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W-30 in "special new" Rally Red
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That's it exactly Des. It was all about Orange and Black.
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Satisfied with the ownership history from1971 to 1975, I wanted to concentrate on 1975 to 1987,when I first heard about the car.
My previous attempts gave me a name of Boyd Fowlow in Stephenville as the second owner. Over a two year period I made several attempts to contact the only B Fowlow in the phone directory. I had heard that Boyd Fowlow now lived in Edmonton AB and felt I was on the right track, I was never able to reach him over a two year period. With the new information from Jan 2018 of Loretta Burrell as the original owner,I learned that the second owner was Barry Fowlow,Boyd's brother. I found a new listing for B Fowlow in Stephenville and phoned. Robert Fowlow, Barry's nephew answered the phone. I told him the reason for my call and he confirmed Barry was in fact the second owner of "the Orange 442 convertible". Within a minute I had Barry's cell phone number and a promise from Robert that I would get a call from Barry within 30 minutes. About 45 minutes later I was connected with Barry, who referred to the 442 as a ghost from the past. He proceeded to recount his ownership in detail. More in next posting. |
You are on fire!!!
Ryan PS: Silly question... the Ontario Used Vehicle Information Package.... only recounts Ontario ownership back to 1973... any other provinces? |
1971 W30, the Barry Fowlow years.
As confirmed Barry bought the 442 the day it was traded in at the Stephenville branch of Corner Brook Garage Ltd.
Barry owned the car for two years and drag raced it a lot at the Decomissioned Earnest Harmon AirForce base in Stephenville. Barry did extensive engine modifications to the engine for more power. Crane cam and Valve springs, bigger oil pan, headers, Holly carb, trans shift kit. He retained the factory 3.73 gears and ran on 60 series tires. He claimed the car ran in the mis 12's but was not the fastest car among his racing buddies. Barry had the car painted Corvette Red in 1976 and painted over the black stripes. The paint job cost $350.00 Barry took a job with Sobey's, the Nova Scotia based Grocery Store chain in 1977 and moved to Stellerton NS with the 442. Not long after he settled in the 442 was stolen one night and the engine was seized. With little money to do a rebuild he traded the car for a 56 Ford that has been set up a street rod and was running. The new owner of the 442 was Tim Short. According to Barry ,Short put in a Pontiac 455 (that explains the Pontiac engine in the car when I got it). Short drove the car around Stellarton for a while and then it disappeared. Barry said Tim Short went blind by the time he was 30 and it may have been his Brother Randy who took it to Alberta. All members of the Short family are now deceased with no way to verify the ownership or story. So from all this I was able to solve some of the unknown details outlined in my first posting Majority of body damage done by first owner in Newfounland. Motor seized in 1977 and replaced in Stellarton NS in 1977 or 1978 There is no record of registration for the car in NS, Barry Fowlow did not do a registration change when he moved there. Car went to Alberta between 1979 and 1985. Found Alberta Lic plates circa 1979-80 under drivers side front carpet covering up rust holes and Alberta Yellow Pages (several books) under rear seat as sound dead net. Merlin Cumming contacted me in May 1987 and described the car as a 1970. He said the car had been purchased out of an Alberta wrecking yard in 1985 by a fellow in Salmon Arm ,BC to use the 455 in a boat. Clearly the motor was no good and Merlin Bought the entire car. I encouraged Merlin to do a Vintage Vehicle Search through GM Canada in 1999 and that is when I learned it was a 1971 model with the Corner Brook Garage Ltd connection. When I bought the car in 2013, the Pontiac engine had been partially disassembled and had been seized for years. The only parts missing from the car from its Alberta Wrecking yard days were the power door locks. The Dual Gate Shifter was stolen sometime in the 1990's (according to Merlin) The car was never resistered in Alberta. It's time to resume posting more restoration work now that the ownership history has been solved and how the car was moved 5000 miles from its original selling location. |
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What a sweet find!!! These are awesome cars, you’re doing a great job, and can’t wait to see the end result!! Good work!
Cheers Dave |
With the body work in the hands of Mark, I do all the mechanical restoration and assembly. going forward I will post progress on the component restoration. Since I bough this car I have been on the hunt for as many NOS parts that I can locate anf as of this writing I have 677 parts and NOS assemblies ready for this car.
