A few weeks ago, when I was away vacating, I set myself to digest mode.
When I returned, I scanned the messages, and saw a few I should respond to,
but as usual, I never got a rount tuit! Now we're about to take off again
(to the Borrego Desert to watch the wildflowers pop up for their annual
display) and I've still not responded.
Just in case some poor soul is waiting to hear what I have to say on the
matters:
regarding Larry Mullican's 67 coupe, with its apparently factory installed
side marker lights.
His car has the correct (1968 style) side marker lights, properly marked and
set into the front fenders (not the bumper!) and into the rear quarters,
exactly as if it were
a factory installation. The wiring harness certainly appears to be factory
made, as the wires from the side marker lights are not spliced into the
harness, but rather are "Y"d off from the tail light circuit right at the
nearby taillight bulb sockets. The wiring splice is rubber encapsulated in
what is obviously a factory mold, and in fact looks precisely like the same
connection as on my 1968.
I am as puzzled by this as everyone else, all I can do is report what I saw,
and attest that I really tried to find something tacked on or mickey-moused,
but this car appears to have left the factory that way, with factory
fabricated harnesses, and apparently die cut holes. I'll leave further
conjecture to the pundits on
here. The car was built in January 1967, so it is not anywhere near the
year end.
Since no other cars with this feature have surfaced, I assume someone has
done this to the car, but he was certainly skillful!
Regarding Kerry's question about the progress of the body restoration on my
67 Crown 4 Dr, I have been collecting pictures of the process, and they are
posted on my web page, but I have not written any text to go with them, so I
haven't really kept up as I should have.
The bottom line is: the car was stipped to bare metal, sand blasted where
there was any sign of corrosion (under the vinyl top, where the glass is set
into the front and rear openings), new metal was welded in to those spots,
then the whole body was metal finished (without filler) where there were
dents and high spots. Then, the car was primed with epoxy primer (DP-40),
and final block sanding/rework is now in progress. The car has one coat of
final color (Black), which was used as a guide coat for final long block
sanding. Right now it is ageing down the primers and a second coat of
color, and we'll lay the final color on it in a few weeks. It looks
beautiful!
If anyone would like to see pictures of the process, let me know and I'll
send you the URLs for the pictures.
I've also gotten involved in removing the dash pad from my other 67 (the
convertible) in preparation for installing a very nice one I got from IML'r
Larry Mullican (thanks again, Larry, for that and all the other favors!).
In case anyone is contemplating this operation (and I use the word
advisedly!), let me know and I can probably save you a lot of trouble and
possible damage to your pad - there are 14 fasteners, about half of which
are almost impossible to see and release. It can be done, but it isn't
fun! I have a set of pictures of these fasteners and their locations on
the dash pad. These are also on my web page, but you'll need a list of URLs
to download them.
Now we're going to be away until the 15th, so don't expect any more from me
until then.
Dick Benjamin
Back to the Home of the Forward Look Network