers and foam that we will install so that the seats match.  I will be very careful removing the original vinyl from the passenger seat.  We will want to save that. 

 

[motorman7]

Continued parts removal.  Got the bumpers off, grill, rear panels, wiper assembly and all the lights.  Also removed a few more parts from engine bay. 

[motorman7]

Continued removing parts.  Did mostly interior this evening.  Looks like Dynamat over the entire floor of the car.  I think we will keep most of that except for the Dynamat on the tunnel.  That was put over the original diamond vinyl.   

The spare looks great and original.  Not holding pressure, but it looks great and spare tire well looks pretty clean.

Removed the AC and Heater panel.  Almost ready to pull the dash.

 

 

[motorman7]

Continued disassembly.  Got the Dash out and most of the interior out on Saturday.  Got the motor, muffler and transmission out today and started the brake line removal.  Took a lot of electrical pics.

I removed the interior vent ducts and noticed that a small passenger had set up his home in the driver side vent.  Nice spot, much better than under or in the seats.  Looks like he was prepping for the cold Pennsylvania winters.

 

[TMagda]

Great progress. Looks like a solid car.