First up is the engine,having given up on the prospect of finding the original engine I bought an NOS 455 short block assembly from a buddy in Chicago who used to work for GM parts warehousing and bought several of these when they were going NLA back in 1980. Had the block shipped to me in its original packaging. http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/l...ps2kpr3zpm.jpg Dropped the NOS assembly off at my machine shop for an evaluation. One school of thought was to bolt on all the parts I had and fire it up. Having heard horror stories of Crate engines not being assembled properly, i went the route of having the shop disassemble and see if it truly lived up to Blueprinted at the factory so you don't have to". NOT It was cool to see all the parts identified with the lettering and paint daubs. http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/l...sbzav1avx.jpeg http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/l...sgomdejb7.jpeg http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/l...syvoanrrf.jpeg What was not cool to see was scoring on # 1 and 2 main caps: http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/l...swboq4owc.jpeg Dave, the machinist said he was, and was not surprised. Additionally he reported while all the tolerances were good they we not what he would refer to as "blueprinted". So the new plan was to go with new rings and bearings, balance all components and fit to specific tolerances. I opted not to boil the block as I wanted to preserve the factory markings. For the built we went with a Cloyes double roller timing chain and gear set as I could not trust a 47 year old Nylon timing gear. I asked Dave what could have happened if I had fired up the engine from its as is out of the crate condition. His exact quote was "it would have seized during break in". |
Love the NOS Service Short Block:-)
Wow!! Ryan PS: Didn’t you have another NOS block? 350? |
With the short block assembly back from the shop it was time to un box the hord of NOS parts:
Pictured below: NOS rocker arms and saddles NOS push rods NOS lifters NOS oil baffle NOS baffle studs NOS harmonic balance NOS balancer retaining ring NOS front timing Cover NOS oil pump NOS oil seal. http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/l...suap7tz01.jpeg http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/l...sxrtyv5af.jpeg |
Ryan
PS: Didn’t you have another NOS block? 350? Don't know of any, but you could check with Mike Fusick and I will ask the fellow that I got this one from. I am saving all the GM boxes and wrappers and going to create a Christmas tree out of them. Cause opening NOS parts is like Christmas. |
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Ryan |
A brand new W-30 455 in a box. IT IS CHRISTMAS!!
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It’s been three years since I provided an update on this project. While Mark progressed with the body rebuild,I did some mechanical stuff at my shop.
Here is the progress on the engine. https://hosting.photobucket.com/imag...080&fit=bounds I had a nicely restored oil pan and then found an NOS one. Stripped off the factory black ‘parts department” paint and got it ready for the car. https://hosting.photobucket.com/imag...080&fit=bounds https://hosting.photobucket.com/imag...080&fit=bounds Wanting to maintain an assembly line look,I kept the paint thin on the underside of the oil pan. On the original cars examined at MCACN I noticed the pans paint was thin. I prepped the pan and sprayed with a Matte clear. The blue paint was sprayed on from the sides. https://hosting.photobucket.com/imag...080&fit=bounds I shot a few photos of the internals before the pan went back on,showing the original stamping son the rods and pistons. https://hosting.photobucket.com/imag...080&fit=bounds https://hosting.photobucket.com/imag...080&fit=bounds |
The block is a nos short block I acquired and I described in an earlier post that I had my machine shop go through it and did a real blueprint and balance.
Trial fit of NOS aluminum intake. It had rough broach marks on one side so I had it machined. 10 thousand for a better fit. https://hosting.photobucket.com/imag...080&fit=bounds I wanted to preserve the assembly line markings so on the left side I sprayed in Matt clear before applying Olds Blue. https://hosting.photobucket.com/imag...080&fit=bounds I find the best way to get a nice coat of Olds blue is to apply GM corporate blue as its non metallic. After that usually two coats of Olds blue does the job. I preserves some of the brown paint daubs that were inspection marks. https://hosting.photobucket.com/imag...080&fit=bounds https://hosting.photobucket.com/imag...080&fit=bounds The engine assembly has the rolling NOS parts. Short block Oil pan Oil baffle Ring gear Timing cover Timing marker Water pump All head internals Lifters Internal oil baffle Aluminum intake Heat stove Engine hook More to come. |
Have you crested 1000 NOS parts?
