More Memories

I really enjoyed walking down memory lane in my last post sharing some memories of the initial work I did on the LeMans back in the mid-80s. Given that the initial post of this blog glosses over a lot in the interest of space, I figured I’d elaborate in some more posts. Another reason is I want to keep the blog going even though work on the car has stalled (more on that later). Let’s start at the beginning. In my first post I wrote:

When I was a child growing up in California during the late 60's and through the 70s, I would play in the front yard and watch the cars go past. Often I'd see a neighbor, Mr. Hayes, drive by in his convertible, and I would think what a nice looking car he had.

I also remember that the top was always down, and I could easily see the contrasting parchment interior against black exterior. I was struck by how shiny the black paint was except for a large patch on one rear quarter panel where the paint had lost is shine – like something had spilled on it. At this point, all the paint is in pretty rough shape, so I can’t tell which side the dull patch was on.

I’d like to share the cars my parents owned during my childhood. While I can’t remember anything of the first two cars I ever rode in, I’m sure they had an impact on my current car-craziness. The photo to the left is of my mom and dad getting ready to head out in his Triumph TR-3 shortly after they were married in Denver, CO. After my birth in the hospital in Frederick, MD in 1961, my dad drove my mom and I home in that TR-3. I doubt the top was down, but it was early April so it may have been (perhaps my first experience in top-down motoring). Soon after, he traded in the TR-3 for one of the first TR-4s imported into the US. When I was eighteen months old, I rode in the space behind the seats all the way from Maryland to California. There's a photo somewhere of my standing up on the driver's seat and smiling with both hands on the wheel. I need to get my dad to dig it up and send me a scan. My sister’s arrival a couple years later meant it was time for a family car, so the TR-4 was replaced by an early-60s VW Beetle. I don’t hold step down against her anymore.

At some point, before I was five, I do remember riding in the front seat of that Beetle when my mom rear-ended a ’64 Chevrolet (no, it wasn’t a Corvair – it was a Bel Air or Impala). I can still see in my mind’s eye the basically undamaged Chevy pulling away and turning left after the collision. I don’t remember what the front of the Beetle looked like after the incident, but I do know my dad had to come and got us in one of the county’s cars (he worked for the county health department), and that the gray Beetle was replaced with a newer, blue one soon after that event. Another poignant moment from the collision is my mom’s version of child restraint. This early-60s car did not have seat belts like most in that era (and before), and when my mom knew she couldn’t stop in time she flung her right arm out and held me back enough to keep my face from hitting dash board. I’m still impressed by the power of adrenaline.

Another memory of the gray Beetle is my dad building a platform in the back in place of the rear seats. This gave my sister and I a place to sleep when we went camping (which we did a lot) while my parent slept in a pup tent. The platform made a great play area where we could while away the hours as we made our yearly drives to visit relatives in other states or did our weekly summer trips up to the Sierra Nevada mountains for weekend fishing and camping (in that order).

While I don’t remember much else about the gray Beetle, I do recollect more about the blue one. It was a few years newer (I think it was a ’63) and my dad bought it used. The platform fit in place of the backseat just like it did in the gray car. The car had a cream-colored interior and my spot was always sitting behind my dad on the driver’s side of the backseat. I thought the strap hanging from the top of the b-pillar was neat, but to this day I don’t know what purpose it served other than having a small boy hang from it. I remember one night when I was seven or eight my dad opened the rear engine lid and explained how the last mechanic that replaced the spark plugs put one in too tight, and now it wouldn’t come out. It was time, he said, to start looking for a replacement.

Soon, the rest of the cars of my childhood.

I promised I'd talk about why there's been no progress on the LeMans. Well, family life has taken a huge chunk of my spartan spare time, and Mikhaila's Golf is still not road-ready.

Memories - I've Still Got Them

A few months back, while filming a segment on repairing a wire harness, I shared views of the notes I'd taken during the early years of working on the LeMans. These included what I bought, how much things cost, what I measured, as well as the successes and failures I experienced. The great thing was, while reading my notes, I was transported back to the mid-80s and our condo's carport. I could, in my minds eye, distinctly remember events just as I wrote them. Events like buying the car, getting my buddy, Steve, to help me push it down the street to my folks' house, getting the engine to first run for a few minutes before it seized up, borrowing a cherry picker from a neighbor and removing the engine for the first time, loading the bare block and crankshaft into my dad's VW bus and taking them to an machine shop for work. I remember using the lovely Loriann's sewing machine to sew a navy blue, tonneau cover for the salon of the car since the top was in shambles, and I remember the frustration of the day I spent trying to get the newly rebuilt engine to start, and how, after a phone call to a car buddy, I turned the distributor 180 degrees and immediately the engine fired up. I remember storing the heads and the manifolds in the rusty trunk and praying they didn't break though and damage the fuel tank, and I remember painting the empty engine bay. Something that didn't make the list, is my trip to an exhaust shop where I can still picture the craftsman creating exhaust pipes using a pipe bending machine and a card with lengths and angles on it. I'm not sure what I paid to have the two pipes made, but I bet it wasn't any more than $75. Try having that done for triple the price today - if you could even find a shop that had the cards.

