@chrisfreemesser5707 How's the weather there ? , its about 86 farenheit here right now , probably a lot hotter where Tavo is ,but 86 is more than enough for me .I'm not gloating ( much) .
@@barrycuda3769 It's actually going to stay a fair bit above freezing the next several days so the snow should melt, but lots of rain in the forecast so I prob won't get to work on the LeBaron at all
Another learning curve, with zero room for error this time 😆 Doing much research on TH-cam, and getting some good tips from the absolute master in the business 🥝
It's , a very large project on your plate.. Back in the day had a friend that bought a immaculate pacer red black interior. Being a ford guy didn't really understand what he had . Think it was about 79 , 80 . He paid $1700 for it . And I'm from Adelaide. So local car . Never forget the 3 speed floor shift. Anyway times will come that you're going to question what you doing. I've had project for years . I've decided I'll not give up .. Good luck 👍
you'll find the roof skin is pinch welded as well along the gutter area the spot weld marks you see most likely hold the inner structure to it see if the inner frame can be left intact to it you might be able to unpick it that way saving a lot of labour by only needing to join it at the factory inner points and through the pillars
Cheers Brent. I was trying to contact you on the one you had on offer, then this came along, just "up the road" as we would say, in Jamestown. Got a few other useful bits on it.
Cheers Clayton. It has been a while between drinks 🤣 Pretty good Christmas for us down here, warm as usual (just over 100F) And I hope yours was great too. 👍
@TAVOAu it was great. To short of time off. Did get to spend time with my wife, 3 of our children and 3 grandchildren. It's a bit chilly in North Carolina 43f at 5am. Time to get back on the road again.
That’s a lot of hours but if you enjoy doing it go for it! If you run into a problem chop that roof off and make it a convertible! You should ask Uncle Tony what he thinks… that roof looks very common here in the US….
NO, no convertible mod. The front half of the roof is very similar to the US Valiant and Dart, but beyond the middle of the front doors, it changes quite significantly.
@ Looks like you enjoy tinkering around with it so it’s not a job for you! Should be satisfying when the job is done knowing you did all the hard work yourself! Happy new year my man 😎
Yes, more work than I really would like to be doing. The rear window is rather unique, convex and concave at the same time. Not a pleasant thing to install. Similar to the US version, but a bit more pronounced in the top lip.
@@mexicanspec Oh yes, those. Just another of the minor changes made in local tooling, to follow the curvature of the rear one. They basically swapped ends, where the US model has a sharp join above the front quarter glass, our door has a smoother curve, like the US rear. We just like to be different 😆
Thanks Kiwi. Expect lots of emails, maybe even phone calls! Nah, just kidding, If I can keep my patience about me, we should be fine. But if I do come across a curly bit, I'll definitely take you up on that 😆 🤩
That was lucky getting the donor car ,I'm sure it would be a lot harder to get one in NZ , and if you could it would not be cheap. It will be good to turn it into a Pacer replica ,which colour are you painting it ? , If it was mine , I think I'd go with Hot Mustard. Will it have the Pacer dash gauges and bucket seats?.In the early eighties I had a base model VG , that would be good to still have and do a Pacer replica , but it got rear ended by a really nice VF Valiant doing about 70 mph and ruined, but his car got repaired with my cars front end panels.
Hey Barrycuda. Not too easily found this side of the ditch either, I got very lucky with this. The car is going to be a tribute to my first Pacer, back in 1980, which, and I didn't know at the time, was an SOA car (special order) in deep chartreuse, an olive green a bit darker than the doors currently on it. Yes, getting pretty much the full Pacer treatment, hopefully to the point, where only those who 'know' will be able to pick it from a genuine one..
@TAVOAu Oh , well I suppose you'll paint it Deep Chartreuse then ? , how many Pacers were in that colour , just yours ? , that would look good , my VH Ranger XL is Deep Chartreuse. It always seemed to me that there were two versions of that colour, one is a bit lighter, mine's the darker one .Green is my favourite colour.
By the way Tavo , what's the availability of VG/VH headlights over there ,I'm ok for old original sealed beams, but a long time ago I bought a pair ( made in India) that take a replaceable Halogen bulb , unfortunately one of them got water inside it and the lens was ruined, and now they dont seem to be available anymore. I was talking on the phone about 18 months ago with the owner of Plumkrazy parts in Queensland, and he said he was on the verge of selling his own reproduction Halogen bulb VG/VH headlights, but I haven't seen any evidence of them yet.
