Roadmaster Wagon Touring Pics and Deer Strike Pics

3/18/2016 - Still having rain so staying with interior projects for now.

This is the stock seat the Roadmaster wagons got. The leather on this one is still very nice, but GM made these very flat and boring in the wagons.




Roadmaster Sedan rear seat I nabbed when looking for hoods. SO MUCH nicer, with much deeper padding/pillows, fold-down center arm rest and headrest pads. Will be mounting this in my wagon!


Comparison of the Roadmaster Sedan seat on the left and Roadmaster Wagon seat on the right. The Sedan seatbottom clips right into the wagon, but the sedan seatback has to be combined with the the old wagon seatback, since the wagon seatback folds down and the sedans didn't, but it will soon! This will be SUCH a neat mod!!



First attempt at joining the wagon inner panel to the sedan seat. Looked great, massive fail. Seat sat too high, too far forward, and would not recline enough to latch. Ouch. Fail. Let's try again

 

3/18/2016 - Take #2. Thank goodness for my whizz wheel. Cut off the top 2-inches of the plastic inner seat in order to mount it higher, then trimmed the sides of the plastic panel way down in order to get a closer fit to the seatback. Bent the upper right corners of the seat frame in order to better match the latch-area of the wagon side panels. Seat now fits great, latches fine, and is SO COMFY! Taking it to the upholstery shop tomorrow to have the carpet sewn on the backside. Oh and forget folding it down, it creases the leather. If it won't fit in the rear cargo area, I'll use the GMC instead!

 

4/23/2016 - Installed the new plastic trim clips in hopes of having painted trim to install!



Trim painting day. The black roof-rack trim has been both faded and cracking from sun damage. Time to sand it and paint with frame and grill paint.


You can see the cracks in the roof-rack paint here. Lots of sanding ahead!



Worst area of roof-rack trim paint cracking here.


One last shot before getting started.


Removed the roof-rack rail. The chrome end-caps look great, but the anodized center piece is faded and won't polish out with my compound. Dropped this off to Russ at Central Texas Metal Polishing today. Hopefully he can make it SHINE!

 

4/23/2016 - continued

Wet-Sanding is SO MUCH fun..... Nope.





Also wet-sanded the woodgrain outline trim. Will be painting this with Satin Nutmeg Tan.


Rood-Rack trim sanded and getting ready for paint. Used 250, then 500, then 1000-grit paper. Going with a satin finish so did not have to go finer.


This was the area that had badly cracked paint. Had to sand all the way through to bare plastic.


Also had cracked paint here. Funny, the passenger side was more cracked than the driver's side.


Lots of elbow-grease here in the center of the roof too. It came out smooth. I wonder what I could do to improve the looks of the rubber trim around the Vista roof glass there? See how bad it looks too? Didn't want to paint the rubber weatherstripping..hmmm. Hopefully can find some way to improve that too.


Rood-Rack trim sanded and getting ready for paint. Used 250, then 500, then 1000-grit paper. Going with a satin finish so did not have to go finer. If anoyone has ideas on what to do with the rubber trim around the Vista glass, please share. I'd like to make it look better too...


This is the driver's side. The paint on it wasn't cracked, just a little faded. Only took some light sanding to be paint-ready.

 

4/23/2016 - continued

Freshly-sanded woodgrain outline trim. Will paint with Satin Nutmeg Tan. Am not removing the trim, just masking it off.


The spare tire bulge below the right rear 1/4 panel had some light road chips, so wet-sanded it too and will re-shoot it with the black frame paint


Getting the patient ready!


That's a LOT of plastic!!

 

4/23/2016 - continued

First coat done! Getting dark, boo! I painted the black roof first and then the lower tan trim. Box on tailgate glass is covering the freshly-painted window handle. Did not want to get Nutmeg Tan on the black glass handle! Ha!


First coat of Black Frame and Grill paint on the roof-rack trim.


Woodgrain outline trim painted with Satin Nutmeg Tan. This is a little bit lighter color than what the trim was previously. Thought this might match the wood better.


Coat #2 done. I HATE painting in the dark!!



Can you spot the freshly-painted fender trim hanging from my trees? Ha!




UNMASK! UNMASK! Well it's dark-30 on Saturday night...well actually SUNDAY MORNING 4/24/2016. Worked on this project all day! Roof-rack and wood outline trim all re-painted!

 

4/24/2016 - So this is what painting in the dark leads too. The trim on the passenger-side front fender looked terrible in the daylight. Sanded and redneck masked (tarps, blankets, newspaper, TOWELS, HA! Had to be done!



Freshly re-painted front fender woodgrain outline trim. Went with a lighter color this time...little more orange and less brown...Nutmeg Satin Tan. Looks Great!



Roof-Rack painted. Frame and Grill Black. Satin finish. Looks good!



Wood and Roof-Rack Trim all re-painted!!


Spare tire bulge under rear 1/4 painted Satin Black. Nice!


Good shot of the freshly-painted woodgrain outline trim. Satin Nutmeg Tan.

 

4/24/2016 - continued

Roof-Rack painted. Frame and Grill Black. Satin finish. Looks good!



DO YOU SEE THE LIGHT?!?!?! - Finally got all the trim on the driver's side, including the new front fender that had to be replaced from the deer strike. She's basically TOGETHER again!



All the trim back on!


BEFORE:


AFTER:


4/24/2016 - Almost done. Roof-Rack Rail is still being polished, Frankestein'd sedan seatback is still at my interior guy, a/c still not re-charged, and needs new inspection/registration/front licence plate....but getting SO CLOSE NOW!

 

4/30/2016 - Picking up my Frankenstein'd Roadmaster Sedan seat for my wagon. Very Cool!








Sedan seat installed in the wagon. Wish I'd done this years ago!!

 

5/1/2016 - Central Texas Metal Polishing made my roof rack rail look chromed! Whoa! Can't wait to slide this on!


Whoa!



Polished rack rail installed. It's the little things!

 

5/3/2016 - Getting her legal again!


Passed inspection, registered and new plates. On the road again!

 

5/9/2016 - So that's pretty much it! I still have to get the a/c accumulator and orifice replaced and then will evacuate and re-charge the a/c this week. Beyond that my paint guy is going to wet-sand and buff the car for me, and do a few piddly things. No pics from today but I waxed all the woodgrain and used Mother's Chrome and Mag poslish on the wheels, followed by a coat of wax to seal them. She GLOWS.

I love this old car! Sorry again for not keeping up with the progress better on here, but hopefully the above posts show you I've been pretty busy!

Keep those wagons on the road gang! SAVE THE WHALES!

-Mike

 

5/9/2016 - Early Morning Pics. Drove the Roady to work this morning. Will be dropping it off at lunchtime for the a/c repair.




Ok Krash and All, the Wagon Forum is up to date on this project! Thanks again for all the concerns and comments folks. Have a great day everyone!

-Mike

 

Dropped the car off at lunch for the a/c fix. Will hopefully have it back in a few days.

We have a family reunion east of San Antonio at my Uncle-In-Law's Ranch at the end of this month, and I'm planning to get all the kids again and take them down there in the Roady. This car will mainly be used for car shows and cruising now, but it needs a little road trip to celebrate coming back to life!

-Mike

 

Great job Mike. You are excused for the little bit of work you did on the wagon!

Looks better than new!