Well the 87 Sunbird GT roller I bought for $230 this past summer, left for the scrap yard last weekend. The shell netted me enough money to pay for some new rear struts to go on my 95 Subaru Legacy wagon = about $100. I don't really know how much the shell brought since I was lucky enough to have the car taken to the scrap yard by my brother. I told him to take out money for expenses and then give the remainder to his buddy who was selling me the struts, doing the install and tossing in a used K&N air filter. I was emailed that I was square with both my brother and his buddy with the proceeds from the scrapped shell, so that was more than I had hoped for.
I was also fortunate to get the GT delivered in the first place for only $30, so I never had the hassle of picking up or hauling off the car.....I almost feel bad about being that clever! So my $230 parts car, just cost me $130. I also got about $10 in change out of it. I also sold off some parts which now has my cost down to about $95. For my $95, I got the GT hood, GT fender flares, GT muffler,rear spoiler, center console arm rest, extra GT front clip with good hide away headlights, as well as tail lights....plus tons of hardware and odds and ends. I really wanted the GT hood, fender flares, rear spoiler center arm rest console and GT muffler, so I think I got a great deal for the parts I kept and that scrapping this car was a worthwhile endeavor.
Off topic:
Now that I have completed the light deer damage to my girl friends Yaris, the insurance check has paid for my recently acquired body shop tools, like HVLP gun, Stud Lever and 3 body hammers. It also gave me some valuable painting lessons, some of which went well and others that I care not to repeat. This experience will help me with my current Subaru rust repair and paint work I am doing. Once that is cleared off my plate, I hope to be able to get back on track with my own 87 Sunbird convertible project. Last episode, the car was stripped of paint, almost ready for body work, the doors had been installed, but the drivers door was twisted out of shape and did not match the quarter panel when the door was closed.
A huge boost to this project is that my uncle's place of work, which he basically runs / manages, is available for me to use to paint my car on a winter weekend, so this option allows the car to be painted over two weekends, because of two toning, rather than moth balled and stuffed into the corner until the warmer spring weather returns. With that option, its back up to speed with visions of getting this project done and off my plate sooner, rather than later. I am feeling the burden of finishing the Sunbird because I really want to get back to working on and finishing my 26 Willys Overland touring car hot rod.
Hope all is going well for the forum membership. I noticed the posts are slowing down as the weather is cooling off.
Well seems your concluding on a larger part of the work to get it done.Yeah things have slowed a touch on here.I myself have been busy trying to wrap up some projects to begin working on my own car for a change.Since my car stays indoors it can wait until I finish my two small things left.Kinda tired long day as usual and keeping it short.
The reason I bought my first jbody was to enjoy the open air with the top down. The one I am currently am working on is for me to hone my body working and painting skills to my satisfaction so they are good enough to use on my 26 Willys Overland hot rod. I refer to my jbody cars as skill builders.
These are the picts that spike requested.
Here is the Overland as found on top of a trailer at spring Carlise about 4 years ago.
Cool sepia tone pict of me behind the wheel with my brother riding shotgun.
This pict is of my Dad and I just after we had gotten the car running and back from its first drive around the block.
The engine is a small block chevy 305. I built the tripower set up myself, as well as the linkage. The mojo is backed up by a turbo 200 overdrive tranny and followed by a 3.73 open rear.
The car sports a luggage rack and I have an all metal trunk to put on the luggage rack for storage.
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This picture shows the car all mocked up at it's first rat rod show. You can see the trunk on the back a bit. The top has yet to be cut down and covered. After this show, the car came home and was torn apart for rust repair and metal replacement. I had to replace and fabricate my own patch panels to replace the bottom 4" of the car and totally rebuild the rear seat riser from scratch. Fortunately the lines are simple and so I didn't need any special metal shaping tools, just a metal shear and sharp corner to make the bends on.
Here is the current state of the car...broken down for final paint, polish and interior. I stitched up the door panels myself. I practiced stitching up the seat covers, but they are a tough nut to crack. I need more practice, but first need to finish building the seats out of mini van seat foam which is shaped with a rotary sander for shaping.
I might be able to put the stitching skills to use on my Sunbird and stitch up a new custom interior for it someday because the interior is marginal and will not be as nice as the outside when painted. So that is the car I am eager to get to working on and the reason I have 3 skill builder jbody convertibles.
Very nice work, I've always loved rats, especially when they're done well and not over the top. Looking forward to following this build if you start a thread for it.
Very Nice.
I hope to have the time to do this stuff once my kids get out of college.
Pics please.
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