1967 Fairlane GTA

My 1967 Fairlane GTA convertible came last friday. It is the one with the 390 FE engine and the C6 transmission. There were about 2,117 of these made.

The car is currently all original, except that the engine, transmission and brakes have been rebuilt.

Plans:
- This is going to be an essentially stock driver, not a show car.
- Make sure it is reliable and can be driven anywhere.
- I am ordering the full interior kit (red) from Dearborn Classics
- New paint, original black
- While it is being painted, I will get the bumpers re-chromed.
- Upgrade to either a DuraSpark or Pertronics with MSD 6AL (I already have the 6AL)
- Replace front and rear springs to get the ride height back to stock or maybe 1" lowered.
- The only performance upgrade I am planning right now is exhaust.
- A few years down the road, I will probably do heads, cam, intake, and carb.
- I may also get the stock rear rims widened to put on wider tires.

Pics:

The first paint guy wanted $15 grand for the only kind of paint job he does ... perfect.

Maaco, here I come ...

If you do the prep like taking the chrome off etc, saves bucks but painters are a funny bunch. I like the car alot, my next might be a 66 or 67 myself.

Instead of getting the stock rear rims widened, Wheel Vintiques sells those rims in 15x8 and you can get a nice chunky tire on them. I put a 275/60R15 on mine, but a 255 would look good on that Fairlane.

http://www.pbase.com/mdstreetracing/image/67992690

11/07/2007 update: I dropped off the car off at Maaco today. Now I know some of you might be thinking, "A car like that deserves better paint job than you can get at Maaco.", and you are probably right, but given that this car is being set up to be a driver and I have 2 kids going to college within 4 years, the best Maaco paint job you can get is the best fit for me right now. I'll be surprised if it costs over $5000. I do not want a car with such a perfect paint job that I am afraid to drive it for fear that it might be scratched.

64galaxy: thanks. I would strip it myself, but I have nowhere to do the work or store the stuff ... I have no garage.

blown68: I'm thinking 275s would look great on the GTA. I looked at their web site, but I didn't see any rims that looked like mine. Am I blind?

Next: get on really good terms with the folks over at Dearborn Classics. I'll probably order the #3 interior kit with everything included and be done with it. Where can I get a new rear bumper?

I have a very agressive schedule: I want to be driving it with new paint and interior by the spring.

media blasting is done. they are impressed with how little rust there is

straight to the pics ... the blue near the decklid is where they put fiberglass because the bondo was too deep there.






























































Here's a Galaxy that was there.

Nice ride, depending on who owns the Maaco Franchise the paint job should be fine.

Did over a 67 GTA Hardtop back in 90. It was the first car I completely did my self. Body work, paint suspension etc.

With the exception of the floors it was fairly solid. Had the original bumpers rechromed and was able to use most of the other trim as is. Just Dashes did a great job on restoring the dash pad.

Good news is there are many more sources for parts vs 17 years ago.

Great car wish I never sold it. I will have to scan a few of the old photos and post them.

Good luck with yours.

car got primed today.

slow but steady progress

ready for paint!