hemigeno's Daytona restoration - a few more tweaks... again!

[WINGR]

She's really coming along great. I just wanted to mention as far as the primer on the underbody, doesn't Dave P. sell some coating that looks like the old grey primer but doesn't absorb moisture like the primer will.

WINGR

[PocketThunder]

Aww come on hemigeno, Put a block heater in that 440,some knobby rear tires and drive it.The nose will pierce the snow banks quite easily.LOL

CudaKen was forever trying to get me to do the same thing.  I didn't have the same level of intestinal fortitude that PT had, in putting a project car on the road.  I kept telling Ken that there was no good place to start or stop with fixing that car up enough to put it on the road.  Besides, I tend to go overboard with fixing things up, as any of you guys who have seen my 2-ton truck can attest.  That started off as a spray-bomb restoration 

Its very easy really, i call it married with a mortage and two kids, no time or money for a restoration, so lets get it on the road and drive baby!!


unobtanium         

[pettybird]

I have a pile of shots of the dressler motors daytona, and that's a very low mileage car with a (mostly) untouched underhood area.  do you have pics of that yet?  The body was touched up a TON, which is a shame...apparently they couldn't stop running into things at the dealership.  the car only has something like 6,000 miles on it. 

another weird question--did creative overspray your taillight cover panel, or the lights themselves?  malcom's daytona has paint all over the panel, my friend's taillights are F5 on top...  what have you found to be the prevalent condition?

[GeneralLeeTESH]

HemiGeno-you should change yer name to "god" or something. Only a PERFECT person can afford/restore the car THAT NICE. Good Job. Maybe you can collect-up a chronological time history/pics and write a CD-ROM based book on your resto from beginning to when you're done. It only costs 35.oo to Copywright it @ The Library of Congress !
-Tesh

[hemigeno]

She's really coming along great. I just wanted to mention as far as the primer on the underbody, doesn't Dave P. sell some coating that looks like the old grey primer but doesn't absorb moisture like the primer will.

WINGR

Thanks, Steve!  I think I know the product David sells or recommends that you were talking about.  However, me giving Vance advice about which automotive paint products to use is like me giving my wife advice about which clothes she should wear   

Its very easy really, i call it married with a mortage and two kids, no time or money for a restoration, so lets get it on the road and drive baby!!

That's actually the reason I didn't buy one of these cars a long time ago.  We built the "dream house" and that set my "dream car" plans back many years, but that's alright since sleeping in the car gets a little cramped after a while.  First things first, right??  Even when I did get back on the trail of a Daytona, the only thing I could manage was purchasing a project car - but at least that was before the market really went crazy.

I have a pile of shots of the dressler motors daytona, and that's a very low mileage car with a (mostly) untouched underhood area. do you have pics of that yet? The body was touched up a TON, which is a shame...apparently they couldn't stop running into things at the dealership. the car only has something like 6,000 miles on it.

I'd love to get a copy of those pictures if you were willing/able to send them -- I'm definitely a reference photohound.  Frank Badalson had taken some pictures of that same car and posted them on the WW/NBOA site, but I can always use more.

another weird question--did creative overspray your taillight cover panel, or the lights themselves? malcom's daytona has paint all over the panel, my friend's taillights are F5 on top... what have you found to be the prevalent condition?

My Daytona's taillight cover was not oversprayed very much - if at all.  From what I understood, they left that panel in place when the paint work was done on the trunk area, but they almost certainly covered the tail panel (and along with it the taillight cover) with a blanket or cloth tarp when the paint was sprayed.  Most of the time, the trunk weatherstripping has little (if any) overspray on it, and that was normally left intact and in place during the conversion indicating it was normally covered/protected.   If they had to go back later on and do a touch-up spray job perhaps they didn't use the blanket, which might explain the Malcom's car - but that's just a pure guess.  From my way of thinking, there was no reason for Creative to have taken out the taillight cover panel - and they certainly wouldn't have worried about replacing it if they did get some overspray on it.  Heck, Creative didn't even totally remove the trunk weatherstripping that they did have to work around, so why would they have removed something that wasn't really in their way?

As far as any paint on the top of the taillight housings, I'd say there is a better chance that such paint was put there during the Hamtramck assembly process moreso than the Creative Industries conversion - perhaps as part of an assembly-line damage repair??   

To directly answer your question, I don't recall seeing much overspray on original taillight cover panels but I wasn't specifically looking for that detail either.  I can ask Vance for what he has seen in the past, as he's seen (& disassembled) a whole lot more original cars than I have.

HemiGeno-you should change yer name to "god" or something. Only a PERFECT person can afford/restore the car THAT NICE. Good Job. Maybe you can collect-up a chronological time history/pics and write a CD-ROM based book on your resto from beginning to when you're done. It only costs 35.oo to Copywright it @ The Library of Congress !
-Tesh

Thanks, Tesh...  a "god" I am certainly not, and my wife will quickly second that motion.  I will be recovering from this little exercise in frustration for  a while, but I am too stubborn and too hard-headed not to see it through.  When I bought the car I did not envision a restoration to this level of detail, but researching and finding out about all the intricate details of how these cars were built was a dangerous thing with me.  That's when the snowball started rolling downhill on this project too (see the comment I made above about my truck's spray-bomb restoration).  I honestly don't think I have the stomach to do this sort of restoration ever again.  That's not to say I'll be putting an ejection seat in the HemiCharger anytime soon  , but I don't think I'll be quite as worried about every little detail.

[Magnumcharger]

I have to say, you impress me a being a very articulate, and intelligent communicator Gene.
It really is a pleasure to read your comments on this thread.
Perhaps if you do decide to put together a photo-reference CD of the restoration of your Daytona, you might consider adding some of your dialogue to it.

