My Wife's 1968 Wildcat convt

My wife has always been very fond (even before she met me!) of the 65-68 Wildcat convertibles, and was sort of on a "someday it would be nice" wish list.

This is off topic, but our usual car is a 1956 Roadmaster 2 door that we have driven extensively, and yes, she drives it too!

I have been restoring a 1941 McLaughlin Buick Roadmaster coupe, for about the last ten years or so, and it always seems to go slower than I'd like. I do all my own work, body and mechanical. Life seems to get in the way to often, though the car is nearly finished.

The Wildcat had been owned by a good friend of mine since the early or mid eighties, and was going to be a project car for him, which never happened.

He recently bought a nice, original seventies LeSabre,so the Wildcat had to go! I knew that the car was for sale, but really wasn't interested in pursuing it, as I wanted to get my '41 done, but one day my wife was over at his place dropping off some stuff to him, for me, and when she came home, said "It's too bad you're not done the '41" "Why" I innocently asked "Then we could buy the Wildcat that .... has for sale".

Yes, I said, I do want to finish my '41, besides there's the storage issue!

All was well for a few weeks, when I met my friend at a car meet, and as we were chatting, he casually asked if I knew anyone who might be interested in the car, as I really have to get rid of it soon. So I foolishly said, actually, my wife would be interested. His yes kind of lit up, and said, well I'm home next weekend, if you want to see it.

So, we did, and it was a complete car, but needed quite a bit of TLC, and was a bit of a mongrel too. The 430 had been replaced with a '70 455, the front seat was wrong, from a '69, I think, and the back seats, though they fit in place, were wrong too.

Top was bad, and had been fixed with duct tape, and it hadn't run in over 20 yrs. My buddy did drive the car for a summer or two, but it broke down one day with whole family on board, was towed home, and was never repaired.

So, we bought it! Who wouldn't! Sane people, I guess.

It was originally sold here in Toronto, and as I said about my '41, its' a Canadian car, with all the rust to prove it! Much of the floor damage was due to water leakage from the bad top. The car was originally triple white, white interior, paint, and top, but had been repainted twice. The first repaint was to dark blue, an proper '68 colour, and well done, the second, to red, and was a poor job, as some parts were pealing badly, displaying nice,glossy paint underneath. All of this done before my buddy bought it.

Once we got the car home, I set to figuring out if we had a good beast, or a bad one. The engine was key. I did baby steps with it, pulled the plugs and oiled the cylinders, lifted the rocker covers oiled the valve train, and tried to get as much oil as I could down to the cam. Left it a couple of days, and then put a wrench on the front pulley, and it moved without undue trouble. Then I tried the starter, and it cranked well, checked for compression, and it had about 130 lbs., on the ones I tried. Low, but good for an engine that hadn't run for long. I also installed an oil pressure guage, as these models only had lights,and I wanted to make sure that it had oil pressure.

Anyway, an oil change next, then it built oil pressure while cranking, but the fuel pump was bad, so a new one was installed, and it ran! Not well though, the carb needed a rebuild, plus the general tune up stuff, and now it is a sweet running 455!

End of Part 1, next for the body work!

I have some pictures, but haven't figured out how to post them, hopefully I will soon!

Interesting history on that Wildcat Keith. Anxious to see the pics.

Well, here's my first try at putting some pictures of the Wildcat for your viewing.

Keith.

Cool. Needs some work like you said but it's a nice car! Watching for updates.

Once you get her done she will be a looker - they have fantastic style - it will be a lot of work though.

You mentioned a sweet running 455 - unless the engine has been changed, it would be a sweet running 430.

It is indeed a 455, according to the engine number it is from a '70 Riv. The poor girl is a bit of a mongrel, with the wrong engine, and the wrong seats.

The 455 we're keeping, but we found a '68 Wildcat parts car, and have got the seats out of it, and will be re-upholstered with correct material.

The goal is to make it a nice driver, we're not trying to make it show quality, though I want it to look good when done.

Actually, I think that the car looks better in the pictures than it does in real life, though it is coming along.

I'll try to post some of the results of the more recent work later in the weekend.

