Been working long after hours to get this car ready for pace duty at the end of the month. It should make it.

The car is completely in primer with exception to the jambs. The entire car was stripped to bare metal, and worked from there. While pulling out the gas tank today, was pleasantly surprised to see the condition of the trunk floor on the underside. The incandescent light bulb casts a poorer image of what is here. Actually it is pretty nice and clean under here. Don't think it was ever out of the car, the black tar type seal/sound deadener had never been cracked open until this evening. Here's some photos...

caught one of the drop downs in this blurry photo

Top of the gas tank

Underside of tank, got it full of primer, and will clean it off before reinstalling..

Look how clean it is where the straps ride, think this was the original tank, or was it replaced 20-30 years ago? The straps appeared to never have been removed before.

Doesn't matter, just a tough one to figure out. There is a paper on the top of the tank, but no printing is decipherable. You can also see in the photo of the trunk floor where that paper had stuck to it also...

Steve,

Post pictures of the rest of the car!

Man you do fast work!

Oh Man.. I gotta own a car that looks like that underneath some day! That chassis doesn't need paint Steve.. It needs and all day scrubbing with mild detergent! What a score that car is!

Keep moving. your doing great!

Cleaned the area where the gas tank hangs up against, and sprayed it with a yellow wax rustproofing protectant. It will wipe off anytime in the future when I may choose to do the underside. Since this car will be pacing several sloppy clay track races this season, wouldn't have made much sense to do it now.

Here is what I used. Sprays on like thick nonstick PAM for cooking in a pan. Supposed to dry, but never get hard. Can easily be removed.

Here's some pictures of the car, and what is going on.

This was 3 weeks ago, the wife and I took it for a little spin that day.

Here is a shot of the trunk lid, it better shows why the car needed paint. Photos like the one above really lie....

Here is another photo that shows the bad paint, and surface defects. Straightened many of the surface defects like these simple dings with a pinpoint tip on an acetylene torch. You start at he outside edge of the ding, keep circling it while working to the middle, and when you get to the center, you twist the torch, and simulate the act of pulling up on the dent. Then you take a body file, knock off the top of the center, which you have over pulled, and surface the metal. Pretty easy, when your done, you seldom need any filler, and the need for thick primers is not necessary. Fixed lots of hail damaged cars back in the 70's using this process. PDR has replaced this process.

This is a photo of the same hood corner, you can see more bad paint. I not only mark and photograph all the panels before stripping the paint, but also take pictures with measurements. Tape them to the wall while working on each panel, just makes it easier to find all the surface problems the first time.

The tailight panel is about as nice as you could find. There is no rust or crust on the bottom edge on the far lower underside of the panel. After stripping, it was evident there never had been any surface rust on this panel, ever.

This is the car today, Sunday 4/5. It has been stripped, straightened out, repaired and primed. Have actually primed and blocked on it all week. The door is open so it doesn't bind from body flex. Wheels and tires are some rollers I put on Saturday so I could put it outside and clean this garage.

The car gets painted this week. Would really like to have it done and driving by April 22nd. It's hard because the only time I get to touch it is after closing, or on Suday afternoons. Might make the date, if not, the world won't end...

It's looking good Steve!