1974 Monte Carlo Landau 454 Sky Roof

[hetman]

Greetings, friends! After a long wait, it's here: my 1974 Landau sport coupe with the rarest of options - the factory electric sunroof known as a Sky Roof (option code CA1). Nearly equally rare is a factory installed big block, the mighty Mark IV 454 c.i. Chevrolet powerhouse, option code LS4. The vehicle, with only 123,000 original miles, also is equipped with a TH 400 transmission (M40) Four Season air conditioning (C60), cloth swiveling Strato Bucket seats (AN7), center console (D55), electric remote trunk opener (A90), front and rear bumper guards (V30) and impact strips (VE5), side body moldings (B84), auxiliary lighting group (ZJ7), front and rear mats (B37), sport mirrors (D35), deluxe seat belts (AK1), Comfortilt steering wheel (N33) and the original 8-track stereo cassette player (UM1) with an extra rear speaker (U80). I suspect there are other options as well, such as heavy duty radiator and battery, etc, but I haven't confirmed that yet. And I can't wait to ascertain whether this Monte is equipped with the G80 and/or YD1 options, those being posi-traction and towing package (which automatically adds the F40 heavy duty suspension) with a 3.42:1 gear ratio. The medium red metallic paint (code 74) is all original, but 25 years ago the second owner, upon purchasing the car, removed the maroon vinyl Landau half top due to weathering, and he repainted the area underneath, which has faded since and is visible in the pictures. The interior of the car is nearly perfect, with the only defect being a single crack down the center of the dashboard. Amazingly, after nearly 35 years of service in the north (purchased new in Montana, and stayed in Montana and Idaho for the remainder of its life), it has very little rust, one spot appearing in front of the right rear wheel well. Other than that and some surface rust on the frame, rear axle, and some other parts of the underside, it has no rust to speak of. That was a real relief to see that, since you never know about northern cars. But this one is nearly rust-free, and in amazing original condition.

I got the call last Monday that the car was to arrive in port last Wednesday, and be available for pickup on Monday. Unfortunately Friday I found out due to a mess up at the shipping company, the bill of lading was missing, but early Monday morning that was fixed, clearing me make arrangements again to pick it up, and this time it would be Thursday. This time I decided to rent a flatbed truck with a driver for the 600 mile round trip. So yesterday morning before 2 am, we left Warsaw and arrived at 7:30, giving us enough time to eat breakfast before the offices opened at 8. I payed the handling company for unloading the vehicle, then proceeded to the port where another intermediary dealt with the customs clearance procedure. Since I am now an old client of theirs, they fortunately decided to get this usually tedious and lengthy task out of the way quickly, and indeed finished that by 10:30. I was really surprised to have it done by that time. So then we headed to the customs lot to pick up the car. Since I had a flatbed, I didn't bring too many tools with me, but I did have a fresh battery (side post from the yellow 73 that arrived two months ago), which came in handy because the other one didn't have enough juice. Another problem was that some jackass had revved the engine so high that the fan belt had been thrown off and partially chewed up...just like with the white 73!! That made me mad, but didn't bother me too much since the car was going on a flatbed. But I didn't have the tools to even put it back on. I poured some gas in the carb and it started up and ran till that gas ran out. I guess the tank was empty! So we went and bought some gas, came back, put it in and tried to restart it. It wouldn't run for any length of time, and I noticed the venturies were closed. I didn't figure it out till later that the cause was something to do with the thermostat in the heat stack in the air filter housing. I guess that's the cause, anyhow, since finally at home my father in law held the butterfly valves open and the car started right away and continued to run....beautifully!!! It ran so smoothly I was shocked, and revved extremely quickly and easily. Since the engine had been rebuilt 25,000 miles ago in 1989, I realized that this smoothness of operation was certainly due to great care taken in the rebuild, including balancing and blueprinting by a professional. The previous owner had told me about that, but I wasn't prepared for how wonderful this engine runs.

Anyway, back to the story. We pulled the Monte up on the flatbed with a winch, and I could tell how that Mercedes Sprinter was struggling because its max carrying capacity was 2 metric tons, and the Monte weighs somewhere in the neighborhood of 1.9 to 2 metric tons. But we got it on, secured, and hit the road by noon. We arrived in Warsaw at 7 pm, which is the fastest I've ever made this trip. All in all, it was a great success, though I got a good case of heartburn before long day was over. I guess part of the reason for that was that I feel better behind the wheel and doing everything myself, so driving my own car up there with another driver and returning with two cars is more comfortable and fun. Certainly the 18 hour trip in the uncomfortable seat of the flatbed, plus the driver smoking the whole time, didn't make it any easier for me. But when the day was done, the car was delivered safe and sound to its final destination and I got home at a decent hour. Not to mention I ended up with a fantastic example of a car I've been dreaming of having ever since my first Monte (also with a factory electric sunroof) was stolen in 1994.

