1973 Custom Cruiser

Discussion in 'Station Wagon Projects' started by jaunty75, Mar 7, 2010.

  1. jaunty75

    jaunty75 Middling Member

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    I'm starting up over here as the "newbie" thread on my acquisition of this car has probably run its course.


    I did get the front bumper on today. The job took most of the day, as these things always do, but it sure looks good. Remember, this bumper was removed by the previous owner back in 2004 and sent to a plating shop to be re-chromed. It was never removed from the packaging it came back from the shop in until today. For anyone who hasn't seen the "newbie" thread on this, the previous owner had taken ill and eventually passed away last summer. I purchased the car from his family in January and have finally had enough decent weather since then to get it out of the garage and do some work on it.

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    I still need to do the roof rack, align the hood, and reattach the various "Custom Cruiser" and "Oldsmobile" scripts, and that ought to mostly take care of the exterior. Lots to do on the interior, though!


    By the way, hiding on the background in these photos is my '67 Delta 88 convertible. 50 degrees and sunshine was enough reason to put the top down and go for a spin, which was another reason putting the bumper on took most of the day. :D
     
  2. wixom61

    wixom61 Well-Known Member

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    Wow, Jaunty! Your Custom Cruiser looks fantastic! That front bumper brings it all together...you did a great job installing it! :2_thumbs_up_-_anima

    David :)
     
  3. jaunty75

    jaunty75 Middling Member

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    Thank you. It was a bit of a job. The hard part is that the outer rubber that runs along the length of the bumper has the bolts in it that hold the outer part of the bumper itself (the part that we see) to the inner bumper. Someone looking at the car casually would assume that that rubber is just glued on or something like that. It's hard to believe that it's integral to holding the entire bumper together.

    Anyway, getting the nuts threaded on to the bolts that protrude in from the rubber strip required putting the bumper on sawhorses and getting under it with the correct-size socket on the end of a socket extension, putting the cap nut into the socket, and then poking the whole thing up through openings in the inner bumper to reach the bolts. It wasn't the most difficult thing in the world, of course, but it was still more involved than I thought putting the bumper back together would be.

    Then, getting it on to the car required lining up the bracket that holds the big bolt (there are two of them) to the brackets on the car and dropping the bolt through. The bumper, when all together, is not exactly the lightest thing. But with me and two helpers, we got it lined up and got the bolts in and tightened them up. Of course, the end result makes the whole job worth it!


    P.S. Getting the bumper on required only two trips to the hardware store. Not bad in my book!
     
    Last edited: Mar 7, 2010
  4. Stormin' Norman

    Stormin' Norman Well-Known Member

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    Like new! Probably was the plan, eh?(y) :D
     
  5. jaunty75

    jaunty75 Middling Member

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    It sures looks it, doesn't it? Remember, that bumper has just been attached to a car on which the former owner spent an even $5,000 to have it completely repainted, and this included making any repairs to the body as needed. After the repaint was completed in March 2005, the car was towed back to the owner's garage, and it never left there until January of this year when I bought it and brought it to its new home. So these few photos are the first real sunlight the car's paint job has seen. Washing it with soap and water yesterday and getting the new bumper on today has really made it look sharp. I need to get a good coat of wax on as soon as it gets a bit warmer.

    By the way, I was looking at the weather forecast for our area just now, and we've got four 60+ degree days coming up starting Tuesday. Maybe we've seen the last of any accumulating snowfalls for the year.
     
  6. the Rev

    the Rev senior junior Charter Member

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    thats a nice looking yacht !!:yup:
     
  7. jeffreyalman

    jeffreyalman New Member

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    looks great!
     
  8. tbirdsps

    tbirdsps New Member Charter Member

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    That's what I was going to say. That bugger is HUGE!:cheers:
     
  9. snooterbuckets

    snooterbuckets Well-Known Member

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    Oh no, it's on upsidedown.
    JUST KIDDING, JUST KIDDING!!
    Jaunt, it really looks great. You must be so psyched. The family certainly made the right decision in selling their loved wagon to you.
    Nice job.
     
  10. jaunty75

    jaunty75 Middling Member

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    I did worry about this for a few seconds at one point, but it really is pretty hard to put it on wrong. Thanks.
     
  11. jeffreyalman

    jeffreyalman New Member

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  12. jaunty75

    jaunty75 Middling Member

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    Yeah, sure, why not!
     
  13. jaunty75

    jaunty75 Middling Member

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    more photos

    Got the roof rack on and the hood, for the most part, adjusted. Adjusting it is a bit of a pain because you loosen the bolts, close the hood most of the way, rock it and slide it around to get it the way you want it, and then you have to open the hood again to tighten the bolts. Well, it always wants to slide again as you're opening it. I try to do it carefully. I try to loosen the bolts only enough so that the hood can move with a good shove, and after enough iterations of this process, it finally got pretty good, so I'm stopping and moving on with my life.

    I got it away from the house and driveway and out onto a cul-de-sac for these photos. Even though it got to 65 degrees today, that's still a bit of snow in the background.

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  14. tbirdsps

    tbirdsps New Member Charter Member

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    What a beauty. Where's all the snow?
     
  15. jaunty75

    jaunty75 Middling Member

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    Snow? What's that? :bouncy:
     

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