For Sale!!!

I have to sell this car!  I'm not happy about it but can't afford it either.  So it has to go. 

I have close to 50k in this car and less than 1000 miles on it since all that work.  In great shape and set up to be a daily driver.

E-mail me if you are interested or know someone who is.

Thanks

 

 

I still have yet to drive the car!  A very good friend bought the car by paying the last bills for the paint and air conditioning.  He doesn't use it much but his son likes it a lot.  I'm planning on buying it back from him soon.

 

 

 

 

 

It seems that originally the windshield gasket also sealed the chrome but that once you take it apart it never seems to go back together the same way. So there is a gap. Everyone I talked so said they filled it with adhesive. So there you go...

Currently the car is in a great shop in Portland - Majhor Murray. They mostly work on older cars and pretty much anything that catches the owners eye. There is a long wait to get in but it seems to be worth it.

Here is a question for anyone who knows. How does the chrome and windshield gasket come together? From what I remember the winshield gasket met up with the chrome but now there is a big gap. I've seen cars with that gap filled in with caulk (gasket sealer, RTV etc) but pictures of it originally looks like there is just one gasket that spans the gap. Any ideas?

Getting closer all the time. Except for those times when it sits for weeks waiting for a part, a spot in line for the paint booth or whatever...

These are the Sebring seats with the mega reinforcement to hold them down. I'll get a better picture soon. I finally found some great guys in Alabama who sold me the wiring harness for the seats so they will power up.

The chrome has been polished but the paint hasn't had the final sand job, blocking etc. But it does shine nice! This is the first the car was out of the shop after the paint.

Can you see the stars on the grill? The chrome got polished but unfortunately they polished the black paint right off too. I will have to put that back on by hand, maybe even with a magic marker or sharpie.

It's coming together. The back looks good doesn't it?!

There is a better truck emblem on the way and it will be installed this week along with the top. For you purists out there I'm sure you noticed the emblem is from a V - 200 but the car is actually a Signet.

Fortunately those mirrors were on several models and it wasn't too hard to find a nice set. One of them even have the little Chrsyler star logo. I never thought I would get so caught up in those little details....

That antenna is another story. They didn't come on many models. I'm lucky the parts car had a good one.

This is a current picture. A wing window, a bit of chrome and they spiffed up the tires before I got there. Every little bit helps!

A glimpse of what it will look like in the future. This chrome strip really sets it off. There is a great bone yard called Wildcat Auto Wrecking just east of Portland and they had the hard to find chrome like the rocker molding. Pictures of that to follow when it gets that far along.

The rest of the chrome is getting polished right now but I'm afraid one or two pieces might need to be re-chromed. Costs more and at this point time is getting to be an issue. It has been over 15 months!!

I’ve owned this car for over 15 years and have been slowly fixing the mechanical side from the beginning. The big upgrades happened a few years ago when I had the rear end replaced with one from an early 70’s Scamp. That meant 14 inch wheels. So then the front was replaced with the control arms and disc brakes from something similar to a Scamp. It could have been a Scamp for that matter but I faintly remember it wasn't. Mid-70's something. I also put in torsion bars from a car with a V-8 to stiffen up the front end up a little.

The rear quarter panels were cut off of a parts car, built up and welded on to my car. One front fender, trunk deck, dashboard, grill, bumpers and lots of odds and ends also came from the parts car. Both transmissions – 3 spd auto push button – were taken to the tranny guy who promises both were good anyway.

In a totally dumb move I ordered air conditioning along with new hydraulics for the top. This was one of the few Valiants with a power top.

Ok, I don't think it was so dumb to order the air conditioner now. It isn't in yet of course but I've heard from enough people to know that sometimes it is just too hot to not have one.

I expect the car to be completed by Feb 2007.

Hm, I was a little too optimistic. I'm hoping the car will be finished by July at this point.

Just out of the paint booth.

This is how it looked sitting in front of my house for 1 1/2 years! There was a small fire under the dash which render what had been my driver a moldy mess. At this point the car has a great engine and great brakes and suspension (no sway bars yet though so it still had the lurching 'here we go' feeling on turns.)

Here you can see where the quarter panel was replaced with one from the white 4 door parts car.

This is the soldier that gave its life so that another might live. I did hate to see it go under the knife but I like to think it will be happy with major body parts living on.

Same car. Sort of like before and after pictures of Courtney Love eh?

The floors used to be plywood combined with a street sign I found. The drivers seat had some huge washers I made out of sheet steel that sort of held it in place. Now they are all new with the middle section custom made.

Unfortunately my camera got stolen so I don't have any pictures of the sweet and mega-strong reinforcements that went in to hold the new Sebring (new to me anyway) buckets with built in shoulder harness.

New camera and a picture of the reinforcement for the Sebring bucket seats with shoulder harness. The steel stock is 3/8 thick and welded and bolted to the frame so the seats should stay put if anything ever happens.

Here you can see the grill and some of the front end. The car was always pretty tight but the hoods from the '63's didn't come with much reinforcement. Now it is tack welded in several more places. And that grill is sweet!! I'll put up a picture of what it looks like now that it has been polished - like a mirror!

My original grill is in good shape too so now I have a spare. But the very cool Plymouth stars came with the parts car and that is the grill that is going onto the convertible. Both sets up bumpers buffed out great. Fortunately Ron, the great guy who is helping with this project (and reading this by the way) will store some of those items in his garage, at least for awhile.

At first I wasn't even thinking about the engine bay. Now the engine is getting painted too so it won't look out of place. The crazy chrome pulley for the new airconditioner will sure stand out in front of the stock engine and manifolds. But with a clean up and paint job is should be fine. Doesn't leak a drop of oil.

I'm still amazed at how well those quarter panels turned out. And it only took a year....

The parts car was a huge help. The quarter panels from it needed attention too but they were mostly fine. The front fender and trunk deck came from the parts car as well.

These are painted also but no pictures yet. The interior has been painted the same as the outside (VW Aqua Blue - you can see it on 2006 Beetles. It looks light blue in certain lighting and almost white in others. The rest of the trim inside is going to be black, as in the color it comes from Layson's. I thought of trying to dye it but at this point I'm surprisingly short of cash.

A nice view of the classy interior. Can't imagine why those wires caught on fire.

Interior door skins are coming from Layson's along with a first born's worth of detail items. All new window scrapers, seals, tracks, door seals, carpeting and gaskets for door handles, locks, mirrors, lights, etc.

The electronic ignition came from them too along with the new gas tank sender unit.

Once all of this is put back on the car then a trip to Midas for a lifetime warrenty muffler (I made out like a bandit on brakes for my old car) and then to Car Toys for whatever kick ass deck that I can mount in the trunk. And one of those fancy car alarms that will track the car as well as sending a notice to my key chain up to half a mile away if someone gets too close to the car. The trunk will be like Fort Knox when I get finished with it but the doors will never be locked. The new top will cost too much to chance locking the doors. Plus once I lost my keys and it was really a drag because it started to rain and the top was down....

The rear aluminum piece will cover that runs from one side to the other turned out really nice too. Not perfect but close enough. Between the two cars I have a good set of everything for the rear.

My living companions for the last 16 years. They used to ride in the convertible and sort of got used to it. But that was years ago and they seem less inclined to try new things these days.