This car is turning out amazing! I was a bit sad at the start of the thread when I heard this car wasn't being restored. Now you have made a real believer out of me and I think this is one of the coolest projects I ever seen because it is a Canadian Pontiac!
Very Nice Work!!!! I Love lookin at the updates and pics! Keep 'em Comin
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1960 Pontiac Strato Chief Safari 1960 Laurentian Safari 1960 Laurentian 4door(scrapped) 2001 Grand Am Traded on a '96 Suburban 2WD 2002 Hyundai Accent(SOLD) 1968 Grand Parisienne Scrapped and SOLD
jim_ss409 wrote:We mocked up the rest of the front end and built an aluminum air dam. We can make the air dam pretty much disappear by painting it flat black but if we like the way it looks when the car's painted we might leave it the aluminum color. The dam will look really nice as polished aluminum ... looks good with the grill. As manypeople on this site, I'm loving this thread.
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Prince Edward Island
'64 Parisienne CS "barn find" - last on the road in '86 ... Owner Protection Plan booklet, original paint, original near-mint aqua interior, original aqua GM floor mats, original 283, factory posi, and original rust.
...been off here for a while..you guys are consummate pros. I guess you just "whipped up" those headers in your "spare time" eh?. Man you guys work fast...and GOOD! This is going to be one sweet, bitchin' CANADIAN Tin Indian race car!! She's real fine....
BTW, for all you BC members (esp. around Van.) I just made the aquaintance of Jim Obalek, who is one of the drivers of the 4-car jet dragster team that will be performing at Mission in the annual Labour Day Weekend Jetcar show. They'll also have a 4-car demonstration team at the World of Wheels in Abbotsford in April. At Mission last Aug. he went 320kph in the 1/4. The jets are awesome to see at night..!
Wow just found this thread and man it is cool. You guys do really sharp work and look like you have a lot of experience. Love the gasser race car you have too!! Keep the pics coming. Kevin
You should take it to the P.O.C.I show this summer. I believe they are spotlighting the 61's.
I'd love to go there but I don't think we can make it this year.
The frame is far enough along that we were able to drop it down off the jig. We used a Dana 60 and a four link suspension. The original plan was to use the rear section of the factory frame but in the end we decided to build new frame rails. We will be adding some bracing and the frame will be tied in to the roll cage. The car will be plenty rigid when it's done.
..this is going to be one gorgeous, fast, beautifully-built, "real fine" '61 Bubbletop...you guys really know what you're doing. Can't wait to see it all painted up and ready to scream...!
Keep those pics comin' guys. Everybody's lovin' this!
You guys make the best case I've ever seen for cutting up a 61 bubbletop. Beautiful work.
Our first intention was to build the car as a street-strip car that was very stock looking but time and money changed the plan. It's actually quite a bit easier to build a "race only" car and with a "race only" car you can eliminate a lot of weight. I think I mentioned this in a previous post, we were hoping to build a 540ci 409 with one of the new aluminum blocks but it looks like we'll have to put that plan on hold until next year. We do have a 476ci 409 that we'll install this year. That engine was built years ago for street use and it's only got about 9.75 to 1 compression but it should push this car into the mid tens.
We gave the frame and body a final sandblasting and pressure wash over the weekend. Then we cleaned up the booth and painted the frame today.
Here's how we re-enforced the cross member at the end of the driveshaft tunnel.
It looks a little heavy in the picture but it's not bad. The extruded flat bar is 3/16" thick and the flat plates are 1/8"
We cut a bit out of the bottom of the tunnel and welded in a piece of pipe.
I was looking forward to bolting on the front and rear suspension tomorrow but on second thought it's probably better to leave that stuff off until after the body is attached.
