I purchased this coupe 2 years ago in a stripped down state, primed supposedly ready for paint. Long story short, the retired panel beater I bought it from had stuffed it up. He had stripped it to bare metal and then etched primed it with a vinyl etch which seemed to have reacted with any filler he had used. The decision was made to strip it and start over again. I am very happy with the result now. This is an old hot rod, originally built over 40 years ago but had a major mechanical makeover a few years ago. It has been through the NZ cert programme for hot rods so that side of it was good. After stripping to bare metal it was epoxy primed and then the fun part of primer filler, block, repeat several times.
Very nice! I'm helping a youngster up the the street with his 39 Chev ex drag car . Is yours an original rhd car?
Yes NZ new. Unlike Aussi we got US bodied cars. They are not uncommon here, probably more sedans than coupes though.
@lumpy 63 did this young guy buy this recently from a guy near Pasadena? If so it was a great start to a project.
Yes as a matter of fact he did. Last week he bought a pretty rough 39 body to salvage the firewall for his coupe project. He's only 30 yrs old , but has been hanging around my garage since he was about 13 or so.. I call him Grasshopper I told him I want the rock hard Castler cheater slicks to hang on my wall...
Looks great Russell. If you'd painted it green, I'd feel 19 again. Stood the test of time and all it's drunken owners. Was a lot of fun late 70's on the gravel roads round here.
Yep I remember when John Prescott built the car and painted it green, over 40 years ago. A variety of owners since then, some looked after it and some treated it like a rally car.
I'm not sure what the rules are at the moment but it is probably easier to import from Aus to NZ rather than the other way around. All sorts of rules in Aussi, like no asbestos on cars coming in that we don't have here (YET!!!!!!!).
Took it for it's first decent drive yesterday, prior to that it has been short drives to and from the paint shop. Running a bit rough but really hasn't been driven for the past 5 years. A tune up and hopefully we are good to go for our summer.
Hoping to go on a few runs this year, summer is nearly here after what seemed to be a long wet winter.
Hi Russell, what a neat looking car. Well done. Hope all is well. Best regards, Greg Sent from my iPhone using H.A.M.B.
Small update. Spent several weekends chipping off whatever had been sprayed on the floor many years ago and had set like concrete. Went for Dynamat after doing all the research, I got it at a great price as one of our suppliers at work is the importer. It has made a big difference in comfort levels. Just door panels and hood lining to be replaced and we are there.
It's really a nice looking car, my friend Herb Wieskof (sp) has had one for as long as I can remember (since 72 at least) with a big block. It is black and beautiful. Les Madus a local photographer has a red one also beautiful. In any case yours looks great. Pat
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