Does having to go into the house and want to fall to the floor laughing count as a major fit

After that initial reaction I was disappointed for Jeff, but when he told me he paid $700 on eBay for it, and it "supposedly" ran (Later determined term was "Cranked over") I was kind of expecting something of this nature.

Also knowing it was going to be a Christmas present, I couldn't in good conscience, let it stay in this condition.

The mechanicals simply weren't safe, and if he was going to invest in making it safe to drive, I felt I had to at least do what I could do to get the car looking better.

Given the car has been obviously be run hard and left wet, the 4 different colors and up to 11 coats of paint the car had been through. The body was surprisingly not completely shot (other than the doors, and trunk lid), LOTs of dings, dents, bondo, fiberglass, and assorted patches.

I had seen worse, that said it was a 1966 Pontiac GTO Convertible (Clone) and had a lot more upside in the value department. I paid $3500 for it at Carlilse, body was worse but it ran and brakes were good. Everything else was unuseable. Similar type restoration, and after investing $6000, I sold it for $15,000. The Fiat will probably have less in it total (including the shipping) than I paid for the GTO.

Fixed tailights, license plate lights, and bumper with Silver Rim paint. In the case of the bumpers and license plate lights I sanded them and painted with etching primer, and after I painted them I had painted with 3 coats of clear.

The tailight housings I used the same duplicolor silver rim paint, but prepped them simply by sanding and wiping down with acetone.

Think considering the budget, the overall look is nice, and cost came in at basically $0 as i had the paint and primer. Each if bought are about $8 each. So total cost would be less than $20.



Well finishing up interior and trim. Just missing a lot of small parts (that are on the way), so kind of at a stalled point.

Not many pics yet to show..

Should have everything and be done with most everything this weekend.

Beer of the week - Legend Octoberfest... A Richmond Microbrew

You're doing a nice job on that car for short money. I wish you were in New England so I could ply you with beer!

i painted my 1800 logo red and polished up the high spots

Thanks, wait till you see what I can do with black Lowes deck carpet, a yard of black vinyl, 3m upholstery spray adhesive, gorilla tape, and black vinyl spray paint, chrome polish, some judicious use of epoxy and emblem adhesive.

124JOE wrote:i painted my 1800 logo red and polished up the high spots

I was thinking of painting it.. But decided to leave it just polished.. Leaves some of the "original" patina on the car..

sounds like a kit car

fiat218 wrote:sounds like a kit car

Only if I were resurrecting a kit car.

Use of original seats and door panels with no budget for seat covers. A little gorrilla tape to patch rips where needed.

Since the seats were brown, door panels tan, rear seat and side panels were red/pink.. Best way to fix all that scrub with soap and water then wipe the vynil with acetone. Before the acetone dries, thats when you spray with the vynil spray paint. I find wiping the vynil with the acetone it softens and opens the vynil pores to better adhere to the vynil paint. The end result is quite surprising if you have never used it like this before. Look on page three at the door panel, that was fixed that way.

patch cars dont last long
good luck with it all looks nice from pictures

Well this is better than a patch job.

That said, could you be any more of a downer. You know what they say, if you dont have anything nice to say...

ez2wire wrote:Beer of the week - Legend Octoberfest... A Richmond Microbrew

Sent a pm
chris

I like what you're doing with the bumpers. I have issues with my bumpers and won't be able to afford chrome. My wife does not want me to take them off. I've been debating using silver, getting chrome kits from eastwood or painting them black. I have an 81' with the big bumper too. Nice to see how it's coming out. I guess my car is also a "patch" car. Hope it lasts. Will never leave a garage. LOL

The paint I use is Duplicolor High Performance Wheel coating.. Tough and works well.. Used it on my Opel GT I restored, a 66 GTO clone, and it always comes out looking real nice..

I think it looks great ! nice work .