Keith

Well, as part and parcel of assessing the engine, I checked out the body and frame. As it turns out, the rear section of both frame rails were rusty, and the floor had been patched in several places and was going again in the same places. The good thing was that the doors still fit fairly well, so at least the body hadn't shifted or bent.

It had been repaired very poorly,with sheet metal, screws and then tar to seal it all up. The passenger side was the worst, with the floor not even having the right pitch, and it turned out that the the issue was mainly with the way the patch itself was made.

These "repairs" all seem to date from about the time it was last painted, perhaps 1980 or so, but I'm really only guessing, though I know it was prior to 1984, as that's when my friend bought it.

So out it came, and new steel was made to size and shape, and mig'd in. Ditto with about four more spots, all in the corners of the passenger compartment.

The centre brace was bad on outside section, near the rockers on each side, so the necessary metal was again cut out, new pieces made, and mig welded in.

The "Best" part, was the left quarter panel. The body filler was really thick, about 1" in spots, and had a large crack through it. As it turned out the quarter had been rusted, hit, new steel brazed in, but the old wasn't cut out, just pushed in and the new pieces brazed over top, and all the sins covered up with a can or two of filler.

The other odd thing was that it was nearly impossible to get the tire off on that side, and due to all of this, the fender sheet metal was over an inch further inward than it should of been, so due to the tight clearances this extra loss, plus over fat tires, made it just too close.

We really needed a quarter panel, but we could not find anyone who makes them for the larger bodied Wildcats. If this was a Skylark there are a number of places to get replacement panels. After some searching we found a yard in Montana that had a quarter panel for a '68 Wildcat, but the cost was high, about $950., plus shipping, which was going to be several hundred dollars more to get to us in Toronto, Canada. Just too much money for the budget. So I cut out the bad stuff, and made up a make-shift press out of hardwood, created a patch then fitted the new piece in. Not ideal, but I was able to make it work.

Naturally the inner fender needed work too!

All this is way easier and faster to write than to do!

I'll post a few pictures later.

Keith

:)I really love it as we all get in to the sheet metal replacement issues. I used to be afraid of it myself...........til' I cut out the first piece and welded in my first panel. Then the next didn't look so bad, so I cut out the third..... Now kinda feels second nature and nothin' really skeers me! Lookin' nice. Keep up the good work and updates! Matt:)

Keith, I must have missed the pictures?

Had some issues with the computer that the pictures are on, hopefully I can post them tomorrow.

Keith

Looking forward to it!

Cheers

Grant

Here's a few of the passenger side floor, and the quarter panel, after stripping, and during the repair.

Keith

Go to it Keith. Looks like quite the project. The floor looks nice and solid now.

John, these always seem to more of a project than one thinks, (or hopes) they might be when you take it on.

Part of the reason I got into this was for my wife's sake, she really loves these cars, and wanted to bring this sick pussy cat home. She has supported me in all of this car stuff I've done for the last 25 years, from helping to work on the cars, plus helping me with club board work from time to time. Over the past 20 years or so, I've been on the boards of 3 different clubs, and president of the McLaughlin Buick Club of Canada for 10 years, and she never has complained!

So doing this car for her (though I do like it too) is giving her a big THANK YOU to Glenda!

Keith

Hooray for the wives... especially Glenda. Make sure to get her picture behind the wheel, after fixing the floorboards...

One time Linda went with my son Doug and I to one of our area's big monthly cruise in's. We took the 56 and Doug drove the GS over. We made the mistake of parking on the asphalt and were quickly overwhelmed with the heat of the day, asphalt and the several hundred hot rods all over. I don't think we were there 15 minutes and Linda felt like she was gonna get sick so she said Doug and I could stay but she was going home. Since she can't see over the 56's steering wheel she said she was taking the GS, the one without power brakes.

That was at least 7 years ago and she has never driven either one since.

Well folks, time for a bit of an update on the Wildcat. I'm planning on moving it into the heated garage for the winter, and hopefully I can get a lot of the body work done. I really haven't done much on the car for a year and half or so. Though in the meantime a guy I know that runs an upholstery shop was quite slow last winter, so I got the seats done very reasonably, as he just wanted some work to keep the staff going, so we have nice seats to sit on, now for the rest of the the car.

