1967 vista cruiser

Hey Guys ,hear's a pic of my vista leaving for the body shop. I've finally got my body shop guy to take it back in July. So far he has blasted the entire body inside and out, repaired all rust holes in the doors ,fenders and tailgate and know he's working on the main body. As of last week the floor pan was replaced and now he's working on the rear compartment.

 

Conover, NC and Vancouver, BC both get one heck of a lot of humidity. I've never seen a car hit with rust like that. You body guys know their stuff, alright!

 

67 vista cruiser

Norman, actually its a Lubbock TX. car. The license plate on the car was from 1985,so I guess it sat for all those years. The skylights leaked and rusted the car from the inside out. When I got it ,the hidden compartment was full of tools and 4" of water. The doors ,fenders,hood and tailgate had only minor rust,mostly on the surface.

 

You're lucky to have a good guy on that. We get bad rust, usually down below the bottom half of the doors, and of course, the floors. Nice work. Heroes!

 

Awesome! That is one lucky vista. From what I have learned in my short time with fixin these oldies up, it requires mucho dinero and a good, HONEST body guy.

 

Here's a before pic of the floorpan.

Here's some after shots

 

Hey! You should take some credit for another restoration. Our restored faith that we can fix a floor properly.

Excellent job!

 

That floor was cut out of a 66cutlass 4dr sedan that I got several years ago. Someone cut the rear clip off and I salvaged the floor and dash. Both parts were very clean and solid and only a light sandblasting was needed.My body guy does good work and is old school and easy to work with. Tony

 

here's an update on the metal work. This is the rear compartment.

 

Wow! Such beautiful work!
Love good bodywork...that was my profession for a decade, many decades ago, and it is still in my blood.
Makes me happy to see such a wonderful vehicle as a first generation VC getting the magic touch of a master bodyman.
It will be so beautiful! I look forward to more pics of it's progress.

David

 

Here's an update on the metal work. The first pic is the fitment of the patch,the second is the tack weld and the third is the finished weld. Lots of metal work still to come,stay tuned. Tony




The curved area is the finised weld

 

nice progression pics, would like to see more for sure!

 

Tony,

That is some beautiful metal work you got going on there!
What a lucky Vista Cruiser that is, to have found you!
I sure like seeing the progress you're making.

Inspiring, for sure! :2_thumbs_up_-_anima
David

 

I am very grateful to you for sharing this with us. :2_thumbs_up_-_anima My guess for the average cost of your restoration would be at least $15,000. That would be back to stock with upgrades only if needed, like mabey front disc brakes. Am I in the right ballpark? I am really interested in what a job like you are getting done would cost on my 1976 impala wagon. When we get more financially settled my wife actually wants to take the wagon somewhere to get totally restored

 

Thanks guys for all the positive comments. As far as money, I haven't sat down and counted each dollar spent. I would guess around $8000 so far,but thats for the cost of the car, front and rear seat restored, body work and extra parts. I don't buy old cars to sell later, I buy what I like and keep them ( had 1 for almost 30 yrs now ), so the money to me is well spent. I'm hoping to have 10-12k in the vista when done. There's one other locally and I tried to buy it years ago but the guy would'nt sell, so I found this one. Talked to the guy last spring and he said would sell for 11k. I think I'll be okay on the money for mine as its a better color combination. I'll keep you posted on the progess. Tony