'67 Chevelle Concours wagon, bring it back to life

[69M22Z]

Originally Posted by 67since67

Vinyl application...3M Di-Noc Dark Walnut. Di-Noc is actually mentioned in The AIM. A 5 yard roll was just right. I have always preferred dry application of vinyl, and fortunately dry is what was specified.

I started with the fenders and added the trim before moving towards the rear. Pretty straight forward, applied an adhesion promoter on edges and a heat gun to wrap edges. The fenders needed to be off to wrap the rear edges of the fenders and forward edges of the front doors. Also the fender trim clips are retained with nuts on the back side.
To have enough vinyl to properly wrap the gas door and opening required using a separate piece and line up the grain to match pattern.

Wow. That's great.

[67since67]

Originally Posted by WILMASBOYL78

...definitely one of the best SYC 'follow along' threads I've seen.

I am humbled that you would include my thread among the many great threads that have been here....Thank you!! - Bill W

[67since67]

Originally Posted by Jonesy

I am super impressed with your skills and how this Wagon is turning out.

I'm not sure about skills, just a lot of work hah!!

[67since67]

Originally Posted by 60sStuff

I’m always searching old vintage ads for my cars and moved over to Chevrolet yesterday to see what I could find in relation to Bill W. wagon.

I was able to find a couple ads including this one.
Cool ad, except no killer Red interior.

Plus no tint glass - all windows, so possibly no AC on this car.

I have a pretty good collection of print ads, but don't believe I've seen this one. And as Bill said, like they ordered this car only red interior. (very happy they did!!)
Like I said previous, unusual for top trim level wagon with no roof rack and poverty caps.

[67since67]

Here is the RF fender with the vinyl laid down, but before trimming and wrapping the edges.

With the vinyl applied, ready for the "Bling"! 60 some feet of body side moldings, polished door handles and lock cylinders, so now the door panels etc. can be put back.

NOS wagon door edge guards are cheap on eBay, so the beat up originals were replaced. Rear w/o moldings are impossible to find, so the originals were cleaned and installed, they have a few minor dings.

[67since67]

Another feature unique to this car, these metal trim strips to finish off the vinyl inside the rear door jamb.

[67since67]

The quarter scrips were retained by a barrel clip style wire integral to the pin, I had not seen this before. One side survived but the other I used self threading nuts.

The rural desert road grime really layered on the rear, the tailgate script I thought was dull chrome. After scrubbing with Aluminum Brightener and a tooth brush, then chrome polish and a tooth brush I was surprised to see how they cleaned up!
Same treatment on all the rear trim and tail light housings. Virtually no pot metal pits to be found!
It's my experience that Steele Rubber Products has the best fitting seals for tail lights used here and on '67 El Camino's. NOS lenses were used to brighten things up.

About three hours of hard rubbing with chrome polish brought the bumper around to a shine much better than I expected. New, un-polished, stainless capped bumper bolts had just the right finish to match. The original license screw nuts and rubber bumpers are in great shape. This is the original bumper, still riveted to the center bracket. I understand that 1st Gen Camaro's the rivet head is on the face side, on Chevelles the head is on the back side.

The original CA tag and frame were cleaned and installed. The backup lamps were given an Evapo-Rust bath, cleaned, and the white paint replicated, finished up with NOS lenses.

This about wraps up the car from the cowl rearward. This is where I was at about two weeks ago, so real time is not far away. I started this project last summer but have had several diversions along the way, not the least of which has been helping push along a stunning restoration of a buddy's rust free CA '67 SS that I sold him more than 30 years ago.

[MosportGreen66]

Bill, stunning! Nothing against our muscle cars, but it is so refreshing to see something that I've never seen done to this level before. You saved this car. Period.

@Bob Ashton - I would love to see a display of Long Roof Wagons of all sorts and variations at MCACN including a center slot for Bill's Wagon.

And Bill - not to step on your creative vision for the wagon but I think it would look killer with a set of American Racing Mags or even a set of simulated mag wheels covers?

Dan

[scuncio]

Looks great. I have a Starksen frame if you need a match for the front plate.

[L78_Nova]

Fantastic work Bill !! Love the car !!