Resuscitating Doris

[81Notch]

This is my second take on the package tray. I received a new one from NPD, covered in a black plastic mesh that I painted with five coats of SEM's Napa Red. Turns out this one is manufactured by the same company (R.E.M.) that made the first one I received from LMR which was not covered with mesh but rather meant to upholstered instead of painted. I like this one much better and am very pleased with how the paint looks on it. I also got the front 3.5" speakers mounted, had to make a small bracket to secure one side as the mounting holes did not line up perfectly with the speed nuts in the dash, but they sit tight especially with my homemade gaskets.

Doris goes into the shop this week for a tuneup and some repairs (leaking valve cover gasket among them), and hopefully they can install the Thunderbird wheels for me. Unfortunately my carpet has not yet arrived from NPD so that will happen on a follow-up visit unless it shows up in the next few days. I really need to get the carpet in so that I can reinstall all the painted trim pieces and the rear seat. I also ordered a radio from Retro Manufacturing that is supposed to fit in the original dash location with no modifications.

 

[One Owner 1982]

Sounds like you and me are neck and neck on our interiors. I’m waiting for a couple of items from LMR to finish my visors but I have my dash pad and head liner installed. Also put my old carpet back in and I’m trying to decide if I should change it or keep it?

 

[One Owner 1982]

Can’t wait to see your car with the T bird wheels on it!

 

[81Notch]

Sounds like you and me are neck and neck on our interiors. I’m waiting for a couple of items from LMR to finish my visors but I have my dash pad and head liner installed. Also put my old carpet back in and I’m trying to decide if I should change it or keep it?

If my carpet looked as good as yours I would just clean it and keep it in the car but mine is very faded and I feel like it will make a massive difference to replace it.

 

[81Notch]

Doris has been in the shop for a couple weeks, I stopped by today and the Thunderbird wheels are on but no hubcaps yet as they are waiting on lug nuts. The best news is that the carpet finally arrived from NPD, so that'll get done during this shop visit. The wheels make a massive difference, so much better...

 

[One Owner 1982]

That looks good!

 

[81Notch]

The car is being prepped for carpet, I had a crack in the dash and asked the shop to repair it- they removed the entire dash to do the job right and are going to fix all the broken plastic bits with fiberglass and then paint the dash with my SEM paint to freshen it up and match all the trim I recently painted. Also, some exterior paint correction and patina preservation is going to happen so stay tuned for that.

I have a new dash pad on order from NPD along with a repro hood emblem, the pad will need to be painted so I ordered more of the SEM paint as well. Also ordered some vapor barriers for the doors from LMR, you can see in the first pic that the paper-like OEM barrier has been wet in the past, but fortunately the door panels themselves are still in good shape. This car is really coming along and I should have some more updates very soon.

 

[One Owner 1982]

That’s a lot of work. I’d love to know what they are charging you for that. I’ve had mine out before and it’s a huge job.

 

[81Notch]

I'm putting some money into this car for sure, but the mechanic thus far is making everything look easy. It's a rod & custom shop that opened up over this past summer, about ten minutes from my house, owned and operated by a married couple. I've done a lot of work myself but there are things I can't do, especially during the winter with no garage to work in, but by the time this car leaves the shop there really won't be much left to do except drive it.

There is a white coupe sitting at the edge of a neighbor's farm yard about a mile from my house, my wife says we need to rescue it and I'm 100% in agreement with her but we have not tried to speak to the homeowner yet. I said we should get Doris finished, then drive her over there and knock on the door, maybe if these people have any sentimental value attached to their aero coupe they'll see that we will take proper care of the car and bring it back to life if they'd be willing to sell it to us. I'm guessing it's maybe a 1988 4-banger with an auto transmission, but I really don't know. My wife snapped the pic as we drove by slowly. Every so often I take a different route when I leave home just to get a look at this car and make sure it's still there.

 

[One Owner 1982]

Oh yeah, that car needs some love. You are going to have to make an investment in a garage.

 

[81Notch]

I dropped some more parts off at the shop today and the carpet is in, the color is great and exactly what I was expecting. Just got a new dash pad delivered from NPD, black but dyeable, so that will go in next.

 

[One Owner 1982]

Looks awesome. I’m still waiting on the weather to get right so I can paint my rear interior panels. I’m also waiting on an engine for my 1966

 

[81Notch]

Looks awesome. I’m still waiting on the weather to get right so I can paint my rear interior panels. I’m also waiting on an engine for my 1966

I had mixed results with my interior trim painting. The plastics that I did not prime first and used the SEM adhesion promoter with turned out really well, as close to the stock color as I could want. The plastics and metal pieces I primed first (grey base) came out a lighter and brighter shade- too much orange tone and not enough brown. I was going to accept this since I'd already put so much time into everything, along with 6 cans of paint, but the guy currently working on my car wants to paint the dash (I saw it yesterday, completely stripped and every crack repaired with fiberglass) and I think the different shades of color are bugging him so he's going to respray some of the pieces with black dye and then go over them with the color in an attempt to get everything to match better. I really appreciate that he is picky about this stuff because I am too, I just don't have the experience he does or a nice big shop to work in! I told him go for it, anything worth doing is worth doing right. The point, however, is that if and when I refinish an interior like this again I will take care to start with the same base color on every piece I paint, as much as possible anyway.

I'm heading to the shop this morning to drop off the dash pad and more paint, I also got a new reproduction hood ornament. I'd like to have an OEM one on there but they're about $100 more than the repro and this one from NPD looks great.

 

[One Owner 1982]

What does your hood ornament look like?

 

[81Notch]

What does your hood ornament look like?

Like so. NPD offers an original but it's $192.

 

[One Owner 1982]

Yep, that’s the same one I have. Mine is original to the car. It’s crazed really bad.

 

[81Notch]

The paint is buffing out nicely, the shop sent me these pics yesterday. Between that and the black body molding and pinstriping getting touched up I believe old Doris is going to look pretty good.

 

[One Owner 1982]

That looks nice buddy. You are going to love driving that car this spring and summer

 

[One Owner 1982]

Yep, that’s the same one I have. Mine is original to the car. It’s crazed really bad.

Here’s a picture of my hood ornament now.

 

[81Notch]

Here’s a picture of my hood ornament now.

Believe it or not, that is in better condition than the original one on my car...