For all you history buffs, here's the trim tag info:

ST 74 1AH57 R 210048 BDY
TR 744 AN7 74H PNT
05E 010500

VIN: 1AH57Y4R475439

Without further ado, here are the pics (Imageshack is a bit weird lately, so you might have to click twice to get the larger versions):

[hetman]

Here's a video I did when I went out to my car on December 7th:
s238.photobucket.com/albums/ff196/yogreasygramma/videos/?action=view¤t=20081207045.flv

It sounds pretty nice. If you listen closely, you can hear the church bells ringing in the distance (it was noon on Sunday).

[x]

Dec 24, 2008 6:18:38 GMT -5 hetman said:

If you listen closely, you can hear the church bells ringing in the distance (it was noon on Sunday).

Love the sound of church bells!!!!





Cort | 35swm | "Mr Monte Carlo"."Mr Road Trip" | pig valve.pacemaker ...RT 66 drive = Sept '09
WRMNshowcase.legos.HO.models.MCs.RTs.CHD = www.chevyasylum.com/cort
"Yuletide carols being sung by a choir" ... Nat King Cole ... 'The Christmas Song'

[87 Monte LS]

Nice Monte, big block, rare option car!!!!!!! gota love that !!!!

[hetman]

To me, the big block is just the icing on the cake. I think the electric sunroof is much rarer, don't you think? But to have both in one car is really winning the lottery, at least to me. Especially since my first Monte had one and I have so many fond memories of that car with the sunroof. For example, cruising back in college at night with a girl sitting on the roof with her legs down inside the car. Or cruising through lonely Illinois back roads late at night with college buddies, listening to the steady burble of the souped up engine through dual exhausts. The sunroof gives a unique way to listen to this symphony. Or just cruising around with the roof open looking up at the sky (sometimes at the traffic airplanes....), or having to close the sunroof to coax a few more MPH out of the car due to the aerodynamic drag caused by it being open, or being able to drive through a downpour with the roof open because the rain would simply be carried over the car and not inside it. I love sunroofs, and the one in a Monte is very well designed. But I do wonder how many 454s were produced in each year of the Montes' production, and especially, how many were produced with the sky roof. Anybody know these numbers?

[twomanymontes]

Now this isn't fair! How come you have all the cool cars over there? And I can't find any here!

Nice rides Mike! Maybe we'll change your screen name to ToomanyMontes! LOL!

[hetman]

Dec 26, 2008 20:57:56 GMT -5 twomanymontes said:

Now this isn't fair! How come you have all the cool cars over there? And I can't find any here!

Last I heard your wife said YOU had too many Montes... ;D Besides, I begrudgingly had to buy this car after you refused to answer the ad I posted for it...

[twomanymontes]

I didn't refuse! I was not allowed to purchase said vehicle as my significant other made plans for my castraition if I bring another car home! LOL!

[x]

Dec 24, 2008 19:29:17 GMT -5 hetman said:

For example, cruising back in college at night with a girl sitting on the roof with her legs down inside the car.

Hmmm....somehow, I doubt I'd be able to concentrate on driving..........

Dec 27, 2008 15:45:59 GMT -5 twomanymontes said:

I was not allowed to purchase said vehicle as my significant other made plans for my castraition if I bring another car home! LOL!

See ... I don't have that problem.....he he heh.



Cort | 35swm | "Mr Monte Carlo"."Mr Road Trip" | pig valve.pacemaker ...Chitown #2 = 07/25/09
WRMNshowcase.legos.HO.models.MCs.RTs.CHD = www.chevyasylum.com/cort
"Can we see beyond the scars?" ... Chris Daughtry ... 'What About Now?'

[hetman]

Dec 31, 2008 0:52:09 GMT -5 x said:

Dec 24, 2008 19:29:17 GMT -5 hetman said:

For example, cruising back in college at night with a girl sitting on the roof with her legs down inside the car.

Hmmm....somehow, I doubt I'd be able to concentrate on driving..........

Nobody said it was easy! That was a hard night...