You're not seeing things Barry. VG and VH Deep Chartreuse were in fact different, but stupidly both coded GG. And yep, the VH shade was darker. 2 confirmed sightings of Chartreuse Pacers, mine, an A88 striped car no longer with us, and one hockey stripe that still exists in very poor but restorable condition. Rumours of a third pop up here and there, but nobody can seem to provide any confirmation. But they're not the rarest. One of each, Mahogany metallic and Citron Gold built, and I've seen them both.
Nothing around still in the headlight department. The Autopals (Indian ones) just seem to have fallen off the market. Someone is flogging off Fiat 126 lights as Valiant/Torana units, but not sure they'd do the job, considering they have very different mountings. On rare occasions, old stock Hellas pop up, for around $600AU a pair.
A lot of work, your old roof is not much good 😂 a lot of these cars like either were crashed or rusted badly, ALL classic Suffer one ailment RUST!!!! It NEVER sleeps!! To rust it does not care Ferrari or Datsun it rusts!!
GOOD ONYA TAVO!!💥💪👊
Keep at it Tavo...slow and steady wins the race!
Hi Chris 🙂
@@barrycuda3769 G'day to you sir!
@chrisfreemesser5707 How's the weather there ? , its about 86 farenheit here right now , probably a lot hotter where Tavo is ,but 86 is more than enough for me .I'm not gloating ( much) .
Actually not bad here today. Not at all South Aussie inland summerish. 21c, heading for 23 max. Monday's supposed to get back up there.
@@barrycuda3769 It's actually going to stay a fair bit above freezing the next several days so the snow should melt, but lots of rain in the forecast so I prob won't get to work on the LeBaron at all
Nice find on the donor car. Should be lots of fun swapping the top.
Another learning curve, with zero room for error this time 😆 Doing much research on TH-cam, and getting some good tips from the absolute master in the business 🥝
Looks like the donor roof should fit ok. Just time consuming and alot of work. You’ll get it done 👍
It's , a very large project on your plate..
Back in the day had a friend that bought a immaculate pacer red black interior. Being a ford guy didn't really understand what he had . Think it was about 79 , 80 . He paid $1700 for it . And I'm from Adelaide. So local car . Never forget the 3 speed floor shift.
Anyway times will come that you're going to question what you doing.
I've had project for years . I've decided I'll not give up ..
Good luck 👍
Never give in mate, just walk away , have 5 minutes to yourself then back into it. Something always pops up to help u out. Well done
you'll find the roof skin is pinch welded as well along the gutter area
the spot weld marks you see most likely hold the inner structure to it
see if the inner frame can be left intact to it you might be able to unpick it that way saving a lot of labour by only needing to join it at the factory inner points and through the pillars
I think it's Awesome...
Yes I'm a bit biased..
Since my own 68 Dart sedan is so similar..
Cheers from Westminster CA 🇺🇸
Thanks AtZero. Yes, under the skin, it's the same car as your shorter version Plymouth Valiant.
@@TAVOAu Mopar A Bodies Forever 🇺🇸...
Keep going mate
Now that’s a good score man , well done 👌🏽
Cheers Brent. I was trying to contact you on the one you had on offer, then this came along, just "up the road" as we would say, in Jamestown. Got a few other useful bits on it.
@ yeah that’s awesome , I did share my phone number on one of your videos 👌🏽👌🏽
@@unclebrentsshed4253 Ahhh grrr, I didn't see that 😒
Great to see a video this morning. Hope you had a wonderful Christmas. Take your time on the roof swap and it will look factory. 👍👍👍👍
Cheers Clayton. It has been a while between drinks 🤣
Pretty good Christmas for us down here, warm as usual (just over 100F) And I hope yours was great too. 👍
@TAVOAu it was great. To short of time off. Did get to spend time with my wife, 3 of our children and 3 grandchildren. It's a bit chilly in North Carolina 43f at 5am. Time to get back on the road again.
That’s a lot of hours but if you enjoy doing it go for it! If you run into a problem chop that roof off and make it a convertible! You should ask Uncle Tony what he thinks… that roof looks very common here in the US….
