petelempert

Mine were overstuffed too. Without the fronts seat in, I learned a little trick: Grab the back edge of the seat with your right hand. Make sure you are lined up. Lodge your right foot against the depression in the floor just before the location for the front seat. Take your left hand and grab the front edge of the seat while pressing your left knee against the front edge of the seat. Lean into the seat, pressing your weight into it and shove it in. Your weight and pushing is actually slightly bending the seat frame, but it will spring back. You'll feel it sink into place enough, push down further locking it against the floor hooks, then let it ease back locking itself in place. It is an effective form of erotic automotive ballet. It's all in the shove. Be firm, but careful. I know you Adrian, you can do it. I also suggest two fingers of Blanton's just prior to help get you in the mood. PRL

I think you've got to take an appraiser's POV with a grain of salt. It's just his opinion. His advice on certain detail points might be helpful (like the sills and the upholstery) in terms of his ability to sell the car but really it's up to you to decide if you want to heed his particular advice. From there, it's just a matter of taste. Some people want the showroom stock look, others want something more resto mod. If your car is someplace in between, so what. I think you shouldn't lament any decisions you've made and not worry too much about what the appraiser says. I would only change something if you specifically think it will yield you more profit and it's an easy fix. Fine, buy some new rocker sill covers. If you want to sell your car, find somebody out there will love it as much as you did. If you don't get as much as you'd like, consider the value of the experience you had working on it and worry less about the money. PRL

It's hard to argue with a longer screw. Yep. PRL

I found a guy in Hemming's called Pete's Rod Shop. I sort of lucked into it. It's a small operation just outside Philly. I searched on line and called around a lot and most of the bigger shops where very expensive and had a long backlog. I am re-doing a 77 Pontiac Can Am now and it has lots of interior plastic parts that are chromed. Dash bezels, AC vents, interior light bezels etc. Once I talked to Pete, he won me over. He is a stand up guy and his work is excellent. His business is cars, but the plastic chroming service has really taken off for him. Highly recommended. PRL

It's pretty over the top...but I like it. I'm thinking Bill Mitchell would have liked it too. In his later years, he got pretty over the top in his design choices. He'd probably slide into this rig wearing a matching pantsuit and smile. PRL

Chrome it all. It looks bitchin. PRL

Seafoam-Just a little more history on my harmonic balancer event. Turns out the balancer was fine, it literally just came loose. To your point (and luckily) I'd only been driving it around town when it started acting odd. The nut was not correctly torqued and it worked loose. One new nut/washer, some Locktite and 220lbs later it was solved. Also luckily, the nose of the crank was fine. One the road, this might have been a much bigger problem. PRL

It's got to be some type of rigid early 60's ABS plastic. It's tough, has virtually no memory, can be brittle but responds to repair well. To fix a few holes in my console, I found "un-sell-abe"/free small chunks of plastic scattered on the floor from a parted out Riv at CTC Autoranch and used them. To repair I found the best way is: 1. Clean the damaged areas like crazy then abrade the surface for traction 2. Clamp in position to mend gaps/cracks. 3. Use fine grade fiberglass cloth/resin to patch from the reverse side. So, no real glue, rather I used the rising/fiber to bond the pieces. 4. In places (like the "ears" of the console) where there is missing material or lots of stress, reinforce with a thin piece of aluminum or galvanized tin. 5. Remove clamps and apply another layer of fiber/resin. 6. Use JB weld to fill cracks and gaps still visible on the outside facing surface then sand. 6. Surprisingly, I had better luck with conventional primers and paints versus the SEM products I thought would work. Not sure why, but the SEM took on a flat quality versus Rustoleum Satin which seems to match factory and is tough as hell. PRL

If you can stand the chrome bill, splurge to have all the interior trim (headliner trim, B pillars etc) chromed. There might be some reflective issues and it might not be exactly factory, but IMHO the look is stunning. PRL

That's the "well sorted part". I wouldn't drive any old car a long distance if it hadn't already proven itself. Half the "fully restored" cars I see overheat on the 5 mile ride to the weekend burger joint for the Saturday night cruise in. PRL

I agree with Grimy. If you know your car, have some skills and are prepared for the unexpected...you could probably drive a first or second gen Riv around the planet. These cars were meant for the highway and exceeded the performance/capability of most 60's cars back in the day. When I was a kid, we used to drive from Long Island up to my grandparents in upstate NY in the summer. My first ever memory of a Riviera was seeing a black 65 whoosh past our station wagon carrying about 85 mph on the Tappan Zee bridge. Minutes later I saw it parked at a Howard Johnson's roadside restaurant in Sloatsburg. Soon after, the same 65 hauled past us again at about 90mph. Again, I soon saw it parked at the Hojo's beside the highway at Newburgh. This went on all the way north practically to Montreal. They passed us about ten times. I'm sure that driver was stopping for a smoke and a double bubble at every Hojo's up I-87. Each time I saw that Riv, it was steamrolling down the road passing everything else without even breaking a sweat. The biggest thing holding cars back in the 60's was tires and poor mileage. With modern radials and a credit card for gas, I'm thinking a well sorted Riv could go anywhere. My 63 really likes 65-70mph on the highway and seems in it's element. What kills me is the rock chips. That and the morons driving a clapped out Kia at 95mph, while talking on their phone and cutting me off on their sprint to the vape shop. PRL

