So I have been thinking...

[Smellslike1974]

Okay so most of you know my plans were to do a full restoration of Sunny D,but lately I have been thinking.I'm young,I have the rest of my life to restore this car.I have done a lot to it,but I know I wouldn't be able to do a full restoration anytime soon.I knew the responsibility of restoring a car before i started but things have changed unfortunately.So these are my new plans:

-After all the major rust Is patched,I'm gonna put the car back together.
-The 400 Is no longer going In It,for two reasons.I don't have the money to rebuild It,and I don't have the money to run It.
-The original 318 will be going back In rebuilt,just with new gaskets and such.And It was good on gas before I took it out.
-And sadly since I will not be doing a full restoration,the Sundance packaging will almost not exist unless you know the code and looked at my fender tag.So in other words.It wont look like a Sundance!I have been thinking of different paint jobs,I might just primer the whole car.Cant go wrong with primer.

Its gonna be really hard for me.Not only because the stripes and everything will be gone,but its gonna be 10 times harder trying to explain to someone what my car was,and looked like.

So thats basically It.With the knew Idea I also got a tad bit more motivation to work on It,I had It before but now I don't have to worry about It looking like It did.I'll save that for the future.

So whats everyone think?

[fourforty6pac]

That seems like a plan. You will be able to enjoy your car while you drive it. Nobody knows what the hell a Sundance is anyway! And it will give you some time to get all the goodies you need. It is better to leave the original motor in it anyway from a collector point of view. Good luck!!

[72 RR fan]

I'd put it together and drive it, if you wouldn't be doing a full out resto anytime soon. Kinda depends on what you see yourself spending dollarwise and timewise in the future. If your not gonna get to doing a full out anytime soon, sure primer it, drive it, enjoy it. You can always tear her down for a full blown resto later.
My 55 Willys Bermuda will get the primer/driver deal because I have other commitments...later a full out. My RR will get the full meal deal, just because it's time.

Drive it with the 318 & primer for now!!

[Serious Satellite]

I've made a similar decision and I think it's the right decision. In my situation I can only budget a hundred bucks a month for parts, supplies, and tools for my "restoration." Even then, that get's dipped into whenever a surprise expense hits us. You'd be surprised how much homecoming dance dresses and the undergarments that go with it can cost. Or the wife's Neon and surprise repairs that go with that car (why she loves the Neon car line, I'll never know). It's a bit difficult with a daughter in college, another one in high school, and the medical expenses that go hand in hand with Multiple Sclerosis, even the relapsing/remitting kind. That and I can only work in the wee hours of the morning since my garage isn't air conditioned and I cannot overheat. Damn disease.
I've finished the trunk and c pillar repairs myself, as well as cutting out a few small patches of rust on the fenders and one big area on the right rear wheel well. All the mounting studs have been filed down with hand files and my friend J.B. Weld has done a good job of filling in the trim holes and pin holes, and I've become intimate with two different sanders. The floor pans have been patched and the interior primered and ready for paint. There's a hell of a lot of sand paper used when sanding down a very bad do it yourself git r done paint job that's nothing more than Florida Orange Peel and more runs than a Cubs game. From the previous owner as well. So, all that I need to do is add a few coats of primer--which is sitting in the garage waiting for new 4" high density foam rollers--to the exterior and it should be ready for paint. Of course, whenever you do the primering, you always find another small dent or ding that needs work. Perfectionist.

Oh, and the wiring is crap, so I'm gonna have to rebuild that as well.

I have the parts for a steering column rebuild and have a salvaged passenger door and front bench seat from a Satellite Coupe found in a local salvage yard. Fifty bucks for the two of them and they're in great shape. The original bench was reconditioned by a small shop in Virginia before I owned it, and they didn't know what they were doing. That and it was broken. I'd like to cannabalize more from that car, but I have to take it slowly. . .

The neighbors are continually checking on me and the project and they warn me when it's getting too hot for me to be out and about. Good people, but even they're starting to get anxious to see the car on the road. They know it runs, and they've seen the authentic 1974 Ohio Plates I have for the car, it's just killing me that it's not on the road yet.

I want to drive the dang thing. . . it's been sitting in the garage for two years now in a state of disrepair. So, my personal deadline is this spring. I'll have the new shocks and new tires installed by then and the undercarriage rustified. Not that there's much rust there, the previous owner coated that and the trunk with a roofing tar like substance and it's on there thick. Takes a damn long while to clean that junk off.

So, to paraphrase. . .you're young and you've committed to a car that should be around for a long time. Why worry about the Sundance stripe package now? Make it your coming out party when the thing is completely restored, even if it takes ten years!

