stevengerard

I hope it's ok to post some images here in this forum of my restoration, this is what it looked like at the start

stevengerard

here is the image

Oldsguy

Yes, perfectly fine to do so but I think you have it backwards. That looks like an after picture to me. Or you have one mighty fine original looking car, at least from sixty feet.

Olds64

That does look like an after picture. Pretty car!

Lady72nRob71

After picture.

That is a wonderful looking convertible!
The fall setting in that photo helps me to forget (for a few minutes) that it is gonna be 103* out today... Again...
Too hot for wrenchin'.

Now lets see the "before" and "during" pictures!

stevengerard

Thanks, though that is really the before image. The interior was getting ratty and the paint was crackled. I bought the car because it had a lot of options and the body was very solid. From 20 feet at 20mph the car looks good. But as you will see it needs some work. Every body shop I took it to for an estimate said it was one of the best panel fitted GM cars they had seen.

stevengerard

More images of the restoration, notice the lead in the lower quarter panels, great work whenever it was done but still more work now then anticipated - eventually we cut that out and the same with the fenders. Look at the hood, that was interesting to see that it was white and black - it was in great condition no chips, cracks or anything but whenever I washed the car water would puddle up it was so uneven - not any more

stevengerard

here is images of the doors, fenders and hood blasted as well as a coat of epoxy before we start to smooth with filler

stevengerard

looks like a lot of filler but very thin coats to get the car as straight as can be

Bluevista

Looking good! real nice work. Those panels always look good until you start blocking them, then you find all the surprises. I have a Vista and I think somebody put a safe on the roof rack. That filler can be paper thin and it looks like the thing is made of mud in pics.
I noticed the rear belts in the one pic, does the car have factory front shoulder harnesses?


Allan

stevengerard

Yes, they are shoulder belts for the front seat occupants (supposedly pretty rare for a convertible) - the only thing I wonder about is that I have the "deluxe" seat belts which come with smaller buckles, but the buckles for the shoulder harnesses are the larger ones. Not sure if that was normal (so as not to confuse which ones were for the lap and which ones were for the shoulder) or did someone add one of the sets later on.

stevengerard

here is the car with the guide coat on, almost all of this wilol be sanded off to see the high and low spots

stevengerard

It has been over a year since I posted some picks, car is almost done so time to catch up with some images. This is after the guide coat was sanded and the car was primed ready for base coat of Twilight Blue 28

stevengerard

Here it is in the booth taped and ready for base

stevengerard

Base is being applied

stevengerard

out of booth it is blue again!!!!!

Lady72nRob71

NICE!!! I like that color.
Looks great and was worth the wait!!

stevengerard

forgot to post these - I had many shops look at my car in amazement and comment on how "straight and aligned it was for a 1970 GM car" and as you can see from these pictures we still had our work cut out for us. It killed me to see the original fenders cut up but we expected it to take more time to fix the old ones. I looked at NOS fendors and repos and decided the repos were the way to go (half price) and everything was the same except for shape of the nut welded into the fendor - well they needed a lot of work. Some folks have said NOS fenors or any used fendor would need as much work but I'd spend the extra on NOS if I had to do it again. Interestingly - if you take the wheel well lip off of the front driver side fender and flip it around, you can use it to perfectly redo the lip on the rear passenger side qtr panel.

stevengerard

In booth masked for stripes

stevengerard

Stripes painted, waiting to get wet sanded

stevengerard

One of the scariest parts of the restoration - drilling the new wholes in the new fenders for the emblems!

Diego

What was the original color of the car?

I've seen one Azure/white car, which was on eBay a number of months ago. I don't think it was a real W-30 but white was probably a rare color because it's so hard to see with Azure.

stevengerard

Yes it was Azure, I have seen a few Azure blue W-30s a two with white stripes three with Dark Blue. if I was to keep it light blue I was going to change the stripes to the dark blue. But I think this Twighlight Blue changes the whole demeanor of this car, really shows its edges and shape off, looks more like a W30 now, though I do like the Azure, it was a tough decision

Diego

You know there were no dark blue stripes available in 1970, right?

When I get the chance this weekend, I will post a pic of what it would have looked like with blue stripes.

For a non-performance color, it seems quite a few were built in Azure.

Diego

Here's an Azure Blue with blue stripes.

If it's not too late, the stripes would go nicely with your Twilight Blue.

stevengerard

too late, but that is a very cool color combination, one I have never seen. I like that shade of blue a lot. The only stripes I have seen on an Azure car is black, a darker blue (which is not Twilight nor Astro, more like a dull navy) and white. I have seen two Chevelle LS6 convertibles in Azure too, one had black stripes and the other the medium blue.

Diego

There are a few dark blue stripe cars floating around, but it's an incorrect color.

I know of 3 Azure Blue/blue stripe W-30 ragtops out there, including one with the incorrect stripes as mentioned above. I've never seen an Azure Blue car with black stripes.

I realize it's your car, but I would have loved to have seen the Azure/white combo restored!

I've attached a pic of mine . . .

BIGJERR

For some reason I love the new blue.........Can't put my finger on it tho....

BIGJERR

And you should get that car out in the sun and take some great pictures of it for my calendar!!!

Diego

Car is in worse shape and 3000 miles away. I have other pics that may work but are in a pile somewhere.

Plus, too much sun washes out the stripes. If I had a high-res pic for you, I'd send it now.

oldsdroptop

One cool day in January a couple years ago I was sitting there watching the big dollar cars roll by at Barrett-Jackson I saw a Azure Blue 1969 Chevelle SS396 hardtop roll up on stage and the commentator Mike Joy was commenting on the interesting color of this particular Chevelle. He noted that more GM cars were ordered in Greensboro, NC in Azure Blue #20 than anywhere else in the US due to the fact that it was the North Carolina Tarheels school color. Which is exactly where my 1970 Cutlass SX Convertible came from and why I remembered this pretty much otherwise useless fact. Now you guys know. Just doing my part to make you guys a source of useless information just like me. Oldsdroptop

Diego

I would take anything said by a B-J commentator with a grain of salt. That being said, indeed there are some sky blue Chevys out there, but I can't say for certain all of them are "Carolina Blue" cars. I don't know if the special-order color was called that or something else, but perhaps an allotment were sold by Tar Heel area dealers to trump up the school spirit - I just dunno.

stevengerard

see Oldsdroptop's car seems to have a darker blue stripe than the ones Diego has posted, that is the medium blue I have seen on many cars and the blue I was going to use. Being an MJ fan from Chi-Town I guess I could have kept the Azure but then again, I'm happy with how the code 28 turned out

stevengerard

final clear coat being applied

Diego

Steven, the correct color should be light blue.

stevengerard

almost done

1969w3155

Sweet! Fine looking car! I had an azure blue '70 SX over thirty years ago, a great sleeper color, no one was expecting a 455 in a light blue Cutlass...Snicker, Snicker.

svnt442

citcapp

Wow the pops, looks great, bet your excited!!!!!!!!!

agtw31

mike joy is a moron,azure blue is noweher near carolina blue.

what he probably was talking about were the mid 70's sky blue cutlasses and regals that are all in north carolina junkyards.