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Here is the "chase" that lead us to our latest project. She was hiding untouched for a year between two buildings. My good friend, Donald, helped me pick her up, get her home, and cleaned up.

Here is the picture from the road. You can't see her.

All you could see was her peaking out as you walk up.

 She had sat in the weeds between buildings for a year.

 We could not even open the doors all the way.

We pulled her home. Donald is behind the wheel.

See needed a bath.

It is amazing that a little soap, water, and elbow grease can do.

 She has a few small dings, but nothing major.

She has the normal interior problems. 

The next task will be to clean up the interior. 

 She was set in the nest with her sister (my son's 1977 T/A).

 My son's car is still coming along.

 She has her factory 301 ci. and tranny.

She has some rear bumper damage and a few dings. 

Stay tuned for the front end and tail pan swap. Next on the list is to clean the interior.

My son Mason and I started to clean the interior. It took about three hours to get the years of trash out and the year of mold that had built up. Here are a few pics.

Here is the interior untouched.

I started on the passenger side while... 

Mason started on the driver side...go figure.

Mason in action. He works side by side with me.

Here is the passenger side and back after a good cleaning.

Mason and I had a blast! Click our picture below to watch a video of a quick tour of our projects on SCC Cinema.

"Thanks for checking out our projects!" - Hooper and Mason

I have found a ton of bizarre stuff in my own projects and on several "chases", but this has to be one of the most bizarre thing I have ever found.

I got a visit from my good friend, Donald, this evening. Donald was the one who helped me pick up the 80.

We got to talking and decided we where just going to remove the hood. Well, we agreed just the hood, then we said we could get the nose off pretty quick, and a few minutes later we looked up and the whole front cap was off. You ever have one of those days? They are great!

Here are a few pictures.

Here is Donald starting on the passenger side.

The 80 nose is off.

Donald and I decided to keep going...

and going...

until the fenders are off as well.

We had planned to degrease everything, paint the inner fenders, and start to place the 77 nose, Trans-Am fenders, and Shaker hood on, but that changed. Read the next section for details.

I got a huge shock this afternoon. I was inside and my wife said, "Do you feel like working on your car this afternoon?" So I jumped at the chance and she and the boys came out there with me.

Here are a few pictures.

Logan and I fitting up the passenger side.

The driver side fender is from a 77 S.E. car.

The passenger side needs minor work.

The 77 fenders are both on, but not bolted yet.

The 80 bumper support was removed and the 77 nose was set in place. We are working on fitting everything up.

Here is the stamp for the 77 nose.

Here is the before and after nose set.

This is Logan, my oldest son. He was my helper today.

He did a great job! It is so fun having my sons help with these projects! It makes me so proud to see them work and enjoy themselves.

Stay tuned because there is so much more to come! We will be getting the fit just right, as well as, place the nose and hood on. Next we will start to get to sand and primer as we start the engine work.

Well, she is alive! She left her nest under her own power this afternoon. My boys worked on cleaning their go-kart while I cleaned her up some more.

The boys and I took a victory lap down our road.

Next we will finish bolting up the passenger fender, adjust the nose, add the hood, lights, and grills as we start to sand and prime.

Here she is back in her nest with Mason's car, "Flashback".

Click the picture to read more on project "Flashback".

For the past two weeks I have been working the night shift on a turnaround at the plant, so there as not been much time for play. I did manage to get home and stay awake long enough to get started on roughing up the bad spots on the body.

The passenger side needed the most attention.

There was only surface rust on the roof, but I am still debating if I want to take on converting this clone to a Hurst T-Top.

 

My buddy Donald came over to lend a hand with the hood.

Well, the evening started off smooth, but didn't end up that way. First, the passenger hood hinge we put on ended up being bent slightly. We changed it out and kept going. Once the hood was on, as in the pictures below, the hinges were too stiff to close the hood.

I marked up a few areas to continue working on the body work. There are two small dings on the roof.

The hood wanted to buckle on the edges slightly near the back. It had minor signs of that anyway and we added a little too that. No big deal. It is not beyond repair, just slows me down a bit. I should have cleaned the hinges better. I know better than that, but I am at that point where I am rushing through this project to drive it and I need to slow down. Do you ever get that way?

After all of that, this is how she ended up..."hoodless".

I have already driven the car with my boys by my side, so I don’t know why I am rushing. It is time to slow it down a bit. Well, I am going to do just that and a break, slow down, enjoy this restoration, think through the steps, and jump back on Mason’s car to relax.

During a parts "chase" today Donald, Logan, and I we were able to pick up two working hood hinges, and another '77 nose with some nice grilles.

This is a Sky Bird that I recently purchased. We pulled some parts while we where on the way to another yard. I will be back to pick up the entire car soon, so there will be several parts available for sale soon.

Here we are hard at work. (L to R Me, Donald)

You can see the rest of the "chase" pictures on the forum by clicking the picture above of Donald and I pulling off these hood hinges.

My hood shuts now by using the hinges from the Sky Bird.

Now my clone is up to, 1 black fender, 1 red fender, a white hood, blue nose, and light blue grilles. Mason said that my car was "All American" because it is red, white, and blue.

Hurricane Ike has dampened our cars and not our spirits. Both cars suffered great damage due to the amount of water (a mix of salt and fresh) and mud that they took on. We have cleaned “Flashback”, my son’s car. My car “Overtime” will now become a donor car for his car.

Soon, there will be more pictures here of the rust that was hiding behind everything as we started to take apart "Overtime" to clean her up.

It was sad to see how much damage happened to her so fast. She had come so far, but she will live on as part of "Flashback".

We will update you as we can.