My 55 Special build thread

What the heck.....Progress is slow but it is always fun to show

these are how the car was purchased (Oct 2009)

Looked good - but there were surprizes of course

but it does/did run and kinda stop:

the roof had something large drop onto it (dunno what i purchased it as is)

my intent is to make a "driver" - thus ripped down the head liner (which was almost perfect) and banged out as much as possible

ditched those hub caps

por 15 the interior floors, roof, trunk etc

bagged and tagged and started dis-assembly

then got her NAKED! - lotsa chemical stripping then lotsa DA sanding then some sandblasting of pitted areas (behund stainless etc)

nastly / crude patch panel that was hidden behind trim (that will come off)

the family who spray's together.......

I got the '55 Epoxy Primered (still have body work to do) - wanted to coat the bare metal before winter )to avoid surface flash rust)

I listen to my iPod on shuffle when I work (about 18k songs in it) and just as i finished spraying, what came on?

I kid you not, Tom Waits "Ol' 55" - i said to Jonah listen to this ,,,,, he was as surprized as I was - It has been the car's theme song since we got it.......this is a good sign!

ambitious project. How did the roof come out? You actually inspired me to tackle the rear 1/4 on my 69 GS, and that came out okay.

roof is getting there - the rest will be fixed with some minor filling

A nice original looking car..................they look good in black :cool:

Looks familiar

PM Sent

A nice original looking car..................they look good in black :cool:

Looks familiar

PM Sent

Brian looked like you had a good looking driver - did it required a lot of work?

Mine was in good shape as well. The body was excellent with only the usual rust in the rear dog leg in front of the rear wheels. The paint was rubbish though so I had to take it back to metal like yours.

As with yours the original hoodlining is excellent with only one small mark....it'll be staying. the interior will get new carpet and some paint, the rest will stay untouched for the time being as it's in nice shape...............I suspect that plastic covers on the seats for years helped preserve them.

Interesting to see how many 55's seem to be featuring here in various stages of restoration......... go 55's :D

Brian: Your car looks like a ghost in that photo, without the headlights. Cool!

Re: roof...

OUCH!!!

Your car will look cool with the dogdish hubcaps you found. Think about Cherokee red wheels, that'd be really sharp, IMHO!

Re: roof...

OUCH!!!

Your car will look cool with the dogdish hubcaps you found. Think about Cherokee red wheels, that'd be really sharp, IMHO!

yep Dog Dishes are on the way as are trim rings

right now my plans are Red body , Gray Lower and roof

gray wheels (all non-metallic --- but plans can change)

as far as the roof goes I spent a day "massaging" so it is a lot closer