Up until this point, I had been talking about restoring a vehicle for about 2years. Actually, I had been doing a fair amount of “talking” and not enough “doing”. That all changed in Sept/Oct.
I’ll be honest with you – once I had completed the sale, I had the WORST case of buyers remorse I’ve ever had!!
Some of you who are viewing this BLOG know who I am and a few of you folks have had the honor of meeting my pops.
For those of you that know me, you know that at times I can be headstrong and set in my way when I want to do something (What!?! I’m a Taurus! Did you expect something different??).
For those of you who have met my dad, you know he’s very conservative (dare I say “cheap”) when it comes to spending money. Let me put it this way…if my dad goes to the corner gas station to get gas, he’ll barter with the attendant for a better rate…and with livestock no less….forget paying cash! “You like da goat?? Tell you vhat, it’s a good goat!!”
;)…I’m kidding of course, my dad is a good guy but he does his best to help me think things through.
Anyway, I felt so bad when I bought this thing. I couldn’t even drive it – no power steering, no power brakes, nothing!! I think I gave myself a hernia trying to get this thing to my buddy’s place for storage.
Combined with that, I was thinking about the purchase and what my dad would say. “Really, do you need another car??” “Well, no, not really”. It wasn’t until I got the car to the restorers and they started the work that I started to feel better about the project.
So, a little history: originally I had hoped for a ’67 or ’68 Fastback to restore (much like the car in the movie “Gone in 60 Seconds") but slowly changed my mind – cost was the factor. That, and the look of the “Eleanor” kit was growing stale for me. Everyone seems to be restoring a Fastback nowadays and for this 40 year old car, good luck trying to find one that is below $16,000CDN. And that’s just for a teardown; ie. not already been restored; just for a heap of a car. I decided on the Notchback as it was under $6,000CDN, it was a local vehicle, and though there was rot in the car that needed to be dealt with, overall the vehicle was in good shape.
Here are some pics after teardown and media-blasting\sandblasting (I neglected to get pics prior to the teardown but the restorers have that – will get that shortly):
What is the car going to be like?? Here's an idea of how the body will look:
http://www.radrides.com/photogallery.php?sub=fastforward
This car in this picture is a hatchback, mine is a coup but you can see how clean the car looks (no door handles, no stupid things hanging off the side of the car...it just looks very clean).
Here are the wheels I'm thinking about for the car:
http://www.mayawheels.com/wheels.asp
Scroll down to the bottom of the page - the Wheels are called 'DTM'.
In the Gallery link, you'll see a couple of Mercedes that have the DTM's on them. These wheels will make the car look low to the ground and give it an aggressive stance.
The car will be high-tech too:
There will be power (doors that open automatically, trunk, windows, heated seats, A/C, etc..) and the car is going to have an integrated computer system that has tonnes of stuff - Touch screen displays, GPS, tracking ability, wireless, CD/DVD playback:
http://www.carbotpc.com/
http://store.carhacks.org/index.php?action=category&id=2
http://store.carhacks.org/index.php?action=category&id=14
http://store.carhacks.org/index.php?action=category&id=20
I’m a big audiophile (for those that know me, they can attest to this fact) and I want to make sure the car is as much show quality as well as being a driveable car (if the car cannot be driven as a daily driver then there is no point building it).
To that end, I want to look at addressing multiple areas for the finished product: the build of the car, the stance, the engine bay, materials and parts used, colors chosen, fabric used in the interior, and finally, electronics and audio.
The computer system will provide the source for the audio/video setup and the audio equipment that I have tentatively chosen is as below:
http://www.focal.tm.fr/car/en/access1/index.htm
http://www.phoenixgold.com/2004/amps.html
I’ve done some amateur audio installations in the past. I enjoyed it; it wasn’t hard to do, just time consuming. I think I’ll be managing this for the car vs. having the restoration do all the work. Don't worry, I know my limits. Where I get stuck, I'll get the restorers to help me but this part of the project is all mine to do.
The engine (still working on this) will be a 351 cubic-inch 600-650HP crate engine (brand new) from Ford Racing.
http://www.fordracingparts.com/crateengine/main.asp
The goal is to have the engine to be fuel injected as well as supercharged to get the power requirements that I want. That and I want to be able to keep up with motorcycles. So here's my new saying for when the 'stang is completed (I say this about my Bimmer all the time): "You haven't driven a Mustang until you've driven it sideways!!". Hahaha...I'm going to love this car!!
Overall, I’m becoming more and more excited about the project everday!! I’m having fun!
Thanks for visiting this BLOG. I'll post updates and pics as the project "motors" along.
Harvey
No comments:
Post a Comment