A few car photos from my day job.

[cicopo]

After looking at the 65 Mustang shots & old comments re Franks "Best of Show" photo set I have decided to post some taken of cars I've done over the last few years (for customers, doing it their way as per their dreams). Unfortunately these are the finished product photos from the insurance appraisal set so they aren't artistic or staged to make the car look special or have a unique background or foreground. This is my day job, and has been for the last 23 years, and I have been a judge at some shows including the Canadian Camaro Nationals so do have a good idea of what a show car gets judged on. First up is an ultra rare 68 Pontiac Bonneville convertible, which is one of 16 built with only 3 known to exist today. It's rare because it was built with a 428 Super Duty engine & 4 speed trans, a long tailshaft Muncie 4 speed and the only 1 I have ever seen in a car or at flea markets including the big one at Carlisle Pennsylvania. It was only done as an on frame restoration because the owner just wanted a nice looking driver.

http://lh6.ggpht.com/_z3rAnHnUjjY/RyUzjpXikoI/AAAAAAAADHQ/dXu1Lmrt_UA/s800/pic050.jpg

http://lh5.ggpht.com/_z3rAnHnUjjY/RyU0IZXikrI/AAAAAAAADHo/HHAtWIxspBk/s800/pic053.jpg

This one was the worst car I had run into up to that day, and I did a magazine article on what it took to salvage it. All of the steel "birdcage" that the body is built around had major structural rust, so the body had to be broken away from it & a birdcage from a wreck was used to replace it.

http://lh4.ggpht.com/_z3rAnHnUjjY/RyUxoJXikQI/AAAAAAAADEM/XESkQnowTj0/s800/pic026.jpg


http://lh6.ggpht.com/_z3rAnHnUjjY/RyUx6pXikTI/AAAAAAAADEk/ZeMYqNlmbOw/s800/pic029.jpg

[cicopo]

This 69 got the total body off frame treatment. A body job, full frame rebuild, and total driveline rebuild.

http://lh6.ggpht.com/_z3rAnHnUjjY/RyU06pXikwI/AAAAAAAADIU/nORPTGW3OdU/s800/pic058.jpg

http://lh5.ggpht.com/_z3rAnHnUjjY/RyU1gZXik1I/AAAAAAAADI8/HR1JngkRs6k/s800/pic063.jpg

And this belonged to one of my best friends who kept it as clean as his dinner ware until an old lady went through a stop sign and caused a major wreck. The main damage was down the drivers side & the roof had a kink in it in front of the rear window. Unfortunately he died in a snowmobile accident 2 winters ago.

http://lh3.ggpht.com/_z3rAnHnUjjY/ScbQYNzQd6I/AAAAAAAAhxg/JubKq6iUtAs/s800/IMG_1747.JPG

http://lh6.ggpht.com/_z3rAnHnUjjY/Scbp3VECayI/AAAAAAAAhyc/rpBdh1Jdkfk/s800/PB100018.JPG

[PhotosGuy]

Good series of cars, including the Buick in the background of #1.

[cicopo]

That Buick just left last Sat. In that photo it's still in original paint. I had to strip it to the bare steel because it had finally started rusting under the dead paint. When it left it had just over 28,000 miles on it & I've been servicing it since it had around 4600 miles. Oddly enough I never thought to take any photos of it after I repainted it. I have a few in bare steel, a few more in primer, but nothing in paint. I guess that when you work on them day in & day out you don't think of them the way others do.

[greatwhites2k]

stick to ur night job! lol just messin, #4 is my fav