Speaking of the cost of things, check out the prices I paid for some of the items. $43 for a title, registration, and plates. $27 for a good, used radiator. $107 to the machine shop for boiling the block, installing new cam bearing and freeze plugs (including the price of the parts), and turning the crank journals. Crazy!

I'm so thankful I still have those memories in my head, since no Instagram or YouTube existed back in the day.

Task	Date	Cost
Bought car, filled tires, removed driveshaft, checked battery, checked electrical	11/19/1984	$75
Got prices for water pump and battery (Grand Auto $13.83 + $5.00 core (pump) / Sears $38.08 (48 month batt.)	11/20/1984	$0
Attempted to straighten hood hinge with some success	11/26/1984	$0
Finally moved to home	12/08/1984	$20
Removed water pump hsg.	12/09/1984	$0
Removed seats, carpet, padding, and center console. Threw out carpets and pads.	12/12/1984	$0
Checked all spark plugs; put on other hood hinge; took pictures of car, engine, and interior; attempted to turn engine w/ starter (no luck); attempted to lower roof (no luck); radio works (sort of); removed battery plate.	12/23/1984	$0
Changed title	01/02/1985	$16
Re-removed hinge, raised front end onto blocks, took valve cover bolt.	01/14/1985	$0
Removed oil from pan, checked spark plugs (need new ones), checked rear brake liners, cleaned carb.	01/26/1985	$0
Cleaned under pan and suspension. Bought engine cleaner. Removed alternator.	02/09/1985	$3
Bought 8 spark plugs, timing kit, oil filter, carb cleaner, wire brush.	02/16/1985	$15
Removed air conditioning comp., power steering (moved), cleaned engine completely.	02/18/1985	$0
Replaced plugs, points, condenser, cleaned carburetor, adjusted points.	02/23/1985	$0
Changed oil filter, filled with oil, attempted to start.	03/02/1985	$0
Set points correctly, got spark to 4 right bank plugs, assumed other 4 ok too. Checked fuel line (no fuel in tank).	03/17/1985	$0
Replaced fuel filter. Got a gas cap for free (wrong size). Tested compression. All about 90 psi, suspect tester wrong. Found there was gas in lines & tank. Hooked up plugs. Turned engine with oil in cylinders. Started engine. Ran few seconds and I turned it off due to automatic trans. shooting out. Tested radiators. threw out one with hole. Remounted alternator and power steering units. Flushed out engine coolant system with garden hose. Quite dirty, but ran clean after a while.	05/25/1985	$5.05
Connected transmission fluid cooling lines to radiator. Flushed coolant lines in engine again. Started again. Took a while and a lot of B12 (starting spray), but finally ran. Made a lot of grinding noises, but I figured it's now or never. Smoothed out after 10 seconds. I turned it off soon after that and found that transmission fluid was leaking at the splined driveshaft connection. I jacked up the rear, bolted up the shaft, removed, filled, remounted the two rear wheels (one was completely flat). Lowered back onto cinder blocks. Will start again after I get some gas or quick-start.	06/03/1985	$0
Loriann bought belts & water pump	07/17/1985	$30.88
Attempted to install, no bolts, need 5/16 fine X 1 1/2 L (7). 1 nut same thread, 1 3/8 course bolt.	07/27/1985	$0
Loriann bought bolts and nut. I bought gasket sealer. Bolts wrong size. Should have been course thread	07/30/1985	$4
Installed water pump with fine bolts. Made new threads. Holds well. No problem. Taped roof. Bought ATF, bolts for pulley wheels (5/16 fine X 1" L), quick start, and funnel. Put on pulley. None of the fans fit. May need to move power steering pump because it might be in the wrong spot. Fan says FORD on it. Must check w/ twin by work.	08/12/1985	$102.97
Returned core of water pump. Went to Milpitas Auto Dismantler and found a '65 LeMans coupe in perfect condition. Bought a side view mirror and two window rollups. Went to Tex's Auto Wrecker and bought a fan, extension, and 4 bolts. Put the fan and mirror on. Hooked up hoses and belt to alternator and steering pump.	08/17/1985	$15
Filled up radiator and watched it leak. Also found leaks in heater core and timing chain cover. Removed the radiator. Removed the alternator and power steering ump to make timing chain cover more easily accessible.	08/18/1985	$0
Bought gasket set.	08/19/1985	$13.85