I'm now in the process of fixing the brakes, as they are non exisitent, and to get it from the storage shed to the garage, I have to drive it down the driveway, out on to the street to turn it around then back up and into the heated garage, so the brakes are required! I'm semi retired now and hope that I can make quicker progress on '68 than I did the '41.

The goal is to get moved on the weekend, and I'll try to post some pictures of the operation.

Keith

We've been waiting on this one too. Glad to see it's moving forward. I am stuck and unable to do any car improvements after all the $$$ I spent this year. So I gotta just watch you forum members... Good Luck my friend!

Thanks, John. What it needs for the time being is quite a lot of labour on it, so that's I'm getting into now. We'll see how this goes, but it would be cool to have it on the road sooner rather than later. After the body work is done, then will it will need decent money to make it move forward.

Its' a good thing that I'm not in the fortune telling business, as every prediction I made about when the '41 would be done was wrong!

It will take as long as it needs to have it done.

I wish it was like those car shows on TV, they rip a car apart and put it back together in a week or so, but I'm in Real Life!

Keith

In getting ready to be able to move the car around, I did the brakes, they were in terrible shape. The lines were bad, plus all the wheel cylinders, master cylinder, though the front drums have been machined once, they are still usable.

Here's a few pictures of the left front with them ready for the drum to go back on, and then the drum wire brushed up on the outside.

Lo and behold, the car has brakes again, even the emergency!

Keith

Well, late Sunday, I got it moved into the heated garage, and here's a couple of quick pics my daughter took of me. I wanted my wife to drive it, but she was down with the flu and didn't want to come outside. As you can see the poor baby needs some TLC.

Keith

So here's a question for you folks that know more about these cars than I. I've posted a picture of a spot that looks like something was attached to the inside of the left front fender, just behind the headlight, with a single medium green wire and connector that went to it. Now it does have a windshield bottle mounted on the inner fender, that looks to be correct, so I don't think that's what would of been there, unless there was a different type used. You can see white paint, and that was the car's original colour. It has been a cameleon, first the factory white, on white, on white, then a dark metallic blue, then the red you see it in now.

Keith

Looks like the spot where the 4 note horn (2 additional horns) were installed.

All right, thank you very much!

Keith

Just a bit of an update on the Wildcat.

I have been working away on the trunk area of the car. Some areas that I thought were going to be salvageable, aren't, so just means some extra labour on my part. So now most of the trunk floor, along with the supports that are under it, and the 4 rear most body mounts are now welded in. I need to spend some quality time with the sander and grinder to smooth out the welds, but that area it is now solid, but there is still work to do.

Speaking of labour, since I cannot find any replacement body panels for this car, I'm making every thing I need by hand from sheet steel.

One of the trickier bits is going to be a seam that was originally spot welded and then filled with the seam sealer that GM used at the time. This is completely covered up on the outside by the taillight assemblies. This seam is nearly shot from one side to the other. It didn't look bad at all, till I took a poke at it with a screwdriver, and it went right through with out effort.

That will teach me to go around poking with a screwdriver!

I will post some pictures in a day or two.

Keith

I'm always slow at giving updates on the progress, and there has been some. These are some of the pictures that I promised were coming in a day or two, a month ago!

As you can see, the rear section of the floor as it is now, all welded solid, and a shot looking back at where the tailight assembly mounts. I have cut part of it out, and you can see how the seam is rusted on the left.

On the kitchen floor (the wife was out) I have the the old piece that I cut out with the new blank sheet I'm going to use to make up a replacement. I should of done a side by side of the replacement, but forgot till I was about to put it on, so that's it I'm holding inside the trunk. A bad picture, and its' not wonky like it looks in the photo as well. Plus one from the outside where the small extension piece goes onto the end of the fender. You can see how it is rusted out on the lower part where the taillight mounts.

Keith

You are an artist Keith! The wheel well area looks like it is tighter than original. I remember dealing with one of my 1969 Electra's in that area and I concluded that the wheel well looked like it was only tack welded in and then the rest of the seam was sealed with the caulk like seam sealer.

