"I'm Not a Car Guy." - A 1967.5 1600 Refurb Saga

[Gregs672000]

I was so very fortunate to have found "my guy" when I first got the car. I was 22-23 yrs old and had just used a home made tow bar to drag it across Washington to my sisters house south of Seattle. There I would spend day after day working on the car after work. I knew nothing about body work, except what I'd read in a book from the library. One day I was at an auto body supply store asking questions when the guy right behind me over heard the conversation and piped up. Turned out he lived just a few miles from my sisters home and ran his own, "on the side" body shop to fund his sprint racing car efforts. He agreed to teach me what to do and would come by the house and coach me until it was at a point where he would do the final work. He let me do most of the grunt work but he did a lot when I finally got the car ready for his shop, then we did the primer work and finally shot it in his new down draft spray booth. My total cost not counting materials? $400. Yep. That lasted until I redid it again about 10yrs later with better front fenders, and it's due for more now with what I estimate is around 100,000 more miles put in it.
There is no way I could possibly have afforded this car and all the goodies it has on it had I not gotten it so long ago. Just wish I wouldn't have passed on a right hand drive 510 Bluebird that was offered to me at a wrecking yard at about the same time.
The Roadster Gods will make sure you get what you need from the people you come across! Truly, this family makes the journey so much better!

[iloveredmeat]

Fingers and toes crossed!

Ours sat in , bodyshop hell for 8 months with not a thing done so we snatched it up and trying to find another shop, most wont touch it because the money is in insurance repair claims, so as you in search of a credable shop that does not want a kngs ransom.

Thanks Johnny!
I really feel like my car is in the right hands now, these guys are go-getters and seem to love what they do. So, I'm prepared and happy to pay them what they deserve. So... the challenge is keeping my word to my wife that I will fund this "project" by dissolving other projects/collections. Gonna be tight...

Mine sat in the body shop for one day short of a full year. In his defense the Nightmare, as Jeff learned to call it , was a 35 year sitting in falling down barn, rusty hot mess that most would not have even tried. He did basically an entire body rebuild, then painted (there is a thread about how they sent wrong paint and he had to scrap off a layer with a razor blade) it and added all the rubber bits to the doors, trunk etc. too from the kit I bought from Dean. Drained the roadster fund big time somewhere around 18k. Good thing i have so much history with this car. Phenomenal job, worth the wait . Took almost a year to get him to agree to do it too. Artist are hard to get to commit and you can't rush them but quality shows through. Now if I can only get my seats back from the upholsterer, it's going on 7 months since I dropped them off and he would get "right on them" . So I have been told patience is a virtue. Happy trails!

Toby, that looks awesome... that's what I want!

Yours actually sounds like a success story! I've heard way longer than a year, and the price is higher than I'll be able to pay, but not out of line with the high end of what I've heard. Good luck with your upholsterer, are they putting in a kit, or making from scratch?

There’s something to be said for the old classic car adage: ‘Buy the best you can afford - That’s the least expensive option’.

The amount of work, sweat, tears, time, patience, more time & savings necessary to bring one of these back to life from near dead is astonishing. Since I can’t do bodywork to save my life, I’m always drawn to that aspect of restoration first and how much effort (and cost) it takes to get it done right.

Had I heard that adage before I bought this thing, I might already be zipping around in only a mediocre Roadster, because I don't think I would have done much more than keeping it running.

But I do flip-flop between wishing I'd waited for a driver or appreciating this project. No turning back now, and I know that I'm fortunate to have dumb-lucked into an original owner complete car. And considering the purchase cost, I had a pretty good head start for a while.

I feel I've been able to do most of the restoration work pretty well, however, bodywork seems a bridge too far. But, since "Ron" fell through, my frustration peaked, and I was literally about an hour away from deciding to tow my car down here and learning how to do body work on my own. That's when Donovan and his brother swooped in and saved us all from the horrors of me learning to weld.

