Bodywork in process - Dec 18th, 2005

The project is coming along, and just from my perspective, seems to be going at a pretty good pace.

When I first started looking for a vehicle, I did some searching for a vehicle on the internet. I did the typical searches for a project car on:

1. eBay Canada (http://www.ebay.ca/)


2. AutoTrader (http://www.autotrader.ca/)


3. and even the local Vancouver Buy and Sell (http://www.buysell.com/)

I mostly searched eBay because this site had tones of ‘67/’68 Fastbacks listed for sale. As I’m in Canada, the only issue for me was that most of the vehicles listed were located in the US. I didn’t want to have to have the hassle of buying a car unseen in person and especially having to deal with shipping the car through Canada customs.

Canada customs, though I honestly don’t have any issue with supporting or spending money in Canada, has this thing that if you buy a car from outside of Canada, you have to pay for both Federal and Provincial tax on top of any purchase price and taxes paid on a vehicle within the US. As this price can be essentially 14% on top of a total purchase of a vehicle from the US, as well as any customer fees, the cost of the vehicle would add up. To top that off, in order for the local insurance corporation (which is government run, it hasn’t converted over to a private insurance model in BC) requires a vehicle to be inspected and converted into Canadian specifications. I can’t help but feel that this is essentially just another cash grab by the government and I equated that final costs could be anywhere from 16-20% on top of a final purchase; at least, that’s how I see it, reality could be different. In all, I didn’t think purchasing a vehicle out of Canada would be worth it, especially for the hassle.

So, what would be fun and what would be an easier way to do what I want to do? “Hello!! McFly!! Why don’t you buy the car locally?! Dumbass!!”

Well, that’s easier said than done. There is essentially very few ’67 or ’68 Fastbacks for sale in Canada (at least on listed on the Internet). There are even fewer for sale in my local Province. In fact, I had only found 2 fastbacks for sale in BC and the cheapest one was for a heap of a car in Kelowna for $16,000CDN. “FORGET THAT!!!”, my cheap East-Indian nature was coming out.

That’s when I decided to change the model of the vehicle I was looking for and decided on a Notchback instead. That’s when I found my car; a local one that was listed in the Buy and Sell.

The car itself was Maroon in color; the interior was Maroon, the whole freakin’ thing was Maroon. What an ugly color! Have you ever seen pickup trucks that have a bed liner in them? Ever see those trucks that have, instead of a plastic bed liner, have this spay coated liner on them (called Rhino hide)? Well, when I got my buddy to check the car out, he could see it had rust, that it had been hit on the passenger side quarter panel, and in the trunk, the trunk had been sprayed with this Rhino Hide spray. Whoever had the car previous to the current seller that I was working with was trying to hide something. And that was rust and water leakage in the trunk. Beyond that, original engine was a straight 6-cylinder engine (at idle it would sputter and stall but when driving it, it performed fine). That was the only saving grace for the car.

The car has now been stripped down of all parts (including the engine; nothing is going to be original in the car other than the body and even that we’re going to modify), media blasted of all paint and the Rhino Hide, and as of this week, sections of rusted body parts are being cut out and replaced.

The car today has been placed on a movable metal bench. Marty, the owner of the restoration company performing the work mentioned the reason for placing the car on the bench is to make it easier for them to work on the car. That and the bench is completely level. The car, now mounted on the bench, is level to the bench. Any body work done now will ensure that the car work done will be perfect for when the car is rolling down the road or sitting on the street. It’s going to look good.

Metal sections of the engine bay that were rusted have been cut out of the car. New section pieces have taken their place and have been temporarily screwed in for placement until they can be welded. The reason for this is that the front frame rails have to be cut out first and replaced. Once the new frame rails are welded in place, the body sections in the engine bay will then be permanently welded in as well.
The rest of the body work will also start soon (maybe this week or after the holidays).



Beyond that, Marty and I went over paint samples for the car, discussed the audio/video install (which I want to b involved in; ie. actually doing the work), talked about the engine and mechanical needs for the car, and even discussed something I never really thought of until now – vehicle maintenance after the car is finished.

The restoration is progressing well and as of today, I’m feeling pretty good working with Marty and his team. I’m looking forward to the process.

Harvey