Gran Coupe Resto

[cwright]

As this is the first time for me on this site, or any, be patient. I read one thread on 70 Coupes that said there were only "4" 383 4bbl's made in the Gran Coupe model. If that's true, I have one of them. I ordered the car 10-19?-69 before leaving for Marine boot camp in Calif. After I got out of boot camp and came on 1st leave, the car was waiting for me. Due to the Marines, work and family, I did not drive car much. After it sat for over 24 years with only 26,000 actual miles, I am doing a complete rotissary on it. My question is how to preserve/restore the area between the frame rails to factory exact. There was no paint in this area and it was saved only by factory and dealer undercoat. After removing all undercoat (2 months) and repairing 2 small rust areas, what do you use to recoat the undercarriage with. There was no paint on this area originally. Wheel wells were painted and some overspray was on outside of frame rails but the rest was bare metal. I want the car to be exactly as it was the day I purchased it. - Bad leading on rockers, file marks on rear quarters and all. Any tips on this resto would be appreciated.

[Cranky]

Welcome to the site! A buddy has an original Demon that came without undercoating but the bottom was painted with mainly with the base coat or undercoat color. Not sure about what colors were used but I had a yellow Belvedere that had black as a undercoat color and some of this was underneath the car too but it mostly was undercoated with the tar based stuff. Also, imo, bad leading and file marks on the outter body is a sign of bad craftsmanship. Not all cars came out that way and I repair that sort of thing on my cars and if you decide to show yours, I think the judges will mark against it....

[CudaZappa]

be sure to document your restoration!!! take LOTS of pics. Anything unique, no matter how small, or seemingly insignificant, doument!!! The only way to restore like new is to do it like they made it. Just duplicate what they did at the assembly plant. Good luck, sounds like a cool ride!

[cwright]

be sure to document your restoration!!! take LOTS of pics. Anything unique, no matter how small, or seemingly insignificant, doument!!! The only way to restore like new is to do it like they made it. Just duplicate what they did at the assembly plant. Good luck, sounds like a cool ride!

Have bagged and tagged every screw, bolt and dust ball found in car, including spare parts found under rear seat left by factory installer. Also have humdreds of pictures. Probably why car isn't finished, spent more time on these things than actual work on car. Thanks for intrest.

[cwright]

Welcome to the site! A buddy has an original Demon that came without undercoating but the bottom was painted with mainly with the base coat or undercoat color. Not sure about what colors were used but I had a yellow Belvedere that had black as a undercoat color and some of this was underneath the car too but it mostly was undercoated with the tar based stuff. Also, imo, bad leading and file marks on the outter body is a sign of bad craftsmanship. Not all cars came out that way and I repair that sort of thing on my cars and if you decide to show yours, I think the judges will mark against it....

These imperfections drive me crazy, but just wondered if most people fix these things or leave them factory. This is my first unibody car to restore, I've always worked on street rods and frame cars /thanks for intrest

[Old_Demon]

Welcome to the site!

The underside of the cars were usually the body color, and the painter probably missed some spots. I'm restoring a Demon and we're making sure the bad leading / joints are fixed properly, but I'm not going for a 100% resto, either. If you want to leave it bare, I would at least put some clear coat on it. But understand that it will eventually rust that way. If it were mine I would epoxy prime the underside and then put a single stage body color on it. I believe that's the look the factory intended, all painted.

And feel free to post some pictures - we would love to see it!