Removed alternator bracket and filled up with water again. Assumed that leak was in timing chain cover gasket. Took out front seats and swept out interior.	08/21/1985	$0
Rented electric impact wrench, hub puller, and socket.	08/23/1985	$16
Removed everything for timing chain cover; (see page 1165-1166), found holes in cover; will replace, $25 at Tex's Auto Wrecking	08/24/1985	$0
Cleaned half of rear seat. Looked great.	08/26/1985	$0
Old timing chain cover stolen. Don't have a match to use at Tex. Need to find a cover on the engine to assure the right match.	09/13/1985	$0
Went with Dad to wrecking yards. He had called and found that a wrecking yard at the end of Mowry had some 326 cu. in. engines. We went and found two. A '64 Tempest & a '65 Tempests. Pulled the cover off the '64 along with a hose off the '65.	09/13/1985	$21
Installed timing chain cover and fuel pump. Before I did this I investigated removing the oil pan to investigate brg wear. Impossible.	09/13/1985	$0
Bought Sear's DieHard Battery. Old battery tested, "no good."	10/13/1985	$59
Removed heater core and bought mat'l. for cover.	10/20/1985	$6
Bought MAP gas, solder, flux, and spare key. Attempted to patch heater core, no luck. Will try again.	11/02/1985	$10
Bought more solder. Worked on cover. Bought grommets.	11/16/1985	$2
Finished cover. Disconnected power top cylinder rods. Dropped 7/8 socket into car. Must remove cylinder. Put cover on - looks good. Needs hooks for center of dash. Bought battery cable ends.	12/08/1985	$1.5
Bought used radiator. Bought caps for water pump and block to bypass heater core. Bought radiator hose (1 3/4" dia X 1 1/2" dia. X 22" long). Bought coolant flush and anti-rust. Discovered that auto-trans. lines' fittings are too small on new radiator. Cried. Remounted the following: alternator, power steering pump, a-c condenser. Put on battery cable. Put on caps. Removed socket.	12/28/1985	$39.3
Bought 5/16" dia SAE inverted flare to 5/16 hose fittings, 4 clamps, and 3/8 dia fuel hose. Sawed off a-t lines. Connected all up including radiator hoses. Will fill up in daylight tomorrow.	01/03/1986	$5.5
Filled radiator after attempting to flush the engine. Hooked up fan and fan belt. Started and ran engine. Made noise like nut grinding in pan. Stopped after a while at bottom rpm. Need to time tomorrow and adjust valves.	01/04/1986	$0
Started up again. Ran for a couple of minutes with intermittent clanking. A couple of times, the engine slowed. At the end, the engine just froze up. Wiped out brgs? Will ask for suggestions as to what to do next.	01/05/1986	$0
Rebuild costs (check Car Craft mag.) Kragen: $38.99 set bearings, main, $40.00 gaskets, $30.00 rings.	01/05/1986	$0
If rebuild is necessary, the following steps shall be followed. 1) Remove carb. 2) Disconnect lines, linkages, etc. and follow instructions on pg. 1162. Removed intake manifold and heads first, if possible.	01/05/1986	$0
Drained oil, will save, removed converter cover, removed starter, loosened some oil pan bolts. Found how to lift engine and remove mount bolts.	01/08/1986	$0
Removed a starter bracket, 17 oil pan bolts, jacked up engine as far as it would go, broke pan loose, can't remove unless engine is removed, too much in the way. Next step is to remove a head to see the condition of the cylinders. This will tell me whether I'll need to replace the pistons. bolted the oil pan with 4 bolts, put 13 in a coffee can w/ all the starter & converter cover fasteners & hardware. Disconnected one exhaust pipe. Found I need to borrow Rob's torque wrench, maybe next weekend.	01/12/1986	$0
Removed timing chain cover.	01/19/1986	$0
Took out seats and rear arm rests. Wire brushed loose rust from back 2/3 of salon. Bought rusty metal primer & brush. Applied.	02/08/1985	$5.28
Bought (2) 20 gauge pieces of sheet metal 24" X 24" to put into rear floor pan. Borrowed Rivet Gun from Jerry Smerecky.	02/28/1986	$15
Wire brushed front half of salon and underside of holes. Swept out. Bought caulking.	03/01/1986	$1.69
Painted w/ rusty metal primer the front half of salon. Repacked front wheel brgs.	03/02/1986	$0
Removed Emergency Brake to de-rust. Put seats back in.	03/03/1986	$0
Borrowed electric sheet metal cutter from Steve Downs. Cut some holes in the floorboard. Bought distributor wrenches.	03/04/1986	$2
