Today I... "Redux Edition"

[5th T/A]

After multiple delays I finally received the Lemans in Portugal.   The customs warehouse broke the exhaust moving it around by forklift as it would not start after sitting in a conex for 5 months...

Exhaust was mended and temp insurance finally procured, so driving it for a bit until it hits a phase in registration where I surrender the WA tags and wait for the PT units.   This car really causes a stir here:  most cars are silver, gray or black - not Lucy Blue.   So there is that.   And of course it looks like nothing else on the roads, which are pretty narrow - including the 25 de Abril bridge shown below:

Scarebird, I don't know how I missed your posts.

Congratulations on getting your car to you and mostly intact. The whole process would have made me very nervous. Don't know much about Portugal, but believe the climate is relatively mild and hopefully a great place to enjoy driving your Lemans Convertible. I know you have been an active TAC member for a long time, long before my days. Nice looking car, love the color. My Mom and an old girlfriend had 1968's, hardtops, so these have a certain sentimental attachment to me. Again, my ignorance not knowing the story on your car, but maybe you wouldn't mind sharing the some details on your car?

[scarebird]

Always a good day when bodywork is finished and shell is shoved into the paint booth.

The Lemans adventure in Portugal continues:  yesterday I drove it into Lisboa for the import inspection.  It passed - I did not receive any documents as to anything that needed to be fixed.    Evidently my agent knows the right guy.    Unfortunately the temp insurance expired and cannot be renewed.   It will not be legal to drive until I get plates - may be 2-4 months.

I did fill it up with 95 octane gas.  That ran about $120.   It calc'ed out to 17.5 mpg in town like driving.  Let us hope it does better on the highway...

[FormTA]

Oh man,  that has to feel great. I know how it is . Even before getting to this point, you keep going over and over it to make absolutely sure it's ready. At some point, you just have to pull the trigger and put it in the booth and go for it. From here it looks like it's ready! Hope it all goes well for you, problem free.

[72projectbird]

Things are happening:

[5th T/A]

Congratulations,

What a great point to be at. Looks stunning! Nice to see ground up restorations.

Love the color, four out of five of my Trans Am’s were white, you know where my mind is at.

[scarebird]

That is great to see!

[N PRGRES]

Looking good!!!!

[roadking77]

Beautiful. Next to Brewster Green, white looks the best on the early cars. That thing looks brand new inside and out!

[76455sd]

‘72: the car looks great.

Scarebird: I’ll bet that turns a lot of heads over there.

[scarebird]

...but maybe you wouldn't mind sharing the some details on your car?

No problem.  I had the car almost 30 years, bought it from a close friend,
It is a 400/400 car but went thru several engines/trans until happy with this one.
 It is a 2019 crate 5.3; alloy block, direct injection coupled with a Tremec TKX and 8,5" rear.  I used it as a test bed for products so it is not stock in brake and handling dept.

[5th T/A]

...but maybe you wouldn't mind sharing the some details on your car?

No problem.  I had the car almost 30 years, bought it from a close friend,
It is a 400/400 car but went thru several engines/trans until happy with this one.
 It is a 2019 crate 5.3; alloy block, direct injection coupled with a Tremec TKX and 8,5" rear.  I used it as a test bed for products so it is not stock in brake and handling dept.

From the photos your car looks pretty stock. You would never know about the modern drive train, suspension and brakes. Must be a thrill to drive!

When you mentioned 17.5 MPG, I thought that was pretty decent, after all we don’t drive these cars for their mileage! But at $120 for a fill up, I was kind of shocked. Do you have to run 95 octane? Are the ratings different in Portugal?

[72projectbird]

Subframe coming along nicely

[scarebird]

From the photos your car looks pretty stock. You would never know about the modern drive train, suspension and brakes. Must be a thrill to drive!

When you mentioned 17.5 MPG, I thought that was pretty decent, after all we don’t drive these cars for their mileage! But at $120 for a fill up, I was kind of shocked. Do you have to run 95 octane? Are the ratings different in Portugal?

