1966 Chateau Slate L78 Chevelle

[OneStopRestoration]

Originally Posted by Too Many Projects

Hope things have been OK with you. I HAVE to see the pics of this car done. Super nice restoration.
The build date on the frame is exactly the same as my '66 SS, but mine was built in Atlanta and had the black out tail panel. May still have been painted at the dealer, but it was over the base color when I sanded it all down.

Hey Thankyou. In the past few weeks I cut and buffed the car. I have just the hood left. Im kinda into another project 67 Malibu driver car so i have been balancing my after work time between this car and the 67. I will probably spend this summer finishing the interior, putting on the vinyl top and sending the trim off to be re-anodized. Should have finished pictures next winter.

[Tomg]

Originally Posted by OneStopRestoration

Hey Thankyou. In the past few weeks I cut and buffed the car. I have just the hood left. Im kinda into another project 67 Malibu driver car so i have been balancing my after work time between this car and the 67. I will probably spend this summer finishing the interior, putting on the vinyl top and sending the trim off to be re-anodized. Should have finished pictures next winter.

That's cool you know how to do all that, makes you appreciate the finished product so much more. I'd like to see some pics of both cars. 67 was my all time favorite year. Good luck with both of your cars!

[OneStopRestoration]

Finally back working on the car. Tail Lamps were recently assembled because I finally got my aluminum trim I stripped and polished back from anodizing. Most of the parts looked good but I finally spent time over break working a few grills and the ever hard to find eyebrow moldings. Will be sending those off in the new year. In the mean time here is the tail lamps. Alot of time taken to put it all together, put in the correct seals, hardware, and spacers. They fit the car very nice with even gapping all around.

One other thing I think many miss, there is a very small but useful edge gasket that goes around the outside of the bezel to keep a seal between the tail lamp extension and the quarter. Soft seal has a pretty nice reproduction piece to match the original.

[OneStopRestoration]

Much like the other aluminum trim I also redid all the front end pieces. Here is some paint work. I never fully understand how others spend countless hours on there restorations yet forget how to correctly paint the headlight bezels wings. It takes more time to tape off all the ribs only to make them correct for a malibu. I suppose the thought goes along with the number of cars I see gas tank gaskets put under the straps and not up against the body

[OneStopRestoration]

I still cant understand why the Flint assembly plant sequenced and marked the bumpers. I found it amusing that the 28 mark on the rear bumper could be seen post rechrome. Pretty easy to trace. I will probably be the only person in the cars ownership to know its there.

[Too Many Projects]

Thanks for the great pics, especially the correct headlight bezel painting. Glad you got back to this car. Guess you have another 4 months before decent driving weather to keep working on it.

Where did you find the correct tail light bezel gasket at the body ? All I ever see is the solid ones, with no cut out relief for the bend and they buckle. I cut mine and it isn't very noticeable, but it's still there and bugs me.

[OneStopRestoration]

Hi Mitch, You have to cut them to mimic what the originals did to allow the gasket to form and flow around the corners. You just have to be careful and use a razor blade or xacto knife. Based on what I can see of the originals, they already had the relief cuts in them for a production setting.

[RALLY]

Originally Posted by OneStopRestoration

I still cant understand why the Flint assembly plant sequenced and marked the bumpers. I found it amusing that the 28 mark on the rear bumper could be seen post rechrome. Pretty easy to trace. I will probably be the only person in the cars ownership to know its there.

My 72 Nova SS built in Van Nuys Cali has the front bumper marked on the inside too.