Bought black paint, a brush, and paint thinner. Cut out one patch and shaped it.	03/08/1986	$6.97
Cut and shaped the second patch. Primed and painted the bottom of the patches. Painted the area in the car where the patches go.	03/09/1986	$0
Riveted the patches in.	03/12/1986	$0
Painted the floorpan flat black. Put hooks in the car cover. Works better.	03/16/1986	$0.89
Returned sheet metal cutter and riveter. Borrowed valve spring compressor from Al Schafner. He made offer of use of valve lapper. Removed carburetor, intake manifold, valve covers, rocker arms and valve lifters.	03/17/1986	$0
Removed 10 head bolts on P-side. Removed P-side head. Step on cylinder and cylinder bore look good.	3//19/86	$0
Removed D-side head.	03/23/1986	$0
Borrowed ID mic. from Paul in 2-1. Dimensions as follows:	03/27/1986	$0
3.7231 / 3.7230 / 3.7230 / 3.7212_() front of engine	03/27/1986	$0
3.7230 / 3.7240 / 3.7230 / 3.7220 () front of engine	03/27/1986	$0
3.7230 / 3.7240 / 3.7180 / 3.7190 remeasured	03/27/1986	$0
Called dealer and found that bore should be 3.717, therefore oversize from .004 to .007. Good news. Talked to the Eugene Yu about borrowing his cherry picker. He says no problem. Took off the #8 valves. Broke the retainers. Need to price replacement.	03/28/1986	$0
Took off clamps for P-side exhaust and tailpipes. Found that Midas welded the muffler on. Removed the drive shaft. Drained the A/T. Some metal flakes. Disconnected the A/T linkage, speedo (see bracket), some wire , mount (2 bolts). Got cherry picker. Removed hood. Lifted engine and removed oil pan and splash pan. Put engine back in, while losing the rubber mount for the A/T. Put in box. Punctured oil filter accidentally. Replaced hood.	03/29/1986	$0
Removed all pistons and rods. Rod brg #5 had spun. Small step, must measure OD of crank and ID of rod, might be able to get away with just going to an oversize brg. Removed the rest of the valves on the P-side head. Seals and locks replaceable. Fond '66 Tempest Shop Manual at Mtn. View Library. Checked out.	03/31/1986	$0
Removed all valves from heads. Bought oil.	04/01/1986	$6.6
Thoroughly cleaned heads.	04/07/1986	$0
Thorough cleaned valves, springs, etc.	04/08/1986	$0
Lapped the following. Bought paint and oil filter.	04/09/1986	$6.29
Intake 1 3 5 7	04/09/1986	$0
Upper dia .34 .34 .34 .34	04/09/1986	$0
Lower dia .34 .34 .34 .34	04/09/1986	$0
Exhaust	04/09/1986	$0
Upper dia .337 .34 .34 .34	04/09/1986	$0
Lower dia .334 .341 .34 .34	04/09/1986	$0
Intake 2 4 6 8	04/10/1986	$0
Upper dia. .34	04/10/1986	$0
Lower dia. .34	04/10/1986	$0
Lapper broke!	04/10/1986	$0
Bought the right paints. 2 cans and a smaller wire brush. Bob's Auto Parts. Lapper broke again.	04/11/1986	$9.62
Lapped last valves. Loosened main bearing caps. Took off distributor and timing set. Bought valve seals.	04/12/1986	$4
Cleaned oil pan and intake manifold.	04/13/1986	$0
Removed engine. Separated tranny from engine. Removed crank.	04/19/1986	$0
Rented ridge reamer and glaze breaker and used. Removed main bearings and camshaft valvetrain.	04/21/1986	$10
Brought block and crank to Calaveras Auto Supply for work. Loriann bought me 3 of the correct hubcaps to complete the set.	04/22/1986	$25
Picked up block and crank. Crank ground .010 under on both mains and rods. Paid for block boiled, new freeze plugs, new cam bearings. Finished cleaning oil pan and timing chain cover. Bought engine cleaner.	04/26/1986	$110.4
Cleaned and painted heads. Painted oil pan, block, timing set cover, water pump, and intake manifold. Ended up being wrong color. Used anyway.	04/27/1986	$0
Bought timing chain and degreaser.	04/28/2008	$12
Bought the following: Gaskets, Bearings, Rings, Oil filter, and black paint	04/29/1986	$94.29
Cleaned A/T, oil pump, lifter cover, valve covers. Assembled heads. Cleaned engine compartment and some accessories on firewall.	05/06/1986	$0
Painted valve covers, lifter cover.	05/07/1986	$0
cleaned excess bolts. Installed lifters and camshaft and timing chain cover stud.	05/08/1986	$0
Received bearings, gaskets, and rings and cleaned and painted engine compartment.	05/20/1986	$0
Installed pistons, crankshaft, rod & main bearings, timing chain, and fuel pump eccentric. Had to rent ring compressor and buy gasket sealer	05/24/1986	$8.89
