hey all.. i have had the car for a week now and even though i planned to redo the body and paint anyway, i was not sure when so i took it to my shop and spent 10 hours wet- sanding the faded old paint with 2000 grit paper and buffed her out so i could ride just a little more proudly.came out better than i expected.. upon further inspection, i might try to find as rust free body as possible and marry the two as i was ok with doing a few patch panels but i saw a questionable spot in the rear frame area right before it kicks up over the axle and two spots in the floor and trunk kickup area. seems like it will be less costly overall to go that route.. either way the trip was fun and i do regret not having the owner set up an appointment to have the car on a lift when i arrived to inspect it. o well i should have known better on that one as the undercarriage is one of the most important and time consuming parts to fix and i use a lift almost daily so doh! homer simpson on that!. all in all worst case it runs sweet and gives a nice quiet ride and everything works as it should. you do not see many if any of these in ri as everything in new england rots away unless it was driven sparingly since new.. hate to think of it as potientially a donor car but if anyone of you know of a rust free body please let me know.. i have no problem having it shipped. thanks and im glad i found this site with many good people on it.. also a tip for those who do not already know- if youre like me and search craigslist for cars and parts as the best deals seem to be on it,there is a site called searchtempest.com for parts and stuff or autotempest.com for car searching.. it enables you to search multiple craigslist zones simultaneously across whatever distance you specify and another easy way to feed our car habit and **** our better halves off. later,dave

 

Nice work on the sanding and buffing. The 3rd pic looks like you could reach into the paint about a foot!!! Nice backdrop on the 4th pic. Sorry to hear there are rust issues. It will be interesting to hear about the other 76 low mileage you have a line on. Hope it all works out. What are you going to do with 2 455/400's and all those desireable options that are left over?

 

hey allan, glad the true color came out as it was repainted at some point but definetly over 20 years ago as i have a good eye for that..it looked brown with the peel and oxidation.. single stage smelled like acrylic enamel when i sanded it. might part this one out if the other car is right. the seller has a lift at his home and it will be on it for inspection. according to him the underside has no rust to speak of and is immaculate. bonus is that its maybe an hour away. ill keep you posted no doubt and if i part her out ill give site guys first dibs for sure.. dave

 

wow, looks great and the tough parts are still there, tail lights,qtr extensions, skirts, chrome around the opera window. nice find, I hate to see this become a donor - seen a lot worse get put back together.

 

it would be the last option but as i see it the frame will eventually need work if not replacing and the car stripped to metal and then deal with the potential mess under the filler on all the lower panels.. it looks much better than it is. i would try to sell it outright minus interior before i would condemn it to worse. would definetly rather see someone else benefit from it either way as i bought it to keep and fix up but realize for the amount of work it will take, i just do not have the right place to take it apart to do it right. i work for a body shop and am good at all phases of repair but i cant leave my own car in the shop but can do weekends so a better car will work in my situation.