NO, no convertible mod. The front half of the roof is very similar to the US Valiant and Dart, but beyond the middle of the front doors, it changes quite significantly.
@ Looks like you enjoy tinkering around with it so it’s not a job for you! Should be satisfying when the job is done knowing you did all the hard work yourself! Happy new year my man 😎
Cool project good luck with getting that roof skin out .... easier an quicker to cut and resleeve pillars at bottom ....
Yeah, the million and one dimples at 0:45 was trying to knock it back into shape after a massive sag from the heat.
It looks like you have a lot of work to do. It will keep you out of the casinos though. The rear widows have an interesting design to them.
Yes, more work than I really would like to be doing. The rear window is rather unique, convex and concave at the same time. Not a pleasant thing to install. Similar to the US version, but a bit more pronounced in the top lip.
@@TAVOAu I meant the frame on the side rear windows with that sharp corner. it is much different than our cars.
@@mexicanspec Oh yes, those. Just another of the minor changes made in local tooling, to follow the curvature of the rear one. They basically swapped ends, where the US model has a sharp join above the front quarter glass, our door has a smoother curve, like the US rear. We just like to be different 😆
@@TAVOAu 👍
G'day
Are you based in Australia?
This classic will still look &sound amazing all done up, Cheers.
Don't hesitate to reach out, I'll help if I can.
Thanks Kiwi. Expect lots of emails, maybe even phone calls! Nah, just kidding, If I can keep my patience about me, we should be fine. But if I do come across a curly bit, I'll definitely take you up on that 😆 🤩
That was lucky getting the donor car ,I'm sure it would be a lot harder to get one in NZ , and if you could it would not be cheap. It will be good to turn it into a Pacer replica ,which colour are you painting it ? , If it was mine , I think I'd go with Hot Mustard. Will it have the Pacer dash gauges and bucket seats?.In the early eighties I had a base model VG , that would be good to still have and do a Pacer replica , but it got rear ended by a really nice VF Valiant doing about 70 mph and ruined, but his car got repaired with my cars front end panels.
Hey Barrycuda. Not too easily found this side of the ditch either, I got very lucky with this. The car is going to be a tribute to my first Pacer, back in 1980, which, and I didn't know at the time, was an SOA car (special order) in deep chartreuse, an olive green a bit darker than the doors currently on it. Yes, getting pretty much the full Pacer treatment, hopefully to the point, where only those who 'know' will be able to pick it from a genuine one..
@TAVOAu Oh , well I suppose you'll paint it Deep Chartreuse then ? , how many Pacers were in that colour , just yours ? , that would look good , my VH Ranger XL is Deep Chartreuse. It always seemed to me that there were two versions of that colour, one is a bit lighter, mine's the darker one .Green is my favourite colour.
By the way Tavo , what's the availability of VG/VH headlights over there ,I'm ok for old original sealed beams, but a long time ago I bought a pair ( made in India) that take a replaceable Halogen bulb , unfortunately one of them got water inside it and the lens was ruined, and now they dont seem to be available anymore. I was talking on the phone about 18 months ago with the owner of Plumkrazy parts in Queensland, and he said he was on the verge of selling his own reproduction Halogen bulb VG/VH headlights, but I haven't seen any evidence of them yet.
You're not seeing things Barry. VG and VH Deep Chartreuse were in fact different, but stupidly both coded GG. And yep, the VH shade was darker. 2 confirmed sightings of Chartreuse Pacers, mine, an A88 striped car no longer with us, and one hockey stripe that still exists in very poor but restorable condition. Rumours of a third pop up here and there, but nobody can seem to provide any confirmation. But they're not the rarest. One of each, Mahogany metallic and Citron Gold built, and I've seen them both.
Nothing around still in the headlight department. The Autopals (Indian ones) just seem to have fallen off the market. Someone is flogging off Fiat 126 lights as Valiant/Torana units, but not sure they'd do the job, considering they have very different mountings. On rare occasions, old stock Hellas pop up, for around $600AU a pair.
New roof not a bad job
👌🏼⛽️
A lot of work, your old roof is not much good 😂 a lot of these cars like either were crashed or rusted badly, ALL classic Suffer one ailment RUST!!!! It NEVER sleeps!! To rust it does not care Ferrari or Datsun it rusts!!