Longchamp restoration

An update on progress:
-Bought a new electrical antenna, has given up on having a bumper antenna
-Took out windshield and rear window, just in case there was rust. There was... New windshield will be bought
-The fabric on the rear shelf between back seat and back window was destroyed by the sun. Bought new Ivory Alcantara (expensive) and put on. I'm no good at that sort of thing, but it looks OK
-Managed to break a headlight sprinkler when removing from front bumper, so right now I have holes in my front bumper, and nothing to put in them. Anyone have these or know where to get them?
-Rust. The big one. I'm finished 20 nice patches welded in, 5 in the left c-pillar alone (inside and out). Had a metal fabricator do new rear fender lips at $300 per side

So now it's filling, filing, shaping and dismantling, so it's ready for paint.

Step 2

Step 3

Sadly ever Longchamp has rust. I did not realize that you had to be logged in to see the pictures. Looks like a very nice job. I agree about the back self, I saw another Longchamp at Monteray this weekend, and he used swade on his.

Keep the pictures coming, and what did you use for the antenna? I just put a dummy in the hole, I have not found anything that really works.

Hi
For antenna, I've previously owned several cars with non-functioning power antennas. Every time I bought a universal new power antenna, the cheapest I could get, and they lasted 2 years max. This time I've bought again a universal power antenna, but the most expensive I could find, 3 times the low price, so I hope it lasts at least 6 years

If you want pictures, here's a nice "before" picture of the left c-pillar. Those holes were filled with filler and painted, no sign of rust. But I had rust dripping out on my back seats, so I thought I'd better remove the paint with a sander. What a shock

And after...

Good to see another Longchamp getting the attention it deserves. Keep up the good work Mikael!

Kiitos!

It's now starting to regain the shape that Tom Tjaarda intended
A pro could probably have filled it in 2-3 iterations. I'm on the 10th iteration on most areas...

It's now fully disassembled. Yes, I'll leave a few chrome lists on and paint around them. Not ideal, but there's no rust, and from bitter experience I know that I don't have the skills/tools to remove and install all such lists without ruining a few of them

When I took off the doorhandles I could see that the prior owner didn't even bother removing those when painted last time. Somebody decided to have it painted as cheaply as possible I guess...

One more

Mikael,
since you have the rear window out, have a look from inside the luggage compartment at the box section between the trunk lid and the glass. on mine that whole piece was rusted through from the inside. If it has to be fixed now is the best time.
Peter

Thanks for the tip Peter

And I'm happy to inform you there's not a drop of rust in that area. But as can be seen I had masses of rust in c-pillars. I guess that, if you allow me a little philosophy, you could say that the guy that sealed the rear window kinda sealed the fate of the car.
He decided how much and where it would rust.

Soon it's off to the painter. Who would know the paint code for a medium blue metallic 78 Longchamp? The colour in the pictures is a respray, the blue beneath it is slightly lighter.

It's now at the painter. I told him something I'm sure he doesn't hear that often: "Take your time, no hurry".

Driving there, it impressed me how helpful my fellow Danes are. Even though I had the headlights removed, people flashed their lights at me, because we have to have lights on even during the day. I told this to my painter, he said that even when he drives a bare shell with no lights, no windows, no hood, no doors etc., people still flash their lights...

By the way, I wasn't worried about getting a ticket for driving in this disassembled state, because there wasn't a policeman anywhere near. How do I know? Barack Obama visited Copenhagen that day, so all police was in the city...

Now I'll go through all the removed parts and try to make them look good as well.

I have a few paint charts for de Tomaso. If you have the Italian name for the color I might find it.

Hi
All I have is Bleu Met 133A6 or 13346. Does that help?
Thanks

I think that the number is a paint manufacturer number, for the following reason; I have the correspondance between the first buyer and the factory for my car, and there is no reference to a number. When it comes to the paint the factory always use the name of the paint in the correspondance. This is no proof of what I say, only an idea. As to your paint I propose "Spies Hecker" paint number 6338 006/ 93467, blu met. This is a wild shot but perhaps worth asking your painter to mix a sample.

Actually, I should have posted, it might already be painted. Since I didn't know, I ended up telling the painter to do the same colour it already has, DeTomaso or not.

But thanks

The painter sent this picture today, can't be long now before I can pick it up

Looks great! keep up the good work!

I just picked up the Longchamp at the painters, and drove the 30 miles to my home where it's now in a heated garage. It'll stay there, inactive, for a few months, so the paint can really harden, and I will be doing some Pantera projects for a few months. Probably February I'll start to put together the Longchamp so it's ready for spring.

A good feeling to have a car without a scratch in the garage

Mikael, are you going to show us a photo of the finished paint - is the hood and windscreen refitted? The photo at the painters looks good, but its always easier to see once all the panels are in place.

Peter

It's now parked and unmovable in the garage, so this is the best I can do

One more

looks pretty good, will be great to see it reassembled when you get there,
Peter

It's still standing still in the garage, doing Pantera stuff at the moment (engine out).