I think we'd need to know some additional details about your current brake set up to help with the fade problem. Is your system stock, modified, partially modified? In my experience, fade is usually brought on by heat from excessive use (race track conditions, pulling a trailer, extended downhill driving) rather than the "slow going" you refer to. I interpret "slow going" as traffic in hot weather which isn't ideal but shouldn't create enough heat to overtax/fade a healthy braking system. Give us some more details. PRL

Gives the car a Hot Wheels look. It's your car and you should do whatever you want. That's what's so cool about the hobby. Some guys like'm to look original others like customs. Either way, it's all good. PRL

Lake George in the summertime is heaven on earth. It's called the "Queen of the American Lakes" for a reason. That said, Lake George Village can be a little crowded and sort of honky tonk during the high season. Its all good clean fun though. If you go, make sure you do two things: 1. Take a ride on one of the Lake George Steamboats ( MinnieHaHa for a short ride, Mohican for a real tour of the 26 mile lake or Lac du San Sacrament in the evening) 2. Take a drive out of Lake George on the Beach Road and turn left and follow 9L. It's a scenic, very twisty road through wooded Adirondack country. Put your windows down and enjoy. PRL

Yep. Dry roasted. Even looks like coffee. PRL

KongaMan is right. It needs to be able to flex somewhat, especially where the middle section bends down to meet the speaker grill and directly behind the seats. The interior on my car was out when I rebuilt mine so I was able too test fit and resin coat it while sitting in the car. In my case, the corners were really damaged so I did a lot of fitting, adding and rebuilding. The original piece is really just cardboard so it does soak up resin or epoxy. I used a very fine grade (model grade) fiberglass cloth on the top and bottom. Finally, I experimented with the new vinyl covering. At first, I tried a thin layer (1/8") of foam between the rebuilt tray and the vinyl. It started to get lumpy in the hot Texas sun. I pulled it out and simply used contact cement to glue the vinyl directly to the tray and it's held up great. PRL

Good replicas are elusive, most are just plain crappy. I rebuilt mine, fiber-glassed it then covered it with vinyl. In the corners, I had to add cardboard to make up for material lost to water/sun damage and time. Pieces were coming off and it was crumbly overall. It took a while and I felt like I was building a surfboard, but it's really the best way. PRL

I think Vettes and Harley's have something in common. Lots of older guys buy one because they've always wanted one, they get one and don't use them much. It's a last grasp for virility before the walker is brought in. But, Vettes are hard to get in and out of and Harley's are tippy when you're old so they don't see much road time. Seems like half the gear heads I've met have one or the other sitting around their garage. If you want a babied C4 Vette or a Softail Classic with low miles you're in luck because there is one on every block. I don't doubt the high Vette survival rate. PRL

I removed and re-installed the skins on my 63 right after I got it back from paint. I was really apprehensive, worried about getting the panel alignment back but mostly chipping the paint. It came out fine, but it's a little spooky handling those skins with new paint. I put painters tape along the edges and craft paper on the doors until I got them roughly in place. Also using a small dab putty to hold the t studs in place during handling was very helpful. PRL

I'm guessing each car will vary depending upon the carb, choke set up, use of manifold heat/or not, factory air cleaner/or not etc. My 63 starts and idles high (full choke) particularly in winter and after about 60 seconds, I tip the throttle, dropping the idle and the light goes off almost simultaneously. I agree with others that it's probably better to creep around slowly for a few block to get everything warm. To satisfy your curiosity, you could get one of those cheap infra red thermometer guns from Harbor Freight, start you car, let it idle, aim it and read the temp directly off the motor. PRL

Try Novus plexi/plastic/glass cleaner with a moist cotton rag. It made a huge difference on mine. PRL

Schmiddy-That thing is art. Kudos to you. You are the MacGyver and the Michelangelo...yes both... of the Riviera world. PRL

You are right about the tires and AAA. Still, I feel a little naked without a jack, tire iron, two screwdrivers, duct tape and an adjustable wrench in the trunk. PRL

Small Harbor Fright bottle jack and a couple of wood blocks in a small bag tucked way up by the spare. Make sure to store the bottle jack upright to avoid fluid draining. PRL

That is a beautiful video and a beautiful car. It's a testament to all the things true enthusiasts value. You, me and a couple of thousand other guys love it. But, it has a very narrow appeal, limited target audience and virtually zero revenue opportunity. Most cable TV car shows are designed to appeal to a target audience that is much broader. They are literally built on a "broadcast" business revenue model. That business model relies upon sponsorship revenue from broad based consumer products like Mountain Dew and GEICO to offset production and media costs. Therefore the show has to appeal to millions. The result is a show with content that appeals equally to the teenager drinking Mountain Dew and the middle aged male head of household who buys GEICO insurance for his family. That's an audience of several million people. That pays the bills. The Packard video is art but art doesn't always pay for itself. Fast and Loud isn't very artful, but it is commerce. PRL