[hetman]

I took the car to the customs office on Friday to get it to finish the clearing process, and since it's between holidays and weekend, there wasn't much traffic there, so I was able to finish the process by noon or so. The weather has been in the teens here, and snowing. This time the flatbed was up to the task, being larger. Here are a few pictures. Also, I just had to do a doughnut in the parking lot....I don't suppose this is proof the car has posi, huh?!

[hetman]

The final clearing of customs I just did is only one of about 15 steps before the car will be registered. Since this is an antique car and historical car (legal differences exist in Poland) and I want it to have antique (yellow like in the white car) plates, I have to go through a pretty tedious process, and importing anything from outside Poland is more difficult, and even more so if it comes from outside the EU. Since I wanted to take advantage of the tax advantages of having it yellow plated (only one comprehensive inspection for the life of the car instead of every year, the ability to have liability insurance only when I want to have it on the road, as opposed to the requirement to have liability on every car you own regardless if it's not in use, plus upon importation, only paying 7% value added tax (sales tax) on the value of the car and shipping instead of 22% plus import duties), I had to jump through more hoops. Here's what has to be done:

1) Buy a car. In order to avoid being hassled, save proof of payment (bank statement, etc) and even copy of the ad. Customs officials will do everything to give you trouble to either fine you for non-compliance, or find some part of the law that you violated or allow them to interpret the law the way they choose, in the end costing you more money.

2) Have the seller take pictures and send them to you. Develop these pictures.

3) Go visit an automotive "expert", who has a license to make a statement concerning your car. You need a description of the car and declaration that the car has historical value. This is a preliminary appraisal. If you want it done cheaper, or quicker, or at all (!), provide the expert with your own statement to which he will add something. This is what I did, and you can find what I wrote in the thread of my white 73 S.

4) Take the expert's preliminary appraisal (after waiting a few days for it to be done) to the city's conservator of historical objects. You want his preliminary declaration that the car might have historical value, which you will use at the customs office at the port to allow your car to be released preliminarily upon presentation to the customs office in your city within 7 days. This conservator's declaration also takes a few days to get. So you have to visit this office twice for this act.

5) Pick up your car at the port. Pay docking fees/unloading fees, then pay an agency to fill out the documents necessary to get initial customs release of your car. Pay initial customs duties. Any adjustments will be made upon final customs clearance. In order to qualify for the lower VAT payment, you must have the conservator's declaration of historical value of your car, otherwise you will pay full customs duties and wait many months or even a year to be reimbursed after you present proof you car has historical value.

6) Tow your car to you home. Or drive it if you buy temporary insurance for it, though this is viewed as a shady area legally, since in fact the car isn't registered to you yet, so you won't be legally in the clear even if you have liability insurance if the police want to give you trouble.

7) Within 7 days, try to jump through the other legal hoops in order to present your car for final customs clearance. The first one is a visit to the legal expert who gave you his preliminary opinion. He will look at the car, see if it's the same one (VIN check, etc) and in fact original (car needs to be 90% original in order to qualify for this historical category and get yellow plates). Fortunately most don't know the difference between a 350 and a 454, and in most cases, will cut you some slack here. Then you have to wait a couple days for him to get this final opinion ready.

8) As soon as it's ready, run down to his office and bolt over to the city's conservator office and present this opinion to him.

9) Wait for the conservator's final declaration, which takes a few days. Do you see a pattern developing? Though you have 7 days to clear customs, it's basically impossible to meet the deadline. Result: extra fines for not clearing customs on time.

10) After getting the conservator's final declaration, flatbed the car down the customs office ASAP. Usually you will not make it in time, and will be fined. You might also face a seedy customs officer or two who will want a bribe or threaten you with all types of legal red tape, including a forced appraisal of your car by their appraiser, to verify the value of the car in the Polish market, and if your bill of sale doesn't jibe with that, you will be forced to pay more, plus fines for fraud (even if you have all the legal requirements met). No breaks for getting a good deal on the car! They want to maximize their intake.

11) Now that the car has cleared customs, you can go to your friendly car expert again to get what is called a "white card", or description of the car's technical aspects. Basically a more in-depth description of the car, along with more pictures, on a hard copy white paper. I did the white card myself on my cars, since it's not necessary to have the expert's signature on this document.

12) Take the white card to yet another government office, the historic registry office, and submit the white card. Wait a few days till you get a certification that the car has been entered into the official historic registry of automobiles. Your car is now officially a historical car, and you qualify for yellow plates.