Ryan W31 |
994
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Got the intake back from the machine shop and dry fitted and then did another fit with the NOS steel gasket.
https://hosting.photobucket.com/imag...080&fit=bounds Observations of original W30 cars show no paint on the heads on either side of the intake and none on the steel gasket. It is believed a template was used to cover the intake and other items like the hook, thermostat housing and other small parts were painted as they lay on top of the template. I have seen engines with no paint on these items to some that had a partial coat. I opted for the latter and painted about 3/4 of the surface area of these parts. https://hosting.photobucket.com/imag...080&fit=bounds More Nos parts used here. Balancer Lower pully Starter bracket Fuel pump Temp sending unit Coil bracket Manifolds were media blaster and a graphite was applied, burnished with 000 steel wool, one more coat of graphite applied and then heated with a heat gun to cure the graphite. Final look is fresh cast iron. |
Hit EBay and grab 6 NOS goodies!!
Ryan W31. |
Looks great Paul!
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Just read this entire thread, you are a patient man! My ADD would be hitting a high point 6 years ago!
Love the story, thx for sharing!! |
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Congrats on buying the car. I met Merlin a couple times, and he was very close friends with a good friend of mine. He was a terrific guy... sadly, gone before his time. |
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Nos count
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Any part I bought as an assembly or package was counted as one part. The entire NOS short block is one part. The NOS T44 hood lock kit is one part. Paul |
You're getting to the fun stuff now Paul. It looks like it's been one hell of a journey!
Tim |
It looks so clean! I can see the progress with this build, I can't wait to see how it goes. Btw, I feel like the HD wheels Spinout series will add style to that classic car.
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Lots of progress over the summer months. As mark was progressing on the body,I finished getting the engine ready. Some delays were caused by the arrival of some nos parts I had to ad.
NOS oil pan cleaned and ready for paint and install. https://hosting.photobucket.com/imag...720&fit=bounds Lower part of pan was covered with flat clear and dusted in Olds Blue to replicate factory minimal approach to paint. https://hosting.photobucket.com/imag...720&fit=bounds Nos short block with factory markings. Paint daubs indicate bearing clearances. https://hosting.photobucket.com/imag...720&fit=bounds Engine pre dressed to check For fit and checking torque. https://hosting.photobucket.com/imag...720&fit=bounds Loaded into truck for delivery to resto shop. https://hosting.photobucket.com/imag...720&fit=bounds June 15, engine and trans on restored frame ready for body drop. https://hosting.photobucket.com/imag...720&fit=bounds |
A surprise development on the history of my car surfaced on FB Friday. The attached photo was posted by a fellow in Alberta of a 442 he owned in the late 70’s. After a few messages We were able to determine that this is the car I am restoring.
His info stated he bought the car through an Auto Trader style ad in 1977 and the car had come from Halifax. He kept the car for a few years and sold it in 1980. He stated the car “ had returned to the earth in a wrecking yard in Blackie,Alberta” Well it didn’t return to the earth as it was purchased from that wrecking yard in the early 80’s. The car had a hard life as it had a front end hit as well as a motor change before I bought it. https://hosting.photobucket.com/imag...720&fit=bounds Insurance card from 1979. https://hosting.photobucket.com/imag...720&fit=bounds |
This history is getting more and more clear!!
I love this part of the hobby!! Ryan W31 |
so cool to see my old car brought back to life
:) |
Work on the body progressed through August with final assembly of body panels , ensuring all gaps were perfect. Pre painting of jams and overspray on underbody were performed before body drop.
https://hosting.photobucket.com/imag...720&fit=bounds https://hosting.photobucket.com/imag...720&fit=bounds Body back on the frame for the final time. https://hosting.photobucket.com/imag...720&fit=bounds Gaps are critical and Mark ensured everyone was perfect. https://hosting.photobucket.com/imag...720&fit=bounds https://hosting.photobucket.com/imag...720&fit=bounds |
All parts were prepped off car where possible and blocked to final stage before wet sand.
https://hosting.photobucket.com/imag...720&fit=bounds https://hosting.photobucket.com/imag...720&fit=bounds Let the masking begin https://hosting.photobucket.com/imag...720&fit=bounds https://hosting.photobucket.com/imag...720&fit=bounds |
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After some curing time, final wet sanding then buffing to a spectacular finish.
https://hosting.photobucket.com/imag...720&fit=bounds https://hosting.photobucket.com/imag...720&fit=bounds https://hosting.photobucket.com/imag...720&fit=bounds https://hosting.photobucket.com/imag...720&fit=bounds Out in the sun for a few hours, next steps, masking for stripes. |
Looks fantastic....well done :)
Dan |
----Looking forward to seeing this W30 in person some day, hopefully soon!....Bill S
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My 442
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That looks awesome!
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