To be honest I do not know about the octane if different.  It is a deep purple color, and they even sell 98 octane.  Car seems to like it.  It is not cheap,

72 Projectbird:  always enjoyed that time of the build.   

[5th T/A]

Subframe coming along nicely

The subframe assembly is a work of art!

[N PRGRES]

I love installing clean new parts

[72projectbird]

More painting. The firewall came out great. The rest of the sheet metal is painted up, and wet sanding is coming up. It will be cut and buffed until it's smooth as glass. I know some guys really like to replicate the original finish, which had a slight peel to it, but I can't bring myself to leave a single speck of peel lol

[79GoldnTan]

Man
That is beautifull.  Great job!

[roadking77]

Beautiful!  I am with you on the cut and buff. That job is tedious enough so you may as well make it right the first time around. And yes, just about every car that has been done is 'over restored'.

[72projectbird]

Thanks guys! I just figure if the car is gonna be taken this far, it might as well be good as possible. They were just mass produced vehicles on an assembly line in 1970, so making it look better than new is a good thing to me.

Hopefully it'll be on all fours in a week or so!

[5th T/A]

Thanks guys! I just figure if the car is gonna be taken this far, it might as well be good as possible. They were just mass produced vehicles on an assembly line in 1970, so making it look better than new is a good thing to me.

Hopefully it'll be on all fours in a week or so!

Projectbird, you must feel like you are on top the world about now.

Looks fantastic!

[72projectbird]

Projectbird, you must feel like you are on top the world about now.

Looks fantastic!

It's definitely a great feeling seeing this car now from where it started!

Just sent the original carb off to be rebuilt, including replating the original finish. Also sent the alternator out. Ordered the interior from Legendary, but I still need to choose who's redoing the dashboard.

[N PRGRES]

Where did you send the carb off to?

[roadking77]

I wish I had sent my carb out to be re-finished. The guy that built my motor did the rebuild. He has been rebuilding q jets for many years now. Says he can do it in his sleep, but he does not re-finish. The one in my 77 runs perfect and from the starts in the shop the silver car fires right up. I do wish it was nice and shiny though. Almost cannot be seen once the shaker is in so that is what im banking on, LOL.

[72projectbird]

Where did you send the carb off to?

Sent off to a guy in CT. First time I've used him, but I was checking out another 70 TA that's going through the same amount of restoration, and that's who he used and loves it. I can get the builders info for you if you'd like.

[N PRGRES]

Where did you send the carb off to?

Sent off to a guy in CT. First time I've used him, but I was checking out another 70 TA that's going through the same amount of restoration, and that's who he used and loves it. I can get the builders info for you if you'd like.

Please, I would appreciate that

[5th T/A]

Pretty quiet around here, is everyone taking a nap or on vacation?

I have a good friend who I have known since Freshman year in high school. He is a car guy too. Has owned a lot of muscle cars, Dodge Vipers and Trans Ams. We try to get together once a week for lunch. Weather was beautiful so we ate outdoors and saw this next door. Sign says Laundry, couldn't figure out why these cars were there?


IMG_5899 by Lawrence Alexander, on Flickr


Very nice Gen III T/A.
IMG_5900 by Lawrence Alexander, on Flickr

[FormTA]

I like all three of those. The TA, Z28 and the el comino!

Weird laundromat.

And yes, extremely dead around here. Someone needs to start back on their projects or start posting their progress.

[wheels78ta]

Guilty.....We've been working on outside home projects.  Once these projects are done then it's on to the Y88 body work.  I'll post the progress once I get started.

[72projectbird]

Please, I would appreciate that

Totally forgot to get the info for ya. It hasn't come back yet, so I figured I'd wait to see how it came out before recommending him. Should be back next week though, so I'll let ya know.

In other news, the car is back on all fours!

[5th T/A]

Please, I would appreciate that

In other news, the car is back on all fours!