13) Either get your car expert to make you one, or make yourself a 3-page list of technical specifications for the car, which will be necessary for the car's inspection.

14) With this specification list and registry certification, take the car to an approved inspection station and get the car inspected for two things: first time in country inspection, and historical car inspection. This is more thorough, and expensive, than the regular yearly inspections. Good thing is that you never have to get another inspection on the car (at least that's the way it is now; who knows what the future will hold). See, it's impossible to complete the registration process until the car is 100% ship-shape. Fortunately, the inspection station officials usually give me a pass even if there are some small issues, such as not properly adjusted emergency brakes or tint on the windows, etc. But that's because they know me. Some stations will try to screw you.

15) Now you can register the car and get your yellow plates and be done with the whole bureaucratic mess.

16) Oops, not yet. You have to go back to the DMV after 30 days and pick up your hard copy of the registration, in lieu of the temporary one you got upon initial registration. Don't mind the endless standing in line at every government office.

17) Enjoy your Monte!!!

I just finished step 10.

[twomanymontes]

WOW, that's too much like work! hopefully step 17 comes really soon!

[x]

Dec 31, 2008 13:13:02 GMT -5 hetman said:

Dec 31, 2008 0:52:09 GMT -5 x said:

Hmmm....somehow, I doubt I'd be able to concentrate on driving..........

Nobody said it was easy! That was a hard night...

*grins devilishly*

Ya know ... I'm going to leave that one alone......... he he.


Lookin' good, Mike. Good luck with completing all the steps ... and getting to Step #17 ASAP! Heck, I'm not sure I could endure all those steps ... lol.



Cort | 35swm | "Mr Monte Carlo"."Mr Road Trip" | pig valve.pacemaker ...Chitown #2 = 07/25/09
WRMNshowcase.legos.HO.models.MCs.RTs.CHD = www.chevyasylum.com/cort
"I love to hear the steel belts hummin' on the asphalt" ... Steve Earle ... 'Guitar Town'

[HardRocker]

I'm in envy hetman..... pure envy...

[hetman]

Thanks, Hard Rocker, but looking at your sigline pics I see you have nothing to be envious of!!

[HardRocker]

Maybe so Hetman, but a 74 BigBlock Monte.......oh, so sweet.
I like the front grille better on the 74 than the one on the 75 and I like the curved chrome tail lights of the 73. So that means I need to get one of each of them as well.... Oh, and the 77 has the crest as a hood ornament, rather than on the grille, so I'll have to get one of them too !! LOL

[hetman]

Well, I heard some famous guy say "there's no such thing as too many Montes!" so I say go for it!! BTW, are you married?! LOL.

[twomanymontes]

LOL! I'm not that famous, I just get around, And Yeah Jamie is married, But if he keeps bringing cars home he won't be, LOL!

[tonys57chevy]

i saidto youon wickedmontes and i will say it to you on every site SWEET car

[hetman]

Thanks, Tony! That means a lot to me.

[HardRocker]

Yup Married....... to Monte's first........ and then my wife.....
Oh, wait... make that the other way around....I'll be in big trouble..... !!!! LOL

Really, married with 4 kids. Got have a Monte for each of them and a couple for me too !! LOL Right..

[hetman]

Well, I'm with you there! You're doing it all for the kids! LOL. That's my story too.

Cort, to answer an earlier question of yours, no, I haven't waxed it yet!! For shame, for shame. But conditions haven't allowed me to do that just yet. Due to lack of garage space where the other Montes are housed, it's been sitting outside in the cold, rain and snow since I picked it up at port. I have another small garage where I live, in the city, and that's been housing one of my Polonezes. I didn't even think the Monte would fit inside the garage until I measured it. A second generation Monte is 5.4 meters long and nearly 2 meters wide, whereas a Polonez is merely 4.3 meters long an much narrower. Anyway, I measured my garage and it's just over 6 meters long and 2.5 meters wide, leaving me enough space to get the Monte in!! Yippee!! So I spent a couple days rearranging the garage and furniture, eliminating some storage space and generally getting as much room available as possible. Then I waited for the right time to switch cars.