[Smellslike1974]

Thanks for the feedback!

[moparmodeler]

Times are tough, every week it seems I see a members car on ebay.
Hold in there, and do what you have to do.

I am faced with many propblems with my BONE stock Satellite. For example, were can I find the rubber floor covering? I guess I will just put in carpet. Should I find and put in a bench seat like the car was born with?, Or should I maintain the buckets that are in it now. Should I put in a center console or or return the car to column shift. And as far as the am radio with one speaker, I need a little more then that.

[Smellslike1974]

Nice car!

Thats another dilemma.My interior.Should i put all the original stuff back in,and risk it getting more damaged and what not or should i just find buckets and hopefully a back seat.I found a place that sells the pattern interior i need so guess it doesn't really matter if it gets more torn and all,its replaceable.

[Serious Satellite]

I lucked into a great set of door panels on e-bay within a month or two of owning the car. They're from a 1974 Satellite Sebring Plus, White Leather, and are in almost pristine condition. I snuck them in one day when the wife left me alone with the computer, e-bay, and the credit card!

My wife was but she and about it for days and then it silently went away. . .


hence the reason for a damn budget. . .

AND, I've been thinking about keeping the flat satty hood on the car instead of the bulge hood I have in the garage. . .

[72 RR fan]

Nice car!

Thats another dilemma.My interior.Should i put all the original stuff back in,and risk it getting more damaged and what not or should i just find buckets and hopefully a back seat.I found a place that sells the pattern interior i need so guess it doesn't really matter if it gets more torn and all,its replaceable.

If the interior seat kit is available, then I'd maybe opt to use the seats you have, and enjoy them...Obviously they are a part of the Sundance package, a big part of the history of the car. If they're not available, then I'd put in a driver set.....

BTW...I saw a kinda rough 72 RL Satellite sell on Ebay recently...I was surprise to see a 74 Sundance front seat like yours in it.....I though it was comical to recognize it...they mentiond that they had recently changed the int.

[72 RR fan]

Times are tough, every week it seems I see a members car on ebay.
Hold in there, and do what you have to do.

I am faced with many propblems with my BONE stock Satellite. For example, were can I find the rubber floor covering? I guess I will just put in carpet. Should I find and put in a bench seat like the car was born with?, Or should I maintain the buckets that are in it now. Should I put in a center console or or return the car to column shift. And as far as the am radio with one speaker, I need a little more then that.

The rubber floor mat is cool...hope you find one!!!!!...that kind of stuff makes me do a double take. I have a 59 Plymouth taxicab with a rubber floor mat...It looks brand new after spending the day cleaning it...then putting Armor All on it....kinda slick though..LOL! There are a couple of holes on the driver's side, but I put a cool floor mat over them. I'd like to see a Satellite with a full mat...only seen one parts car tat had it..but it was all ripped to pieces, as well as the rest of the car..

[Smellslike1974]

Yeah ill go with the original interior,but i need to find a carpet,i threw mine out...it was bad anyway.

heres a pic of what it might look like.ha ha

[1971SSP]

This mad me laugh my ass off!!

by Serious Satellite on Thu Sep 18, 2008 11:31 am

I lucked into a great set of door panels on e-bay within a month or two of owning the car. They're from a 1974 Satellite Sebring Plus, White Leather, and are in almost pristine condition. I snuck them in one day when the wife left me alone with the computer, e-bay, and the credit card!

My wife was but she and about it for days and then it silently went away. . .


hence the reason for a damn budget. . .

[1971SSP]

You have all winter to get that thing back together and running. Call Nick for your carpet needs, and primer the whole car, forget painting for now...just get it back on the road and enjoy! I have a 318 in my car, it runs great, and I don't go broke cruising around town.

[ROGERLEE]

this is in reply to serious satellite, you know a lot of people, me including don't really know how lucky we have it, you have a desease and you are working on your car...God bless you! my afflictions aren't near your level, it takes letters like yours to install a sense of "get off your lazy arse" and do some work. you have my upmost respect most folks don't know what you go thru daily, i am sure its tuff..keep up the good work and inspiring letters.

and for smellslike drive it, have fun, you may be young, we all once was, the years go by too quickly to second guess on what coulda woulda, heck when i was your age i was driving a burnt orange charger, the thing would break down every week, jacked up with hi-jackers, decals in the back windows, a rebel flag tag dangling from the front tag with small chains, shackles, and a big ole cb radio antennae on the trunk!! now that was living!!!