I was so very fortunate to have found "my guy" when I first got the car. I was 22-23 yrs old and had just used a home made tow bar to drag it across Washington to my sisters house south of Seattle. There I would spend day after day working on the car after work. I knew nothing about body work, except what I'd read in a book from the library. One day I was at an auto body supply store asking questions when the guy right behind me over heard the conversation and piped up. Turned out he lived just a few miles from my sisters home and ran his own, "on the side" body shop to fund his sprint racing car efforts. He agreed to teach me what to do and would come by the house and coach me until it was at a point where he would do the final work. He let me do most of the grunt work but he did a lot when I finally got the car ready for his shop, then we did the primer work and finally shot it in his new down draft spray booth. My total cost not counting materials? $400. Yep. That lasted until I redid it again about 10yrs later with better front fenders, and it's due for more now with what I estimate is around 100,000 more miles put in it.
There is no way I could possibly have afforded this car and all the goodies it has on it had I not gotten it so long ago. Just wish I wouldn't have passed on a right hand drive 510 Bluebird that was offered to me at a wrecking yard at about the same time.
The Roadster Gods will make sure you get what you need from the people you come across! Truly, this family makes the journey so much better!

That's a cool story Greg, a lot of soul and pride in that car.

I'm so glad that the bodywork IS staying in the 'family', trust is huge for me.

I'm feeling the most positive I've felt for a long time.

Thanks for your encouragement!
pm

[Florida Roadster]

Peter, let me know when my transmission arrives. I've sent it off to you for a full rebuild. Thanks buddy!!! Jeff

ps: hurry up, take your time.

[JohnnyB66311]

Hey Peter, I'm so glad you're documenting this so fully and honestly. Restoring a car from this starting point is WORK. It may be a labor of love, but it is work, sometimes incredibly disheartening and certainly challenging to one's comittment and perseverance. Believe me, if you took a glance at the now 36 year old pics of my car the FIRST time I did it you would know I've walked in your shoes, as have many here. But you have what it takes, and in the same way you truly respect and appreciate the food you hunt, this car will be much more important to you than a car you bought already done... like the difference between venison and packaged chicken. Like climbing a mountain, the assent to the top of your car restoration will not be a straight line up to the top. Nope, there will be storms, avalanches, missing equipment and truly unexpected incidents, but it's your desire and VISION that pulls you forward and upward to the top... that, and your friends (sherpas if you will). Every challenge you face can be overcome... it can SUCK at times, but you will overcome them. What helped me during the times I had to shelter in my tent... storm raging, light fading... was imagining or visioning me driving the car on the coast or in the Mountains, complete and done, smile on my face for mile after mile. And that's what has become reality, and not just in a car, but in a car I did, in a car I KNOW, in a car that somehow "loves" me if a conglomeration of metal, plastic, rubber and vinyl can somehow do that. I don't have a lot of material things that actually mean something to me, and I have not spread my love around to many other cars... I've liked my various cars and daily drivers over the years, but never loved one like this one.

They say hindsight is 20/20... take my experience and know it's worth all the effort!

You are and inspiration to me and Pau who is only 16 just now driving with permit “yikes” and Greg as always you brighten my dad with the word if wisdom and encouragement, this stuff alone is worth the value of our cars, maybe
Thanks and on goes the battle if life

Jb

[iloveredmeat]

Peter, let me know when my transmission arrives. I've sent it off to you for a full rebuild. Thanks buddy!!! Jeff

ps: hurry up, take your time.

Ha! "Return to Sender."

I do not want to do another anytime soon.

It actually wasn't 'difficult'... but not exactly easy either. There's no way in heck I'd have been able to do it without @andyb, his experience, his tools, and his setup. There are a few step-by-step resources out there that help a ton, and as mentioned, I picked the brain of many of the very experienced who were all so helpful and enlightened me on the critical nuances.

It also made me see that the pros like Petterson and Premo earn every penny they get for their rebuilds.

Good luck!