Installed oil filter adapter, oil pump (after putting it together), oil splash pan, oil pan, timing chain cover, dampener, weights.	05/26/1986	$0
Disassembled, cleaned, reassembled all the hydraulic lifters. Bought solvent.	06/08/1986	$3.5
Connected flex plate. Cleaned some heater and A/C stuff.	06/09/1986	$0
Put on motor mounts. ????? Assembled tranny. Drained converter. Installed motor with rented cherry picker. Installed drive shaft. Things went well excpet for reversed ????	06/10/1986	$23.5
Installed heads, lifting rods, rocker arms. Not fun fighting with the heads.	06/12/1986	$0
Installed coil, distributor, and lifter covers.	06/14/1986	$0
Installed intake manifold, fuel pump.	06/15/1986	$0
Cleaned and painted minor bolt-on pieces. Bought Naval Jelly and 4 qts A/T fluid and 3 cans engine cleaner. Wire brushed air cleaner and a valve cover. Painted valve cover. Installed Power Steering Pump and Alternator. Hooked up some wires (including battery wires to block and solenoid). Need to tighten nuts on solenoid. Bolted down carb., along with carb. accessories. Attached vacuum line for A/T.	06/29/1986	$13
Installed bracket for alternator. Installed small vacuum hoses. Need to replace the 1 hose (air from manifold). Cleaned the broken A/T fluid cooler line.	06/30/1986	$0
Connected up stuff	07/04/1986	$0
Connected up stuff	07/06/1986	$0
Finished everything except for Air Cleaner. Bought gasket (AT) and paint. Not enough amps to start.	07/12/1986	$6
Finished air cleaner. Removed starter. Suspect burnt out brushes in motor. Discovered broken brake line.	07/19/1986	$0
Removed rusted exhaust pipe with hacksaw. Removed broken brake line.	07/27/1986	$0
Bought new starter	07/28/1986	$30
Installed new starter. Got engine to turn over but there was no gas in tank.	08/12/1986	$0
Went to junkyard (ABLE). Bought brake line, battery tray, and hood hings. Installed hing. Bought gas. Started engine. Ran after turning distributor (thanks Rob Notman)! Installed brake line. Bought brake fluid, hose, air cleaner element.	08/16/1986	$27
Bled brake lines. Cleaned and installed emergency brake. Cleaned under carriage. Determined that two bias ply tires are needed. Checked seat, need spring to keep from sliding.	08/17/1986	$0
Adjusted timing and idle speed	08/19/1986	$0
Bought paint. Painted shroud and radiator holder.	08/20/1986	$6
Registered car. Brushed and painted battery tray. Painted shroud. Fixed driver's seat. Noticed tranny shifting problem. Cleaned wheel cover.	08/29/1986	$26
Bought A/T fluid and cover bolts. Drove car up ramps. Removed existing exhaust system. Put on torque converter cover. Have to fix leak. Cleaned trunk.	8/34/86	$8
Installed heater fan. Bought paint for trunk and wheel covers.	09/01/1986	$8
Installed heater ducting.	09/02/1986	$0
Bought oil pressure switch and thermostat	09/04/1986	$6
Installed oil pressure switch and crossed fingers.	09/06/1986	$0
Fit up exhaust system. Need to enlarge muffler pipes. Bought flange.	09/13/1986	$4
Enlarged muffler pipes. Bought clamps. Fit up and installed passenger side.	09/15/1986	$6
Fit up and installed driver's side. Drove to gas station. Noticed tranny slip between gears. Must adjust belts later.	09/16/1986	$0
Filled up A/T. Put gaskets on exhaust. Adjusted speed, timing, and fuel mixture. Bought primer for trunk.	09/20/1986	$9.09
Bought hood ornament, trunk mat, light bulb, flasher, tire hold down from junkyard. Loriann bought shocks.	09/27/1986	$28
Took out exhaust gasket on D-side. Switched all radials to back. Installed shocks.	09/28/1986	$0
Adjusted timing to 6 degrees BTDC and idle speed to 500 RPM in Drive.	10/04/1986	$0
Installed A/C compressor. Installed thermostat.	10/20/1986	$0
Found 2 radial tires in trash	11/10/1986	$0
Installed new tires on front	11/14/1986	$8
Bought thermostat hsg. (used)	02/12/1987	$1
Installed thermostat hsg. with new gasket.	02/20/1987	$0.85
Installed remote sideview mirror that I bought in CA.	05/08/1990	$10
Began disassembly of body. PF1 (Passenger Front #1): Screws to bottom of PF3 and pushes up into back of bumper. PF2: Clips to PF3 (3 up) and to bumper support that runs front to back and pushes up and in. NOTE that front turn marker wire goes thru hole in front firewall.	09/19/1990	$0

