The actual restoration process didn't begin until February of 2008, as the body man I had who was helping me wouldn't have space until then. The car lived in my driveway and collected dirt and snow for a few months before heading out 45 minutes from Toronto.
The body man agreed to a finish date of late May on the metal work, but did not start until April. At that point I started going out to the car every Sunday to not only do my own work on the car but to check up on the body man and make sure he was making progress.
As it turns out, the car was actually made up of two cars - the original Jade Black car on the title, and a Wimbelton White car that most of the Jade Black car's performance parts was transferred to at some point in history. Being from Michigan, this re-body wasn't a huge surprise but it certainly made the job a bit harder.
After removing the green paint we found a few major problems, as is common in these kind of restorations. The trunk lid was completely rotten and unrepairable, so a new one would need to be found. Also, the rear panel was severely dented and it would cost less to simply replace it rather than straighten it.
There was some minor rust and accident damage in all four corners of the car, to the point of causing ripples even into the roof panel. Here I am cleaning up inside the torque box area. Most people don't understand the work that goes into cleaning up and painting a 40 year old car. Once the fenders are back on, no one will ever see this part again, but it will be clean.
Cleaned, repaired, primed, sealed and then undercoated. This was repeated on the other side.
It was May and only the driver's side of the car had even been primed, let alone finished. It was obvious that this was going to take much longer than expected.
Work continued. The inside of the fenders were cleaned and undercoated as well - that was the level of detail I was doing on the car, that even parts no one would ever see were being done correctly and to last.
I found a replacement hood in Arizona for $300, and shipping was $200.
Replacement sheet metal for the passenger side, which was really badly rusted out up into the wheel opening area.
Replacement trunklid from South Carolina in mid-body work.
And finally, the rear tail panel from Florida. Coincidently, all three pieces were the exact same shade of orangey red.
A sample of how bad the quarters turned out to be. They were filled with bondo and rust.
Rear panel removed.
While the body work proceeded, I worked on the engine cleanup. This is basically how I found it, after a good power washing.
Around August 2008, the rear tail panel was in place and work had begun on the passenger side of the car.
Painted the engine compartment. Tremclad Semi-Gloss - known as Rustolem in the US - is a perfect match for the original semi-gloss paint.
After cleaning and painting everything. The valve covers still need to be taken off and polished.
Also installed a new aluminum radiator.
