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