[iloveredmeat]

Hey Peter, I'm so glad you're documenting this so fully and honestly. Restoring a car from this starting point is WORK. It may be a labor of love, but it is work, sometimes incredibly disheartening and certainly challenging to one's comittment and perseverance. Believe me, if you took a glance at the now 36 year old pics of my car the FIRST time I did it you would know I've walked in your shoes, as have many here. But you have what it takes, and in the same way you truly respect and appreciate the food you hunt, this car will be much more important to you than a car you bought already done... like the difference between venison and packaged chicken. Like climbing a mountain, the assent to the top of your car restoration will not be a straight line up to the top. Nope, there will be storms, avalanches, missing equipment and truly unexpected incidents, but it's your desire and VISION that pulls you forward and upward to the top... that, and your friends (sherpas if you will). Every challenge you face can be overcome... it can SUCK at times, but you will overcome them. What helped me during the times I had to shelter in my tent... storm raging, light fading... was imagining or visioning me driving the car on the coast or in the Mountains, complete and done, smile on my face for mile after mile. And that's what has become reality, and not just in a car, but in a car I did, in a car I KNOW, in a car that somehow "loves" me if a conglomeration of metal, plastic, rubber and vinyl can somehow do that. I don't have a lot of material things that actually mean something to me, and I have not spread my love around to many other cars... I've liked my various cars and daily drivers over the years, but never loved one like this one.

They say hindsight is 20/20... take my experience and know it's worth all the effort!

You are and inspiration to me and Pau who is only 16 just now driving with permit “yikes” and Greg as always you brighten my dad with the word if wisdom and encouragement, this stuff alone is worth the value of our cars, maybe
Thanks and on goes the battle if life

Jb

Well... that's humbling. Hope all is going well with you and Pau. Keep up the good fight, man! pm

[Gregs672000]

Smiles all around! And what goes around, comes around! So smiles all around! You'll always get one back, and we all need them!

[funkaholik]

What a productive trip! Getting a commitment on the bodywork is huge, but rebuilding a transmission yourself, even with an experienced person there to do the heavy lifting, is amazing. You really need to change the name of the thread to "Damn right I'm a car guy".

Congrats on all the work, on not getting castrated, and on that sweet wild boar belt buckle.

[iloveredmeat]

What a productive trip! Getting a commitment on the bodywork is huge, but rebuilding a transmission yourself, even with an experienced person there to do the heavy lifting, is amazing. You really need to change the name of the thread to "Damn right I'm a car guy".

Congrats on all the work, on not getting castrated, and on that sweet wild boar belt buckle.

It was productive... transmission and bodywork plans are huge milestones for sure.

And, brief follow-up. So, while I was up there, I spoke to Mike Kerr about the transmission and during our conversation I told him about my bodywork hurdle. He mentioned that he had a "rear clip". Still being firmly planted in the non-car-guy-column, I thought the rear clip was just that vertical piece in back, where the tail lights are. I was later set straight by the Bodywork Brothers, and they said I should look into it, which I did.

Mike sent me photos and talked me through the condition and any issues... all very minor, and it looked to be a gazillion times nicer than my trunk. Sooo... I mentioned this to the Body Brothers, gave them Mike's contact and left it to them to go look after their vacation.

The day after they got back from their trip, I got a text telling me they had already contacted Mike, driven up to look at it, and that I should definitely buy it. It will save a bunch of time over piecing together my various panels, and will allow them to use almost entirely the factory seams.

1. I like the idea of factory seams.
2. I like the idea of saving time.
3. I am already impressed by their initiative to get this going. I sent one text about the clip, and they did everything with zero prodding or hand-holding. What a pleasant relief. Confidence is growing.

I will have some trunks and Ross Mullen lower-rear quarter panels available if anyone is interested.

Cautiously optimistic.
pm

[funkaholik]

Oh yeah.

That's my kind of follow-up.

Great news!

[devo]

What a productive trip! Getting a commitment on the bodywork is huge, but rebuilding a transmission yourself, even with an experienced person there to do the heavy lifting, is amazing. You really need to change the name of the thread to "Damn right I'm a car guy".

Congrats on all the work, on not getting castrated, and on that sweet wild boar belt buckle.