Would Mine be the Only LeMans with Tartan?

With all this time NOT working on the LeMans, my mind is free to wander. Where did it go today? The Land of Tartan. The train of thought actually started, strangely enough, with thoughts of my next project – a track-worthy Corvair. Back in the day, Corvairs were referred to as the poor man’s Porsche, so why not incorporate some Porsche details into my modern day recreation of a period race car. Here are some interiors from Porsche. Then it hit me. Why not put some tartan in the LeMans’ interior?

Let me digress here and inform you, gentle reader, that I’ve tried my hand at trimming (the fancy way of saying upholstering). In fact, I bought a heavy-duty sewing machine. I’ve successfully sewn seat covers replacing rotted panels before. With YouTube’s help, I’m confident I could put together some acceptable seat covers for the LeMans.

As I wrote a few months back, I can’t find replacement front bench seat covers in parchment Morrokide. Making my own seat covers means I can go back to my front bench seat plan, which really has been my hope for many years. Coincidentally, during last weekend’s extraction of the LeMans from the garage, I finally decided to get rid of the front bench seat frame I’d been trying to get rid of, so now it’s lying out in the rain. Now, I may AGAIN decide to keep it. Argh!

The good thing about going with bench seats is that they do not require the expense of seat buns. Instead, you use some inexpensive padding between the springs and the upholstery. Also, it’s easier to hog-ring bench seat covers than it is buckets. Bucket seats require inboard hog-ringing to follow the contour of the bun and bolsters – been there, not fun.

So, I’ve got the sewing machine and a good source for the padding; all I need is material. To best go with the Pomegranate paint color and the parchment vinyl, I will be consulting with my artistic wife. I’m leaning towards this black, gray, and red plaid that was found on the first gen VW GTIs or one of the other Tartans I found online with the same colors. It’s still available by-the-yard from a number of online sources. Since stock parchment Morrokide (vinyl) is still the other material, SMS is THE source that’ll sell it to me by-the-yard. In searching their website FAQs, I found they’ll even be able to tell me how much I’ll need. I’ll be using some cheap vinyl and cloth to verify my patterns and sharpen my sewing skills. I’ll wait until Joanne’s has a sale.



Then there’s the question of the frames. The rear bottom and back are in good, solid shape, but the front sections need some help. I can buy some more zig-zag wires online and weld up any of the frame pieces that have rotted away. Then a good coat of Rusty Metal Primer followed by a top coat of whatever Rustoleum is lying around will be all that’s needed to get another fifty years of seating service out of the frames.

With the tartan inserts in the seats, I also want to do something with the door cards. Here’s a stock LeMans panel with an insert of tartan. I haven’t found the instructional that’ll teach me how to integrate cloth into a complete panel, but I’m sure that someone somewhere has created and posted a video or a how-to.

It’s a Process

As I announced in my 3-3-18 post, I’ve decided to bump up the priority of Mikhaila’s Corvair (named Scarlett) so that she can have it to drive sooner (within a few months) rather than later (within a few years). I should state here that, for the first time, one of my children has more cars than I do. In addition to the aforementioned Corvair convertible, Mikhaila also has her daily-driver MX-3 and the Golf GTI we’re working to put on the road. Speaking of the latter, this past weekend she and I got the new clutch installed, the transmission put back into place, and everything reinstalled and hooked back up. Yay team. We did all this in very close confines (see above layout). Once I confirm the clutch take-up is where it should be, I’ll drop it off the jackstands and drive it out of the garage. That’ll allow us to move to the next task, replacing the heater core. For that, though, I’ll drive the LeMans out of the garage and put the GTI in its place. There’s no way I can strip out the interior and dash in its current confines – it’ll take the entire garage.



During the, hopefully, short time the LeMans is outside, it’ll be under a tarp with most of the loose parts pieces piled in a corner of the garage.

Once the GTI has its heat restored, it’ll leave the garage and Scarlett will take its place. When Mikhaila’s not available, I’ll be working on finishing LeMans’ body and interior parts. Could be a busy Spring – I sure hope so.

Interior Color Scheme

To while away the hours until the GTI clutch job is done and I can get back to work on the LeMans (and write some blogs and post some videos), I’m trying to come up with things to write about.

To preface this post, I'll state that the body paint color current leading the race is Wild Pomegranate Metallic. Now on to the post.

Serendipitously, while on YouTube this morning, one of the recommended videos was of a beautiful ’65 LeMans convertible – red with a black top and white interior (is that black over red over white?). As I watched the show, I was struck by how nice the interior looked with the red body paint extended into the interior onto the doors and the bottom half of the dash. As I reminder, here’s what the factory intended for a white interior like mine has (photo taken off the web - not mine). Comparing this to the interior of the YouTube car, I like the bling.

versus

Some Here’s some more '65 interiors to feast your eyes upon. Nice stuff, eh?



Something else else that popped up on YouTube was a set of short videos of a low-mileage (68,000) '65 4-door with the original cloth interior. One thing I'd never noticed before was the Grand Prix style concave rear window that came on the 4-doors. So much of this car is so very cool.

Here's the link to the tour of the car's exterior.

Here's the link to the tour of the car's interior.

Here's the link to more of the car's interior, as well as driving.