Thanks, John. Your description seems to quite accurately describe what I found too in the original construction. I guess it was fine when the vehicles were new, but when they got old and started to rust, I think that it just made it worse, as the "sealer" helped to trap moisture in the seams.

Keith

 I will be getting back to this car in another couple of months, once my new distraction (the '69 Electra) is safely put away for the winter, and I get the house stuff caught up. This also was the promise that I made to her before I bought the Electra.

 One bit of progress that I did not mention happened back in the Spring, on the car. When I got it out of the garage, I tried to put the top back up, and low and behold, it closed properly! Previously it had not been able to close completely, to the tune of 3-4 in., due to the sag caused by the bad body mounts. I had done quite a bit of work trying to push the body back into the correct position, and had measured, and checked, but as the old expression goes, the proof is in the pudding! So progress has been made.

 Keith

 Well folks, its' finally time to get back to work on the Wildcat, here is a picture of it, with my wife (the owner) peaking out of the passenger side. This is the juggle around we need to do to get it into the heated garage, so that I can try to make some more progress on it this winter.

 You can see the red paint peeling off and the shiny blue paint underneath, though the car was originally white.

 Keith

So, what color will it be when you're finished?, Red, White, or Blue, or something else?

 The car has been a bit of a chameleon, but we are going to paint in a medium metallic blue, kind of a turquoise blue. It is an original colour, from the '68 chart, but I cannot remember the name of the colour, you have perhaps seen it on other cars. GM used it, or a tweaked version on other brands and models in the line.

 It should look nice with the white seats and white top.

 Keith

 Its' been a while since my last update, but work has been progressing on the car, albeit, slowly.

 I have been taking the most of the front clip off. Many of the bolts have been really tough to get off without breaking them and damaging the parts, so I went slowly with lots of penetrating oil but I was having a lot of trouble getting right side off, and then I discover that the bottom of the right front outer fender was brazed on to the rest of the body shell! So more cutting was needed.

This fender was replaced at some point in the past, but generally was in much better condition than its mate on the left. I had a partial right front fender from an Electra that a friend and I parted out last fall, and was able to to make a good one for the Wildcat out of the two.

 The right side had already been patched in the lower area back of the wheel well, years ago, and that section has of course rusted out again, and the bracing which is behind the outer skin is quite bad too. The inner fender was rather rusty too, but I have a better one from the parts car, but I haven't any substitute for the outer left front yet.

 So yesterday I took these parts to a man who will sandblast them and then spray them with epoxy primer.

 Keith

 Here are a few pictures of my latest progress. The right front fender, both inner fenders, and a couple of other pieces at the sandblaster's place. They will be cleaned and then epoxy primed. You can see that I have done some work on the right fender, kinda made a good one out of two. Still looking for a decent left front!

 Plus a couple of the front end with most of the clip off. It certainly can do with a detailing.

 Keith

Good to see your progress Keith!

I also see the snow. Are you going to get the warm temps we are this weekend! Might be nice enough to drag her outside and do some power washing on that open front end?

Wish I was closer and could offer a days help......

But will be in my garage Sunday too with the door open (waiting for the next little dumping).

 Thanks, Doug. Yes indeed, we will be getting rid of the white stuff for a short while at least. Right now the car is solidly on stands, as I'm doing some suspension work on it as while the front clip is off, so I won't be taking it outside for now, but if gets as warm they promise us, I will likely have the garage door open too.

 Keith

 So I have another question for you guys that know these cars better than I. Will the doors from an Electra fit the Wildcat? I believe that they will, but I need to be sure before I buy one.

 Thanks!

 Keith

 Also, I decided to put this in another post, as its' sad news, but my Mother in Law passed away this morning. She had a heart attack, and then died a short while later in hospital.

 She was 93, would of been 94 next weekend, and lived in her own house till this morning.

 Keith

Keith, you have my sincerest and deepest sympathies.

Wish both you and your wife well.

Just like Doug,  Linda and I send our condolences as well.  May she rest in peace!

 Thanks guys.

 Keith