That entailed waiting waiting for the weather to warm up and salt to disappear from the roads, as well as the need to wait for parts to fix the brakes, which I needed to do prior to moving the car. My new master cylinder arrived a couple weeks ago (a huge thank you to Tom!!!!!), so I just had to wait for the weather to snap out of its below zero temperatures so I could fix the brakes. I got my break this week. The weather eased up to above freezing long enough to melt the snow, let the roads dry and give me time to spend on the Monte. So the day before yesterday I headed to my parents'-in-law's place to work on the brakes. Arriving after dark, I went outside and jacked up one rear wheel to clean out and adjust the drum brakes. I took off the drum and blew out all the dust with a compressor. To my amazement, everything cleaned out pretty good, leaving visible all the different springs painted different colors. I wonder, are these springs factory parts? Did they do that back then? The other side was the same way - everything clean, in good working order, no leaks in the wheel cylinders, drums had been turned nearly 20 years ago according to the previous owner, and are still smooth. Both drums are the originals, according to the date codes stamped on them, from April and May 1974, respectively. The shoes are also nearly new looking. So I oiled the springs and put the drums back on. Before I finished for the night, however, I wanted to dig into this posi/non-posi mystery. The previous owner said he'd replaced the differential fluid and taken off the cover nearly 20 years ago, when the engine was rebuilt and transmission was serviced. So the lack of a posi tag on the differential cover bolt is understandable, I suppose, if he didn't put it back on. Anyway, with only one wheel jacked up, I cannot turn the wheel. Later, when jacking up both wheels, I can't turn the wheel if another person is holding the other one firm. Isn't this a posi?

The next day, yesterday, I had a lot of work lined up. I wanted to adjust the rear brakes, install the new master cylinder, bleed all brakes as well as the cylinder itself. So my father in law and I got to work in the morning with preparing the new master cylinder for installation (a big thank you to Dave for hints on doing this!). We put it in a vise and poured fluid in it and did our best to bleed it. Then I tried to take off the old one, but first I sucked out all the brake fluid in it with a syringe. I have never seen such a mess in my whole life!! Not only was the fluid dark and murky, but it had all sorts of contaminants in it. As I got to the bottom of the reservoirs, the mess turned into real muddy sludge!! Maybe the old master cylinder isn't bad, but merely clogged with this garbage. It was disgusting. Then I unbolted the brake lines, well, I tried. One came off pretty easily, but the other one started to strip the bolt, so I let off and got out the gas torch and heated up the area really well (watching to see that the smoking fluid/sludge remains didn't catch fire...LOL), and the nut still wouldn't budge. Till I got out the trusty Vice Grips! Gave way pretty quickly. So after unbolting the old cylinder and bolting on the new one and screwing on the lines, I was ready to bleed the system. Starting at the right rear wheel, I bled that one till I saw new fluid come through, then moved to the left side. That gave me a little scare, since the fluid didn't want to come out! After a lot of stomping on the brake pedal, fluid finally squirted out and drenched the differential housing. Oof! No problems then. Got that bled, then moved to the front right, which I bled, then the front left, which I did also. At this point, there was still an awfully weak feeling from the pedal when the motor was on, but a hard pedal when it was off. I didn't know what to think, so I re-bled the front again, but still no change. So I decided to re-bleed the lines into the master cylinder, and though I didn't see any air coming out, afterwards the brake pedal feel was better, but still not like what I expected, with the pedal going nearly to the floor and feeling rather soft (with the engine on). I was pretty exasperated by this time, with no other tricks to pull, so we decided to call it a day, and test the car. My father in law drove it up and down the driveway, then I did. The brakes worked perfectly, even with the softer, lower pedal feel. So I drove the car the 20 miles home, but first stopped off at one of the few do-it-yourself car washes in the city, and cleaned that sucker of all its mud, dirt, snow, bird crap, etc. It was a real relief to see it clean for the first time. It was dark by now, and just barely above zero, but the roads were dry and I drove her into the newly prepared micro garage!! It fit with no problems, even having enough room for me to open the door slightly and squeeze myself out of the car. No need to crawl out the window or sunroof!! On went the car cover and now she sits clean, dry, snug and safe in her new home. There's even enough room for me to walk around the left side of the car and stand in front of it and in back of it. So that means I can get working on compounding out that ancient, weathered paint and eventually wax it. Don't know what I'll do about the right side, but I'll cross that bridge when I get to it. For now, I'm elated that the Monte is safe and sound in the garage. And in good working order - the brakes work astonishingly well.

Now for some pics:



This was the Monte's home for nearly 2 months.



Amazing how the snow has corroded the vintage Cragar mags! I'm sure that the chrome plating must have been cracked before this, but it's heart-wrenching to see the brown crap on those wheels!! Some WD-40 got rid of almost all of it; I will have to polish them up well at a later time.





