Cleaned up the tail lights and housings. I had a buddy vapor blast the housings to get some red and gold overspray off from prior paint work. All pcs. original to the car and will go back on including the tail light seals.

Wrapped up the headliner this morning. What a PITA that job was, thankfully my brother had done a couple in the past so it turned out pretty nice.

Headliner looks fantastic! Hope I’m able to see this one in person sometime, awesome car.

Agreed - me too. I've really enjoyed following the restoration here. Thanks for the great thread.

I know who I’m calling to help me with a headliner

"I would love to do you headliner", said no one ever:grin:

Actually, an upholstery guy did say that to me, but with a hefty price tag on it...:tongue:

Me and my brother put the headliner in my dad's '65 Nova. It wasn't a terrible job, but I sure was glad when it was done. Turned out pretty well too.

Note to self: Freddie=Back up plan. Not fair, you all have brothers.

----I tried the headliner deal 1st back in about 1988 or so. It was a 72 El Camino SS small block. I figured that because of the size it would be easy. Was using the heat gun to tighten up the wrinkles and blew a 4 inch hole in the almost finished headliner.....Bill S

I put up with my wife's cursing at me as I walked out of the house with her hair dryer. I did not want to use a heat gun for that reason.

Johnny come lately here, newby..
 

I’m still navigating around on this SCR site and stumbled onto this R68GTO thread.

Awesome car, but a more Awesome story!

I love the start, Introducing ...... RAT’S NEST.

I know that feeling, sometimes you hope you see something negative so you can STOP thinking about it, in this case a car.

Congratulations on a Super Rare Find.

I’m subscribing now.

Chris.

Wrapped up my headliner assembly this morning and installed the original sail panels and original rear inners. Pretty happy with overall results. Car will leave my possession Monday and go back to the body shop for final front sheetmetal and glass assembly. Getting closer.....

You're doing a wonderful job...nothing like a well executed headliner!

Love the work and the project!

wow...looking great!:headbang:

'

Awesome progress of another fantastic Supercar here at Yenko.net!
This whole story also car and Member combined is such a perfect example of what this site is really all about!:youguysrock:
:beers:
~ Pete

.

Great looking car. Thanks for posting the pictures.

Amazing progress. Can't wait to see the next update.

Started deep cleaning my original door panels and rear inner panels today. Came out really nice.

----OK, Inquiring minds want to know what you used to get those panels that nice besides elbow grease!.....Bill S

I used original formula GoJo hand cleaner and a nylon bristle brush. GoJo is white stuff in a plastic can that has the consistency of mayonnaise. Get the stuff without "grit" in it. The nylon bristle brush is like a large toothbrush. Basically smear a thin coating on the panel and use the bristle brush in small circular motions. It works best if you don't apply too much pressure so the bristle tips get into that light grain pattern to pull out the dirt. The white GoJo was dark grey by the time I was done scrubbing. Wipe of the excess with a paper towel, then buff with a cotton dish towel. The GoJo has "lanolin" as an ingredient in theory to moisturize your hands. It seems to soak into the vinyl, the excess edges at the bottom of my rear inners started out dry/stiff, when I was done, they were noticeably more "flexible", same for the main vinyl, it just felt softer.

Here's some pics of the door panels...June 11, 1969 dated, 3 1/2 months ahead of build.

Go Jo for cleaning interior parts..........makes perfect sense! Who'd a thunk? Thanks for the info!

Tim

Have read this thread twice through, great history.

You mentioned the car was purchased a roller at some point, did you hear whatever happened to the engine?

Engine was pulled by 1971 or 72 and sold to a guy who putting it in a pulling tractor. That guy now lives in Texas. When I spoke to him he told me that engine ran real good and he eventually sold his tractor to a kid just getting into pulling. He was at the first contest where this kid made his first run. The kid started in the wrong gear and blew the engine to "kingdom come". He told me the at least one of the rods came out the side of the block. So unless his recollection is wrong, I don't have to go searching for my original engine.

I would keep looking if I were you! My motor went to a boat shop and I was told by the boat shop that it was blown to pieces. So I didn't bother with it. showed up years later with a sleeve in one of the cylinders and was a lot more money!!!

Another piece of memorabilia...
 

Picked this 1972 US Nationals program that list my car (1718) in it. So I know he competed in Super Stock D in both 1972 and 1973. I located a 1974 program but he is not listed. I have not yet located a 1971 program, so if anyone has one, I would be interested to know if he competed that year or not.

Jim...call me Sunday afternoon and I will look at my copies....I think I may have 1971 hopefully. Doug 614-203-1272

Great talking to you Doug, and thanks for checking your stash. I'm still looking for anyone with this program that can check it out for me.

Stopped in to check out the car this week. They finished up the painting of my NOS grill, it turned out great. They duplicated the body color overspray from an original grill that I supplied. There were a couple of spots they weren't happy with on the body o they did a little more wet-sanding/buffing to clean those up. Should be hanging the front sheetmetal this week. Played around with more of my original interior parts. Got the pillar post trim (closeup pic is before/after cleaning) and windlace cleaned up. Also cleaned and ironed my original water shields. One shield was ripped completely in half, so I glued that back together. Ironed the major creases out....far from perfect, but they're original and hidden. Finished repairing my trunk divider by gluing the hanger holes back together and glued up that big ripped section. Ironed most all the warpage flat. Same as door shields, not perfect, but original.:beers:

Really enjoying this thread and how you are trying to re-use as much of the original stuff as you can. The car looks great.

Few more from today....
 

One fender on and driver side glass back in. Non-spoiler trunk lid mounted - the last time this car was without a spoiler was the spring of 1970.

Looking great!!

You've got to be getting very excited about this.

I'm so excited I can hardly stand it Freddie! Here's the latest update from today...starting to look like a car now. final alignment needed, hood, bumpers/trim, font/back glass then in my hands to finish for Camaro Nationals in Maryland. Gonna be close!

looking great!!!:biggthumpup:

Just about as good as it gets Jim.. When you get finished I"ll have to make plans to come up to see it..

The paint is looking fantastic Jim. Can wait to see some additional pictures of it.

Sherm, I might need you to come up before it's done to help me get it together for the Camaro Nationals.:grin:

Since I'm going to be cutting it close I've been going through my parts to make sure I have everything ready to go once I get the car back home. Cleaned up my steering wheel horn shroud, radio knobs, parking brake components, etc. Again, some of these items aren't perfect, but they are original to the car.

Well, she's finally coming home
 

The shop has wrapped up the sheetmetal, trim and glass install and it's ready to come home:beers: Here are a couple of crappy pics the guy sent me, I'll post some better ones once I get it home this week. Now it's crunch time....I'll have about 7 days to install dash, interior, tail lights and a couple dozen other things before it gets loaded up for the trip to the Camaro Nationals.