Now why did I write that? I'm not normally that nice...

[hemigeno]

I have to say, you impress me a being a very articulate, and intelligent communicator Gene.
It really is a pleasure to read your comments on this thread.
Perhaps if you do decide to put together a photo-reference CD of the restoration of your Daytona, you might consider adding some of your dialogue to it.

Now why did I write that? I'm not normally that nice...

Thanks, Robin!  I sincerely appreciate the feedback - but don't start getting all mushy on us here, we wouldn't know what to think   

As for the idea of a CD goes, let's see what level of sanity I retain after this process is over with.  It's a thought, though...   

Gene

[moparchris]

Cudos Geno.  I agree with MagnumCharger.  It is a pleasure to read your dialogue.  You are articulate and that seems to be a rare quality these days.  As a school teacher, some of what I read truly scares me. Your Daytona is going to be a stunning automobile. Keep up the good work!

[abebummy26]

I know the answer to the price on the 2 ton truck lol. but I'll never tell . I know gene through my dad. He was the general contractor for the vocational school I go to. My dad was the business manager for that school District. Gene's stuff is sweet.

[hemigeno]

I know the answer to the price on the 2 ton truck lol. but I'll never tell . I know gene through my dad. He was the general contractor for the vocational school I go to. My dad was the business manager for that school District. Gene's stuff is sweet.

Hi Lincoln!!!

[abebummy26]

Hey. How's it going? I'm glad to see your Daytona is getting the attention it deserves.

[hemi68charger]

,,,, doesn't Dave P. sell some coating that looks like the old grey primer but doesn't absorb moisture like the primer will.

WINGR

Yeaper.. I just bought some and have taken it down to the body shop for my OEM undercarriage painting.. As soon as it's done, I'll post some more progress pics........

Wingless

[abebummy26]

Did you ever find a set of 69 MO plates?

[moparstuart]

  i have an extra 69 missouri plate     you only need one

[abebummy26]

I meant for Gene I know he was looking for some for a while. That was a few years back though.

[hemigeno]

Yeah, I found a few...   

[abebummy26]

Yeah, I found a few...  

Yeah I say you did geez, wow!!! Those are all the plates they made in '69 other than the truck plates wow. I wish they still stamped the year in them in '83. Because I just bought an '83 1 ton 4x4 . I found a set of '88 plates though I just need to pull them off the car soon.

[moparstuart]

  wanna sell you d tag  I'm a missouri dealer thats the only reason

[hemigeno]

  wanna sell you d tag  I'm a missouri dealer thats the only reason

Actually, I want to hang onto the Dealer plate.  I did check with the DMV in Jefferson City to see if I could license the Daytona with that plate.  They told me that no one could use an old Dealer plate to register their car, as it is considered "in conflict with an existing numbering system".  Rats...  However I found and bought a second June '69 MO plate - I wanted June to coincide with the build date of the car - which is what I will eventually register the car with I suppose.

One of the things I was trying to prepare for was a display as the Daytona would have been at the dealership.  My car sold through a Missouri dealership, incidentally.  I already have a magnetic base screwed to the Dealer plate (wrapped with duct tape to protect the paint).  That way I can actually take the regular plate off and slap this Dealer plate on for car shows. 

Ready for a test drive, y'know!      

[moparstuart]

  cool if you ever run across another 69 0r 70    d-tag  grab it for me   thanks
Btw if you collect any other newer plates i have tons here at the salvage yard

[abebummy26]

That is a really cool idea I would have never thought of that .  I would really like to come and see it when you bring it back home or to the shop. Maybe see the hemi car to. I never did get to hear it roar. My dad gets to have all the fun and I'm more into cars than he is .

[gtx6970]

Looks like a Landy dart in the back ground of one of the pics

[hemigeno]

Wow, I did not realize that it had been so long since I updated this thread that it had slipped to Page 5 of this board.  That's not necessarily a bad thing, since it means we have a busy group of guys/gals here.   

Sorry for the long drought between updates, but I have been absolutely swamped here at work - once again, a good thing.  I checked on the car back in late September, and I'll post most of the pictures I took then along with somewhat of an explanation on them.  If the narrative isn't on a Pulitzer prize winning level, hopefully I'll be excused since I'm already late for supper tonight...   

Anyway, here goes (135 pictures to follow)...

The first batch are of the right quarterpanel.  I always knew bodywork took a lot of time and patience to perform (part of why I farmed the car out rather than letting my busy schedule and lack of patience ruin the finished product), but these guys have really shown a lot of attention to detail.  I'd go nuts before I primed-blocked-sanded-filled over and over as many times as they have.  That's what will make the finished product look like it's supposed to, so it is necessary.

[hemigeno]

More quarterpanel-related pictures.  The first shows the marker lens hole, which they shaped using the actual bezels to make sure that they would plane out once everything is finished up.   

If you look closely in the second picture, you can see a whole lot of filler in that second wing stud hole.  I asked about that, and they said that for whatever reason there was a pretty deep but small-sized dent there.  They couldn't really get to the backside of the divot without removing the wing washer, and since the whole area is covered with the base of the wing, they didn't worry about it much and just filled it in.  My guess is that one of the Creative workers dropped the wing on the quarter as they were fitting the wing.   

[hemigeno]

Some pictures of the right door and both sets of door hinges from a perspective you don't see much - from inside the front fender but with the splash shields removed (looking back towards the door jamb).

They are trying to get the margins as correct as they can, but by not having the car on its suspension the margins will change slightly.  If you think about it, the factory did not have the cars on their suspension when they fitted the doors either.  It could be that some additional work will need to be done to make the margins absolutely perfect, but this is step one anyway.