Grandma’s Car

The second of the big-body Pontiacs that I’ve owned was a ’66 Catalina four-door hardtop. While living in Lynchburg, VA back in 1998, I was driving by an auto repair shop and, parked in their side lot, was a big, beige Pontiac with exactly the same front and rear ends as my Catalina convertible. There I was, thinking about replacing the rusty ‘vert with another big-body Pontiac. Here was a replacement basically in my backyard. I knocked on the door of the shop, and the proprietor answered. I got right to the point and asked him if the car was for sale. He replied that it was, and that he needed to get $750 for it. Coincidentally, that was exactly what I’d bought the convertible for, and was now what I was selling it for. The seller went on to tell me he’d been this car's mechanic for many years, as the previous owner was a local widow. He added that, once her husband had died, she rarely drove the car, hence the 85,000 original miles. I took the car out for a test drive and everything worked, although the engine was a little sluggish. A thorough body and frame inspection (I wasn't going to buy another flexible, rust-bucket) showed the body and chassis to be very solid. Figuring the stars had aligned, I told him I’d be back with cash the next afternoon.

At this time, I owned way too many vehicles. In addition to the Catalina and LeMans convertibles, I also had a daily-driver Mazda with a couple hundred thousand miles on it. With cars stacked up at the end of the driveway, there was a moratorium on adding any more vehicles to the stable. Being the optimist I was (and still am), I figured I'd be able to quickly sell either the Mazda or the rusty 'vert, so I went against better judgement and parked (read: hid) my new purchase at a friend’s house. Unfortunately, about a week later my friend needed the yard space for a new project of his own, so, tail between my legs, I fessed up to my lovely wife who was not happy about the situation. I told her that I was selling two cars since the 4-door would become my year-round daily-driver, but that didn’t really cool her down. I did sell both cars within a couple months, but Loriann was never a fan of the 4-door.


After registering the car, the next thing I did was buy a carburetor rebuild kit and deal with the 2-barrel Rochester. With the car running better, but still not good enough, I spent some of the money I got from selling the Mazda on a full tune-up kit. Then the engine was idling smoothly and pulling strongly.

About a year after getting the car, I was driving home from somewhere close by (fortunately) and pulling up to a stop sign, when the front end jerked accompanied with a bang. I got out of the car and discovered the right front wheel was now angled in severely at the top. I limped the car home where further investigation showed a broken (missing) upper control arm bushing. Kanter supplied the parts for the front-end rebuild which my buddy, Bill, and I did on the street in front of my house. Thank goodness I didn’t live in a neighborhood with a homeowner’s association.

I also fixed the clock. This was my first experience with an old car clock. I carefully disassembled it, figuring out how it all worked. Then I cleaned and oiled the pertinent parts, and put it all back together. Lo and behold, after grounding the housing and putting twelve volts to the lead, the electromagnet did its thing winding the spring, and the second hand started its rotation.

The car came with the fender skirts in the trunk – one of them rather mangled from some incident. After some beating and banging, I was able to get it to go on and stay on. To me that really completed the long, low look Pontiac designers intended for the car.

Some other features of this car I really liked included its size, the engine torque, the delicate shifter and blinker lever, and the color. I wouldn't have thought I'd like a boring light brown car, but when Pontiac's Mission Beige was cleaned and polished, I was a fan of tan.

A couple years after getting the car, I accepted a transfer to Long Island, NY. The company was paying to move our household goods, but I couldn’t get them to foot the bill for moving the convertibles. By that time, we’d traded our MPV for a Suburban, so I rented a trailer from U-Haul. The big Cat’ was such a wide-body, that when I tried to drive it up onto the trailer, its wheels overhung on each side. I ended up driving it the nearly five hundred miles to our new home. No issues, thankfully. Sadly, my commute to work from our home in Port Jefferson was much longer than it had been in Lynchburg, so I made the hard decision to trade it for something far more frugal – a ’63 Chevy Corvair (a story for another blog).

The Catalina Convertible

Since work on the LeMans is at a standstill until the GTI clutch is replaced (kit arrives Wednesday), I thought I’d share the story of the Catalina convertible I owned back in the nineties.

At some point in early ‘97, as I looked out my kitchen window and gazed upon a Pontiac convertible (the LeMans) under a blue tarp and parked at the end of my driveway, I got it in my head that I needed another Pontiac convertible; a running, driving one that I could enjoy immediately, rather than one that was still many, many hours of effort from being roadworthy.

Twenty-one years have passed since I made the decision to bring a second Pontiac into the stable, so the details of how I discovered that someone in Arlington, VA was selling a 1966 Catalina droptop are blurry. I don’t believe it was Craigslist, even though the internet says CL was around then. How I was able to peruse the classifieds of the Washington Post is unknown, but I think that’s where I found it. I had a nice phone call with the seller, where he swore the car ran well and the power top worked, but there were some rust issues. After a conversation with the lovely, and supportive, Loriann and another phone call to the seller, and we were set for a mid-day Saturday meet-up.