But I started it Saturday, ah just to hear that sound

Reminds me of a year ago I entered the airport parking garage, opened the driver window to get the ticket, and decided to avoid door dings so I drove to the lowest level in the garage, a huge concrete garage with almost no cars. The sound of the exhaust resonated beautifully from the walls, my window still open. When I shut down the engine, the sound echoed off, sounded like thunder rolling away! I restarted and stopped it again, thunder rolling away. I did that 5 times just to hear that sound

The way a car sounds is a big part of the joy of owning it!

Michael,

Congratulations on the restoration.

Nearly there.

Would love to see some better photo's?

Is it the camera or the poor light in those photo's.

wish I could take pictures of my car like this 599:

http://forums.nizpro.com.au/showthread.php?t=1173

I hope my Longchamp will be ready for a full rotisserie restoration during 2010.

Saving up the pennies.

Phil
Longchamp GTS 3061

The camera is my BlackBerry...

But I'm getting a Nikon this spring, hopefully that'll improve the pictures.

Finally the Pantera is running again, so it's time to switch places with the Longchamp, did that Saturday. So now I can start assembling the Longchamp, it looks easy, just add the parts in the picture.

It might take a while though, I spent 2 hours aligning the rear deck lid, was a lot easier to take off than get back on.

Now, I've always hated when I have to leave my car in the hands of others. That's the primary reason I do as much as I can myself. And here's proof why. I had the front and rear window out when painting, so yesterday the window people had my car all day to put them back in (windscreen is new). So they did, and I drove home. Today while assembling I saw a small scratch in my rear deck, all the way through to the white. And then another, and another. After a few heart stopping minutes, the status was that the window people had scratched my hood, my roof and my read deck lid. Scratches that go though both the clear coat and the colour. And my rear deck even has a small dent. Guess they didn't bother to place some protection

I've called the window people, and they accept responsibility. And I called my painter, hoping it could maybe be fixed by filling, wet sanding and polishing. He doubts it, so it'll probably be a respray. So today I've disassembled most of what I had assembled. And my painter doesn't have time for 2 weeks.

Those brainless, stupid f.... Maybe I should open a garage where we actually care about the cars that are left in our care? Either these imbeciles destroy more than they create, or because V8s are rare in this country, they joyride your car thinking nobody will know.

Mikael,

I feel your pain. It is so hard to find good people to do work these days that I try to do anything I can possibly do myself.

I hope the company makes good and you get the car back in the condition you expect.

Mark

quote:

Maybe I should open a garage where we actually care about the cars that are left in our care? Either these imbeciles destroy more than they create, or because V8s are rare in this country, they joyride your car thinking nobody will know.

Mikael, that is called "craftsmanship' and it is all but dead today- shop cut corners to make short-term profits, hire minimum-wage school dropouts, then wonder why nothing is done right and there are no repeat customers.....

You're so right. But I don't expect geniuses to work for that pay, but I expect that they have a little interest in cars, and I expect them to understand that when a freshly painted car enters, that if they don't bother placing something to protect the paint, then both the customer and the boss having to pay get very annoyed.
I did include a small note when I left the car in their care, that among other things asked them to look out for my ebony alcantara interior. Guess I should have written not to use my roof as a workbench also, my fault...

And I'm in a sense the perfect customer, because I never try to get a discount, I just pay what they charge. I don't want them to cut corners for me. This deal was by the hour, so the longer they took, the more they would have earned. Stupid f.... (sorry for my language, still fuming...)

Had to do something not appearance related. So I installed my new Summit carb instead of the old Holley 600 and my new rocker arms. Both work fine. I haven't driven it, but the idle is better than ever, and throttle response is excellent. The Summit carb on my Pantera was the same, felt like +50 HP. No, I don't work for Summit...

So now the Champ is back from the painter and I've assembled approx so much I'm right back where I was when I discovered the scratches.

The windowguy looked like a sour grape when I gave him the $1200 bill, that's not expensive since almost half the car was repainted.

Now of course the car was painted with windows in place, didn't dare take them out. But the painter had some magical 3M tape that can slightly pull back the rubber around the window, so it doesn't look like a $500 paint job.

Hood

Assembly is going fine, but slow. I try not to put anything on the car that's not "refurbished". Today I put the bumpers on, the black sides don't look too good though, can they be painted with something that lasts?
Spent an hour restoring the rear fog lamp.

Car is almost assembled except the interior. I save that for last for a couple of reasons. First I need to be able to open both doors fully in my cramped garage, so I have to get my 68 Camaro SS out first. (Sorry for mentioning a GM car, but if you want to see Europe's perhaps most original 68 Camaro: http://www.tuningmadeeasy.com/camaro/). Secondly since I can't touch this interior (ivory alcantara) with anything but totally sterile fingers without leaving a mark, I have to be clean and in my best clothes while crawling around in there

90% assembled, dirty, in grey weather and using my lousy BlackBerry camera...
Still beautiful

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