[Dick Boneske]

My wife bought her '64 GTO in 1983 and a partial restoration was done in 1994. We drove it a limited amount for the past 20 years, but always planned to "do it right" at some time. About eight years ago, the gas tank began leaking so I removed it and TEMPORARILY put a six gallon boat gas tank in the trunk. All she wanted was a replacement gas tank that didn't leak, but it never got from the shipping box to under the car.

In January, I removed the trim, bumpers, etc. and had the car picked up by the same body shop that did my '64. It looks pretty good in the picture "before" but took a lot of hours to get it to primer. Plastic media blasting was done to the hood, doors. Chemical stripping was done to the trunk lid. The body panels were sanded to bare metal.

I left the engine & trans in place, planning to freshen up the engine compartment before the front fenders are installed.

As you can see from the pictures, the body & hood is in primer. Doors & trunk lid are being worked on now and will be in primer and installed next week.

Color will be left at Gulfstream Aqua with a new parchment interior. United Auto Trim of Fond du Lac did their usual fantastic job of restoring the seats and installing the covers.

Can't wait to see it next to my red '64!! Now, she's afraid it will be "too nice to drive!"

[Rich-Tripower]

Love that stamp on the driver's side cowl! Love seeing/finding that kind of little detail.

[Dick Boneske]

There's one on the cowl nearby the stamping, "255". I wonder what that means.

I need to remember to put a new heater core in while the fenders are off. It's a lot easier than after the right fender is on. I've had the core blocked off for many years because it has a leak. I'll put a restrictor in the small (pressure side) hose so the core doesn't fail again.

On the deck lid, we used a Tempest lid instead of a LeMans or GTO, so the deck lid edge trim holes have to be drilled--preferably before paint. Has anyone posted the dimensions? I measured the center line of the eight holes 1/4" above the bottom edge of the lid. The two end holes are 3/4" from the edge of the lid and 5/32" diameter for the 8-32 Truss Head Phillips screws. The other six screws are 3/16" diameter to accommodate 10-24 studs on the trim clips.

[Dick Boneske]

Body man fitted the quarter panel caps and checked fit of deck lid. He tweaked the quarter panel caps for a good fit.

Note the great repair job on the deck lid. This was a deck lid that looked very good until the paint was stripped and pinholes showed up along the back panel. The folded-over seam on the bottom lip was done just like the factory one. Very good work!

[b-man]

Looks like it's coming along nicely.

Good to have a body shop that you can trust to do quality work and not keep your car in 'body shop prison' forever.

Nice metal work on the trunk lid, unfortunately you don't see too many body men with the skills to do rust repair jobs like that the right way.

[Greg Reid]

I'm imagining that color with the white interior....That's a real show stopper..

[Dick Boneske]

Getting close to paint! I wish the doors were done--and the left front fender. I still have not found a good fender to avoid $ fixing the original. Trunk lid repair took 40 hours.

[Chris65LeMans]

Originally Posted by Greg Reid

I'm imagining that color with the white interior....That's a real show stopper..

I can confirm that color over parchment looks great!

[Dick Boneske]

Parchment seats and door panels are new and ready for installation. I'm going to use aqua carpet on floor and door panel bottoms.

We're also going to use Gulfstream Aqua paint on the dash and inner beltline strips above the door panels. Package tray will also be aqua along with front and rear window inside trim.

[Dick Boneske]

How are we doing?

If I could only find a LF fender, we'd be really cookin'! The one we have would need about three days' work to fix the rust. That would be 24 hr. @$55/hr=$1320. Look at the last picture--top and wheel opening is OK, but inner brace and lower dogleg skin is really rusty--a lot of Bondo and brazing done in the '80's.

Needless to say, I would pay more than a fair price for a good LF fender.

[Dick Boneske]

My wife has owned this car since 1983. The middle picture is from about 1985. Who would ever have dreamed what lurked under that beautiful Gulfstream Aqua?

[trackr1225]

Is it an automatic or standard?

[Dick Boneske]

PHS--Muncie 4 speed, factory Tripower, 3.23 rear end.

[Dick Boneske]

Deltron was the paint of choice due to difficulty matching color with Omni's two grades. I kept a sample flake of the original Gulfstream Aqua paint from under the trunk lid. This matches very closely. It has nice metallic content. Light was such that you can't see the color very well--will follow up with better pictures. One thing I can see--All the hours spent on the quarter panels paid off!!

Now, very soon, I can go to work on assembly. Since the body turned out so straight and the paint is nicer than expected, I'm contemplating pulling the engine for cosmetic reasons. It only has 4,000 miles since pistons, rings, bearings, valve grind, cam, oil pump, etc. But, it was installed in 1994 and needs a lot of touch up under the hood.

These are pictures from today, just after painting. Now, my wife's montra of "I only wanted a gas tank" may go away when she sees how well the project is going.

[GT182]

That is one gorgeous color Dick. I'm sure she won't be too upset with ya.

[John62]

I want that car, just kidding. Is it just me or do any of you enjoy the beauty of a work in progress.

[Old Man Taylor]

Looking good!

[chrisp]

Coming along nice .

[Dick Boneske]

I was concerned about color and metallic content match after both Omni and PPG Deltron mixed samples of Gulfstream Aqua code Q (GM code WA3219). One sample, when sprayed, was blotchy with the metallic content. The other looked more like silver metallic than aqua.

The PPG Deltron paint rep came to the body shop and matched the color to the original 51 year-old lacquer on the cowling (see picture). I kept a few flakes of the original from under the trunk lid, and according to my eyes, the match is very close.

Today, they're going to mix a batch of 60 degree gloss for the dash, steering column, and tops of the inner door/quarter panels.

I asked the body shop manager why they used water-based paint for collision repair and solvent based paint for repaints. He didn't have a good answer, but said they can't match the "old colors" with water-based paints. So, the question of future repairs to my wife's car came up. He said "no problem" as long as I keep the PPG formula they used.

In any case, next week I need to make room at home for the GTO--my winter project.

[Dick Boneske]

Here are a few pictures of progress on my wife's car. The body and small parts are painted, but the doors, hood, and deck lid are not done. They'll be painted next week.

It's hard to get pictures to show how flat the quarters are while the car is in a storage building, but I tried. Will post many more pics after I get it home.

We're in a rush trying to get my son-in-law's '68 Firebird running and out of my shop so ther is room for the GTO.