After I loaded a jack, jackstand, and some cardboard to facilitate the upcoming inspection, we made the three hour drive up from Lynchburg, where we found the car parked on a residential street. The seller came out and I pored over the car inside and out. Yes, there was definitely some Bondo behind the maroon paint, but it seemed to be holding. The floors were intact, albeit with crude patches. The frame did have some rust through, however, but I quickly convinced myself it wasn’t terminal. The seller joined me on the test-drive where he shared how he didn’t have a place to keep the car, and, while he loved driving it, he wanted to move it on to someone who could take better care of it. During the drive the car ran fine - decent acceleration, smooth idling, and everything important worked as he’d promised. One event occurred during the drive that should’ve have warned me off the purchase – while driving over some railroad tracks I felt some flexing in the body. Not enough to cause a door to pop open, but certainly significantly more than normal. Since the test drive was made with the top down, spring was right around the corner, and the price was only $750, I was sold and bought the car.


The drive back home went off without a hitch, and, after transferring the title and getting antique tags, I had myself a wonderful daily-driver. My commute was less than six miles a day, so the ten miles to the gallon the car was giving me wasn’t a big deal. Sliding behind the wheel on the big bench seat, turning the key to fire up the 389 V8, and pressing a switch to drop the top is a wonderful way to start one’s daily drive.

There were many features of that car I loved beyond the droptop including the bench seat (room for our family of six), the slim, delicate shifter, the torquey engine, and the color scheme. I still remember family outings to the local ice cream parlor and being thankful for the easy-cleaning Morrokide upholstery.

A few weeks after I got the car, I visited a local body shop to get an estimate on patching the frame. The guy took a quick look at the underside, and told he wouldn’t touch the job. In fact he recommended I not drive the car. Something about, “one good bump and it’s going to break in two.” Well, I’d already put the car over far more than one good bump, so I didn’t heed his warning and kept driving the car. I did, however, make plans for replacing the frame. I’d found a wrecking yard down in North Carolina that specialized in older cars, and a phone call confirmed they had a ’66 Catalina convertible chassis he’d sell me for a couple hundred dollars. I rented a tow dolly, and my car-buddy, Bill, and I spent a Saturday fetching it. That adventure will be a blog post in itself someday.

The next step in re-framing the car was to look at what it would take to pull the body off the current, swiss-cheesed frame. I put the car up on jackstands and went looking for the body bolts. What I found instead was a whole lot of fiberglass. The forward portion of the trunk wasn’t metal anymore – it was now fiberglass. Much of the metal under the back seat was gone – it was now fiberglass. I was now afraid the body wouldn’t hold together if I tried taking it off what was left of the chassis. The whole “breaking in two” thing was a real risk.

So, what was I to do now? Keep driving the car every day of course. I enjoyed it for a second driving season before another ’66 Catalina – a low-mileage, only-drove-it-on-Sundays, our-door hardtop – joined the stable (a story for another blog post). At that point, I had to get rid of some cars, and, sadly, the flexible car as well as my previous daily-driver, an ’84 Mazd with well over two hundred thousand miles, had to go. If memory serves me I put the convertible up for sale on “Smoke Signals” (the Pontiac-Oakland Club’s monthly magazine). I listed it for $750 and threw in the replacement chassis for free. A couple months later, I got a phone call from a guy in Nashville, TN. I was very up front with him regarding the condition of the car, but all he seemed to care about was whether it would make the five hundred mile drive back to his home. I told him that, mechanically, the car was very reliable. That convinced him to buy a one-way plane ticket, and make plans for the next weekend when I picked him at the local airport, drove him to my house, accepted his pile of fifties, gave him the keys and the signed title, and watched as he drove the car heading east. I never heard from him again, so I guess everything worked out.

He did not want the chassis, so I changed my Smoke Signals’ ad to sell just the chassis for $100. No takers. After a couple months, I called the wrecking yard where I’d purchased it, and asked if he’d take it back and give me some credit towards other parts. He told me he wasn’t in the business of taking back parts, but he understood my situation and grudgingly agreed to give me one hundred dollars credit.

The following Saturday was cloudy and cold, but Bill and loaded the front of the chassis on a tow-dolly, Hitched it up to the family mini-van and drug it back to North Carolina. Once we arrive and unloaded the chassis, we went hunting for LeMans parts – specifically a bench seat and a steering column with the shifter. We found the former in a ’64 Tempest and the latter in a ’67 Skylark. Those and couple other little items were loaded into the MPV, and Bill and I drove back to Lynchburg.

Now I’m trying to get rid of the bench seat and steering column since I’ve made the decision to keep the LeMans as it came from the factory (bucket seats and console shift) rather than turn it into a six-passenger vehicle.

In my next post I’ll share the story of the aforementioned 4-door.