Project Index, Project Home, 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 Progress Oldsmobilia
< BACK Chassis Meets Body NEXT >

Here is a picture of the body as it is being put back on the chassis. I painted the firewall prior to this step since I couldn't paint it afterward with the engine in the way. Ideally the entire body should have been painted prior to this step, but I couldn't get the body in the garage while it was still on the rotisserie. I either had to build a rolling cart or put it back on the chassis. Since the chassis was done and I didn't have room to store it inside I had to put the body on due to the ever approaching winter.
Getting the correct body color turned out to be an expensive adventure. The original color, code J, was a lacquer. I didn't want use lacquer and it has to be specially ordered. The car is huge and if I didn't order enough paint I would be in big trouble. I wanted to go with the modern basecoat / clearcoat system. I had a local shop that sold Ditzler paints, crossreference the color to a 1983 Ford Pastel Blue. I compared the 1983 Ford paint chips to the 1959 Oldsmobile paintchips and found that they were pretty close. I had my brother's shop mix me up a pint of the color because I get it at cost and to my suprise I found that the color didn't match the chip at all. Assuming that he mixed it wrong I had him mix me another pint. It was just as off as the other pint. I had the local part store mix me up a quart and it matched the chip. I discovered the hard way that the Martin-Senour formula for 1983 Ford Pastel Blue results in a different shade of blue than the Ditzler 1983 Ford Pastel Blue. I would like to personally thank the person at Martin-Senour Paints for creating the wrong formula. I am out $50 because you don't check your work. I now have to use a much more expensive paint, which will increase my cost by $150 just for the basecoat.
Lowering the body without a lift is a slow process. Initially I left the rotesserie body mounts attached and used a couple of floor jacks to lower the body as far as I could go. I then switched to doubled up 2x4's to get it even lower. And finally I just used the floor jacks under the rocker panels. If the car was painted prior to this I would have seriously risked damaging the paint.
Here is a close-up view of the left front firewall area.
With the body attached to the chassis I brought the car into the shop. My 1969 Firebird and 1969 Mustang where put in storage for the winter which opened up the entire garage for the Oldsmobile. And believe me, I needed the room for it.

With the car safe inside I started to redo all of the firewall components. In this picture everything is finished except for the installation of the steering column and master brake cylinder.
Next came the painting and assembly of the parts that make up the nose. All but 3 of the letters on the grill are NOS. 2 headlight bezels are NOS and the fenders are NOS.
This is a picture that I took while I was aligning the hood. There is a perfect 3/16" gap on both sides. With the hood installed all I have left to do to the body is sand it and paint it. My plan is to get as much of the car back together as I can before painting it.
< BACK NEXT >