That's looking super sweet ... just like lemon pie (one of my favs.)!
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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.
Finally the fire season and meetings are out of the way and the Airstream is sitting in the yard winterized so i should be able to go on this thing. Gotta repaint my grille halves now..
-- Edited by 66 Grande guy on Thursday 11th of October 2012 10:18:19 PM
OK! It's finally back after a long series of progessively more threatening phone calls (Sort of kidding, kind of) I have to say I got what I told the guy i wanted a driver quality paint job.
A fair bit of orange peel that will get buffed out to a large degree, a couple of still noticable ripples but to me its beautiful!
I still don' t have the hood and have no time to mount the bumpers or anything else yet except for bolting on the front wheels (the rears are old airholders) and sticking on the rally wheel trim.
I have to go away for about a week to fight a few last forest fires so i won't be able to do anything else for a while but I thiought I'd give you a peek.
Here ya go boys.
..................nice - Im almost at the stage your at, and can hardly wait to get there!!
Finally the fire season and meetings are out of the way and the Airstream is sitting in the yard winterized so i should be able to go on this thing. Gotta repaint my grille halves now..
-- Edited by 66 Grande guy on Thursday 11th of October 2012 10:18:19 PM
.......... as promised pictures of pre paint prep - you may also want to explore the All Car Restorations website link below - this is where I had a heap of panels, sills etc fabricated (early shots of mine in its original livery of white over blue - intermediate stage are undercoat grey - ready for block up in black Epitek)..................enjoy right..............
Thanks for the suggestions, he said sarcastically!
Actually, I always wanted it to be pretty much original partly to see what that would actually feel like.
It came with the 396, power windows, buckets with the headrests, powerglide, AC , dual exhaust (which was an option with the 396) 3.31 non posi, shaded glass, am radio, power steering and brakes as well as rear speaker and dealer added rear defrost.
When I went through the chassis i replaced all the steering and suspension components (except the box as it seemed quite tight) put new shocks on the front and the F41 sway bars with the thick bar on the front (that one was thanks to Carl S). I used original type rubber bushings as my old butt seems to like a softer ride and i don't really intend to twist it around all that much. I found a factory tach, tilt steering and AM FM for it. Other wise to enhance driveability I put in a Pertronix in the original distributor and swapped the Powerglide for a TH700r4. I will also run airshocks on the back as I intend to pull a trailer with it at times. I kept the orignal Quadrajet as they are quite a good versatile setup, I think. I did stick in a 67 master cylinder instead of the single pot 66 one as well but have yet to decide to go with discs. I really don't see the need for the posi so I haven't been looking.
I also have found a power bucket setup for the drivers side but I haven't decided to use it yet. I'm also toying with the idea of setting up a cruise control but have yet to find an original although i have a couple of vintage setups if I want to sort of make it work.
I also have a vacuum truck release, reverb and a trunk light for it so it's about as optioned out as i would had wanted.
I'll run 15 x 7 rallys with 235/60 TA's so the orginal ride height will be pretty much mantained.
I will run some halogen headlights instead of the T3's!
Once I get all this rolling in the same direction if I don't like some of the ways its working I'll have to make some changes but from what I distantly remember of those cars they were pretty comfortable highways cruisers which is my ambition for this car.
I want to be able to take it anywhere without worrying about it or without it being tough to live with on a 10 hour drive.
-- Edited by 66 Grande guy on Friday 12th of October 2012 11:52:41 PM
I don't think I ever commented on this car.... I see a car right up there with the best of the Cp's. The 65-66 Sport roof Grande is it, and your BB will be on the top shelf. Post cars are nice in a drag taxi sleeper kind of way, but the HT roofline is so sweet, so formally nice, classy... I see Gp in her. She looks like she's flying while standing still, even with that " Stacked Forward look" of the front end. It's somthing the anyone with a eye for style, born before 63 might appreciate.
I know you're an original kind of guy, but will you do any suspension stuff to her besides bars to help? You'll need it when you let her dance down the backroad. They really respond well when rebuilt with big bars, high quality shocks, bushings, tires and steering (as if you don't know!). Try modern tires with18's...Oops!... Oh no, I must sound like the car show suggestion guy now, I'll stop. Sorry.
Life has inteferred with much progress as my wife has decided we need to renovate the upstairs of our house. However, I expect to have the grilles, headlights and a fresh rechromed bumper mounted on the front tomorrow. I still don't have my hood (bonnet) back as my body guy had a bunch of remedial work to do on it and has now given up and has decided to use the secondary bonnet (hood) I provided for him (which is actually off my fathers old 66- cool or what?)
Stay tuned for some seriously low angle shots from the front!
I'm staying tuned for pretty much ANY updates Ken. I've had a nasty cold, lack of energy for going on 3 weeks now and your updates are helping me through these long couch evenings!
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1966 Strato Chief 2 door, 427 4 speed, 45,000 original miles
1966 Grande Parisienne, 396 1 of 23 factory air cars