It was productive... transmission and bodywork plans are huge milestones for sure.

And, brief follow-up. So, while I was up there, I spoke to Mike Kerr about the transmission and during our conversation I told him about my bodywork hurdle. He mentioned that he had a "rear clip". Still being firmly planted in the non-car-guy-column, I thought the rear clip was just that vertical piece in back, where the tail lights are. I was later set straight by the Bodywork Brothers, and they said I should look into it, which I did.

Mike sent me photos and talked me through the condition and any issues... all very minor, and it looked to be a gazillion times nicer than my trunk. Sooo... I mentioned this to the Body Brothers, gave them Mike's contact and left it to them to go look after their vacation.

The day after they got back from their trip, I got a text telling me they had already contacted Mike, driven up to look at it, and that I should definitely buy it. It will save a bunch of time over piecing together my various panels, and will allow them to use almost entirely the factory seams.

1. I like the idea of factory seams.
2. I like the idea of saving time.
3. I am already impressed by their initiative to get this going. I sent one text about the clip, and they did everything with zero prodding or hand-holding. What a pleasant relief. Confidence is growing.

I will have some trunks and Ross Mullen lower-rear quarter panels available if anyone is interested.

Cautiously optimistic.
pm

FWIW, I bought my first 1966 Roadster from Mike Kerr back in 1983 when he was still in Fremont, Ca. He was very honest and it was a great car. In my opinion, he is a honest seller.

[JohnnyB66311]

Great find as I believe greg stated this group is amazingly generous with knowledge, assistance and parts and inspiration for our cars and in life thank you again. Frame and suspension bits cleaned blasted repaired / replaced and ready for the paint this week end body final fitment and color in couple weeks (fingers toes and everything els crossed) Chemo again tomorrow hopefully the last for a bit the old body needs a break. The last radiologist report actually listed the findings as “waning and waxing” what a life have to be positive so like an old “bubble head” i am with the tide ebb/eve…. Hope thats correct??? good today better tomorrow

Thanks again group I’m inspired again
Jb
Another note Pauline’s driving I haven’t pulled my hair out yet

[Pjackb]

Hey Pete
Very happy for you on finding the right body guys, finding the right guy that more importantly wants to do the project is so crucial.
I didn’t know this until I found such a guy for Scarlett , they will work on the project as if their own and make sure to deliver to you something they will be proud to put their name on.

[iloveredmeat]

@johnny

Glad to hear of your car progress. But more importantly, prayers for you and Pau on your difficult journey. I know you’ll come out stronger. Godspeed man.

@devo

Yes, I 200% agree!

I met Mike in person when I first got the car, and he really confirmed our thought/hope to build a stroker. I have bought stuff from him before, and he’s one of the nicest, most knowledgeable guys out there. Legend.

@pjackb

Thanks Jacques. I feel that they really take pride in what they do, and I feel so fortunate and relieved to have them on board.

I didn’t realize how ‘stressed’ I was about the bodywork part until now that I’m not actually stressed about it.

Aaaahhh.

[JohnnyB66311]

Celebrate what you found with the body brothers it is very difficult to source a person or shop that dedicates time and maybe some times effort to perfect what skills the have learned in thier chosen prefession. Simple PRIDE IN Workmanship, hell pride in ownership of something for that matter. I believe that trait has been dwindling away way before my time. My name my word my handshake meant something not to long ago…. Hell respect for our fellow brothers and sisters even parents alot of time is non existent or lacks the clout that it once was.. whats the next generation going to be like …. Only I can work on myself and i alone fore the most part enstill this the my addition to “the next generation “ and damned if my offspring dirty my name… short version teaching and expecting my children to be human again.

You gentlemen and ladies of wisdom thank you what you do have done and will do. And excuse me i’m ranting again. Excited “AKI” will be bright and shiny soon… then the physical stuff begins.. looking forward to the task and as always the knowledge, respect and humbling assistance of this group and definitely not just for the 311 stuff…. Thanks
JB