Old pics of my driveway restoration

Someone recently asked if I had any pics of my convertible project. I thought I would post them here for everyone to see. I dont have any pics of the car with the top on it. I cut it off right after I bought it. I also rattle canned some dark brown to break up all that medium gold paint. Sorry for the picture quality.

These are the two the oldest pics I have of the car. Its probably close to winter 1988, the top is gone and a homemade top is on the car. Its a canvas drop cloth painted brown with the glass back window taped in.






Thats Tucan Sam painted on the quarter panel. I believe the muffler is off my 80 f100.



Fast forward to New Years Day 1996. The dark brown was replaced with burgandy. The top is vinyl with clear vinyl back window, no quarter windows This is the day I started my project



Be advised, this took place in Georgia and it's very redneck, shade tree mechanic. Got the car between 2 trees for drive train removal.








Engine and trans are out





Engine bay rattle canned gloss black





To be continued.......... will try to limit the number of pics per post

 

This is the 200 I6 engine I pulled from the car. I found a VIN number on it, it's out of a 69.5 Maverick. Some of the pics are sideways and I get them flipped, sorry.





Engine tear down on my homemade trailer.





Got the block and crank back form the machine shop. Ready to assemble. I replaced everything except the pistons.



The 72 Grabber in the background was the parts car for this project. I bought it from a junkyard for $300 delivered. The car was complete, I even got it to run and drove it around the block. I had no idea what I had at the time. To this day it makes me sick to know what I did to this car to save mine. I have never seen another one like it.







Engine and rebuilt trans going in.



Thats a 78 Monarch my Grandfather gave me, 52,000 miles on it. I was using it to pull the Maverick forward as I lowered the motor down.



Look at that hole in the fender apron. Its still there today.

 

Sweet! I love old pictures of Mavericks & Comets.

 

Thanks. I will post more tomorrow, Im tired.

 

You aintajoshin that's redneck haha..
I like the pics. Looking back after awhile is nice.
I especially like that wonder horse. I had one of them when I was a child.

 

I see a wizard in this pic lol

 

Thats cool, I see it too.

 

I had to scroll back and look for it. I restored it several years ago, it resides with my Ex Wife.

 

Cool photos Reminds me of what I used to do on my property, in Georgia even. Need to get wrenching out there again. Great job on that engine.

 

Starting body panel replacement. I am rotating and saving all the pics in photobucket, but its showing it here, sorry.





Look at that, I used to have fender well molding. That's gone...
Also, I hit a deer about 6months after finishing the car, so the original fender shown is gone, it's red under there now.





It's all coming back to me now. Upper grill is original, lower grill is donor (the one I used) The original was broken, that why the Maverick emblem is located in the wrong place.





I suppose it's obvious, but I have a big bumper with a Grabber spoiler, noone has ever asked about it.







I believe it's off to the body shop.



Yup

 

Decent shot of the modified end cap.







Back from the body shop. This is not the paint job on the car, it was redone in 2003.



Bumpers are from 76, still have the original chrome on them, not too bad.

 

Interior was gutted before it went into paint. It was ready for assembly as soon as it returned. For the most part, I reused all my original parts.



Look at those deluxe white door panels, I wish I kept them, what a sin.



Believe it or not, the gaping holes were there when I bought it, it's not a result of cutting off the top.



Prepping the dash parts for paint. Looks like I used the heater bezel from the Grabber.







I made these door panels



Recovered the rear quarters. The old ladies at the fabric store looked at me like I was nuts when I bought every white button they had.



I used the back seats from the Grabber and 85 Camero buckets. Had them recovered to match the original Grabber seat.

 

Body shop was supposed to weld in donor floor pans but he took so long painting it, I took it back. This was my cheesy attempt at fixing the floor. I screwed the patches down with self tapping sheet metal screws and coated the floor with roof tar.





Ready to put the interior back in.



POR 15? What the heck is that? More roof tar. 17 years later an no additional rust!









Pre console, that came years later.





These pics were taken first week of August 1996.







Interior view of new top. I hand sewed everything. Got tinted vinyl for rear and quarter windows. Can't say I've ever seen a convertible with tinted windows although I'm sure they are out there.









The End........................NOT!!
Thanks for looking

 

Cool post Don, very interesting.

 

Thanks Wilbur, we need to get together soon.