Can anyone tell me what kind of shocks these are?!?!?! I've never seen anything like them. They obviously are not QA1s! The springs themselves seem to be fairly week. What purpose do springs serve if they don't support the car? Are they to jack up the car a bit more in the back? My car does seem to have that rake to it, but I thought it was more the fault of older, sagging front springs.



Here's the inside of the drum. Notice all the neat colored springs?!

[twomanymontes]

Mike, Those are coil over shocks, They were intended to be used in vehicles that carry extra load in the rear, like family Station wagons. These days they more or less are then used to jack the back end up. Just wait until they go bad, LOL! They will make you sea sick!

So how are the brakes now after all the work? Any better?

[hetman]

Yeah, Dave, they look like coil-overs to me but not quite like QA1s...LOL. I guess they're at least 25 years old and installed by the first owner. I will be replacing them before too long. The brakes work really well, thank you. Now no more worrying I'm going to plow into whatever little plastic car is in front of me!! LOL. The front bumper guards look like a giant fist waiting to punch somebody's face in!

So now I have completed Step 14 from my list above. I took the Monte to the inspection where I have been doing my cars for the past 5 years, and naturally they were happy to see me with another Monte. The inspection for a historical car is longer and more rigorous, as I outlined above. Fortunately, it passed, but not on its own merits. The brakes are great, but many other problems became evident once the car was put on the lift and on another machine that tests play in the steering and suspension components. One of the front shocks is basically dead, and the other one on its last leg. The rear shocks are OK, maybe in part because of the springs; I don't know. But I have to replace the shocks, and it's best to do all of them. What do you folks recommend, anyway? The left rear bearing is worn or loose, or both. Perhaps this is the source of the whine I hear from the rear when driving, which I thought might be a bearing or noise from the differential. Knowing that one bearing has play in it suggests to me that it's worn, however. So I will have to replace both in the rear. Should I replace the ones in the front too? I suppose that's not necessary at this juncture, but I should go in there and repack them and inspect them. Also, the rear bushing in the right lower rear control arm is shot. So I suppose I should replace all of them at one time? But the worst problem we discovered was that the center link and other moving parts in the front steering mechanism are worn out. The one coming off the pitman arm is the worst, and needs to be replaced before I drive the car any distance. They wanted to fail me for this, and would have (even should have) but I promised to park the car in the garage and not drive it till I'd fixed the problem. I was going to do this anyway, as soon as I found out how bad it was, but since I've been going to this inspection station for so many years, and they know me, they decided to let me slide so I can register the car (can't do that without a positive inspection). They know I work on my own cars, so trust me in this matter. I'm happy they let the Monte pass. Now I have to track down a whole front end kit for it, plus shock absorbers, rear bushings and wheel bearings. d**n, that's going to be pretty expensive, not to mention the cost of shipping, which will be at least equal to the cost of the parts. One thing that makes me a bit sick is that I specifically asked the previous owner if anything needed to be replaced, and he said the car is in fantastic shape and needs nothing. I saw the old tires in the pictures and had him buy new ones, but I couldn't see or inspect anything else. Now I have to pay 3 times more to buy the parts and ship them over here, and wait months for all that. Oh well. The joys of maintaining old American iron behind the Iron Curtain!! LOL.

Another thing we checked was the rear differential to see if it has limited slip. The inspector said it does. It took a turn or more of the wheel for it to catch, but both wheels turn in the same direction. And when holding the driveshaft, the wheels don't spin freely. So it looks like it's got posi! Now I need to figure out if it has the 3.42:1 towing gear inside, which was an option with posi and the 454.

After I drove the car home, I put it into its little garage and proceeded to take off the previous owner's college stickers from the back window, and put on a Wicked Montes banner to show my colors!! LOL. I also removed the last vestiges of the tint, on the opera windows, and cleaned the grody steering wheel which had had one of those grandpa wraps on it for umteen years, leaving behind a disgusting sticky residue from PVC breaking down. It took some good solvent to get that off, but now it's nice. Then I cleaned the insides of the windows and all the vinyl in the interior. Tomorrow I'll try to start hand compounding the paint and see how it looks. Then I can get around to waxing it. By the way, I removed those hideous mud flaps yesterday.

Here are some pictures, but unfortunately my cell phone camera looks like it's on the fritz, since pictures are coming our all blurry and faded the past few days. What, it can't handle 10,000 pictures in 1 1/2 years?! P.O.S.!!!!



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