Wow, congratulations on another milestone, it’s safe to say it didn’t look that nice when it was brand new. I see you have the coveted 12 bolt differential, I recall that was only available in 1970.

[FormTA]

Goyt my car out and went for a cruise. My son took out his 76 F100 too. He has put many miles on this truck which we yanked out of a barn where it sat for decades.  Same 302 with no major work.





These were from the other day.

[5th T/A]

Goyt my car out and went for a cruise. My son took out his 76 F100 too. He has put many miles on this truck which we yanked out of a barn where it sat for decades.  Same 302 with now major work.





These were from the other day.

Great pictures Luke! This brings back pleasant memories of the trucks we had at the transmission shop when I was 16 years old. Learned to drive stick on Ford and Chevy trucks. Both had three on the tree, manual steering and brakes. Never would have guessed these basic pickups would become so popular.

[b_hill_86]

Goyt my car out and went for a cruise. My son took out his 76 F100 too. He has put many miles on this truck which we yanked out of a barn where it sat for decades.  Same 302 with now major work.





These were from the other day.

Cool! Where’s the little service station at?

[tajoe]

Another "like" on the garage photo. But where's the gas prices?

[FormTA]

Brian- It's on 109 heading into Delta. I forgot it was even there. We were just out cruising my son's truck amd ran across it.

He is almost 16 and gets so many thumbs up driving it. This truck was a 3 on the tree but swapped to an auto when my uncle owned it back in the early 90s. (He had a bumb left leg from an accident).

It also had power steering swapped in (still really sketchy by today's standards) but still maintains the manual brakes. I wanted to swap in power brakes but my son insisted we keep the manual ones so we installed all new components. It stops great (for a 50 year old truck) but they are stiff. Many folks today would freak driving his truck. But we have always driven / road motor driven things. He handles the truck well and has logged 100s of miles in it. He drives it 2 hrs a day, every day it's nice out. If it's not nice out he dives his 1993 ranger 4 cy 5 speed.

He takes mom out or me every day (kid loves driving anything). He's costing me $$$$ in gas.

[N PRGRES]

Awesome work on the car!  Love the shop!

[b_hill_86]

Brian- It's on 109 heading into Delta. I forgot it was even there. We were just out cruising my son's truck amd ran across it.

He is almost 16 and gets so many thumbs up driving it. This truck was a 3 on the tree but swapped to an auto when my uncle owned it back in the early 90s. (He had a bumb left leg from an accident).

It also had power steering swapped in (still really sketchy by today's standards) but still maintains the manual brakes. I wanted to swap in power brakes but my son insisted we keep the manual ones so we installed all new components. It stops great (for a 50 year old truck) but they are stiff. Many folks today would freak driving his truck. But we have always driven / road motor driven things. He handles the truck well and has logged 100s of miles in it. He drives it 2 hrs a day, every day it's nice out. If it's not nice out he dives his 1993 ranger 4 cy 5 speed.

He takes mom out or me every day (kid loves driving anything). He's costing me $$$$ in gas.

Cool, thanks man! I’ll have to check it out. Also, your son is very lucky and it’s cool he enjoys old vehicles so much. Definitely quality time together I’m sure.

[N PRGRES]

Goyt my car out and went for a cruise. My son took out his 76 F100 too. He has put many miles on this truck which we yanked out of a barn where it sat for decades.  Same 302 with now major work.





These were from the other day.

Two very nice rides!

[roadking77]

Great pics Luke. You say he is almost 16? We cannot drive in MD until we are 16.

For you NE Ohio guys, my cable company (Armstrong) is HQ'd in Butler PA. They have a local access channel that shows quite a few car shows. I think they are all in the NE Ohio area. Next time I see one I will make a note of the locations and see if you guys know where they are.

[FormTA]

Ya, they get their temps at 15-1/2 so they can practice with a parent and take the driving classroom with instructors. Then they can take their test on their 16th birthday to get their real license.  Michigan, it all starts at 15 i believe.  When I was young it was 16 as well and we learned in school how to drive.