Hello all,
I have been waiting for years to dip back into classic cars. I have had many growing up and wish I still had a few of them. Oh well, I am guessing I am not alone in this site.
This past summer I bought a 1962 Oldsmobile Starfire and am the third owner of this car. My car was originally bought off the showroom floor in the Las Angeles area and eventually migrated to Chicago which is where I bought it from a retired Chicago fireman.
The car was just kept up kind of by the last owner. Since buying it I have redone lots of mechanical stuff to it such as completely redoing the factory ac and steering gear box. The prior own did have the carburetor rebuilt down in Florida and whoever did that did an excellent job. I do have the paperwork for the rebuild. He also had the gas tank replaced and a new duel master cylinder and all new break and lines. There are still some it s that need to be fixed but not much more. Gas tank sending unit has an issue so I need to test that and other little thing.
now the body, he has a cheap Maco paint job done on the car, they didn’t even pull the trim, just taped it off. There were runs and overspray around the door jams and trunk. No block sanding, nothing, you could see dust marks in the paint.
Enough about that, the car now sits in a body shop for the winter where they are taring the car down all the way and media blasting and body work. Then a great paint job. At the same time I am replacing all the glass and all chrome is being redone and all the polished trim is getting cleaned up and polished. Lastly the interior is getting a complete redo also, including new seat springs.
Needless to say I am very excited to see what we have once the car is media blasted and of course when it is completed.

 

Welcome to the site. It looks good in the pics. Sounds like its going to be great looking in the future. Good luck with your restoration. Its a labor of love.

 

Thank you, I look forward to using this site for what I am sure I will be needing. Advice!

 

Welcome to the site, look forward to seeing more.

 

Welcome. Where is the body work being done ?

 

Welcome to classicoldsmobile . com .
Come and join the " darkside " at this thread ;
https://classicoldsmobile.com/forums...s-unite-83695/

 

Nice car. I have a 62 super 88 holiday coupe. Love the lines of s 62. What wheels do you have on your car? I like the look. If your not planing on keeping them I may be interested. Lol. Keep us posted on progress

 

Very nice!! Welcome .

 

Thank you, I will be posting pictures as the body shop starts tearing the car apart.

 

Thank you!
The body shop is in Bloomington MN and is called Legend Auto Body. The owner grew up in the body shop in his home city of Duluth working for his father. He has had his own shop now for years here in Bloomington and he takes on 1 or 2 classic cars a winter to work and he does them personally while his employees work on other cars. He has a very good reputation and I am looking forward to seeing his work on my car.

 

Thank you, the pictures I posted really don't show any of the flaws at this time. If I got at the right angle on the quart panels they would have been waving at you. I think the quarters a pretty straight and think most of that visual is due to the horrendous paint job the prior owner had done.

 

Thats nice to know. What is he taking off to paint your car ? 62 is my favorite among the 61-64 Starfires.

 

He is stripping it down all the way short of a rotisserie rebuild. The hood, doors, trunk lid, fenders, all chrome, all polished bright work, all glass, the full interior is coming out. Then they will media blast all the steel, then it will be time to evaluate how much body work will be needed. I think it will be minimal and the area of concern I have is behind both sides rear wheel wells. I know there is some mud on both sides in that area. Other then that I think it is pretty solid. I have a lot of replacement parts on order such as the brushed aluminum panels that run down the both sides of the car. I am also replacing at least the windshield due to a crack and also both door wing vents as the lamination is separating. Having said that I can get all new glass minus shipping costs for about $1,000. From what I have been reading the 62 Impala 2 door HT uses the same glass and that is pretty much available. At the same time I am having an interior guy replace the carpet and he will be cutting out the stitched in floor mats back into the new carpet, new front seat springs, replace all seat material with nice leather the two tone reds. Oh, the body shop will be taking the dash apart also so they can repaint it and all the chrome on the dash will be redone. Back to the inside, the headliner is going to get replaced and I think that is about it.

 

So, the body is staying on the frame ? Who is doing the interior ? What is the estimate for the body work and painting ? What is the estimate for the interior restoration ?

 

body is staying on the frame, I can't justify going that deep in it. I want a real nice driver that can also do decently in a car show but I don't want a car that I can't drive. I have never been a fan of garage queens before. A car is made to be driven so that is that part. Now the cost is still up for debate on the exterior. They are figuring with what they can identify by just looking at it and me telling them that the rear quarters behind the wheel wells will need work they expect about 15K. The interior I am meeting with the guy today at the body shop it is someone they recommend so once I meet and talk to him and see some of his work I will then decide on who I will have redo the interior.

 

Ok, that clears things in my mind. I would be interested to hear who they recommend for the interior and the estimate. R & R Restorations on Burkle Rd. in White Bear Lake is good also. I have seen their work and they estimated about $7,000 for my '64 Starfire a year or so ago. Keep in touch, and good luck. Oh, and this site is great.

 

Thanks, I have heard of R&R by a few people and that place is next on my list if this guy doesn't impress me.