Continental Build

wolfman1 · ST GEORGE, ONT

RE: Continental Build

wolfman1 · ST GEORGE, ONT

Decided to test fit the windshield and trim to see how it looked with the custom windshield frame

We were very happy , the windshield went in a lot easier than we thought it would

the side of the rubber looks crooked right now but will move in and it has a piece of trim that will hold it in place

wolfman1 · ST GEORGE, ONT

A little bit of an after thought but my Dad decided he liked the look of the"nostrils" that the early air conditioned cars had

These were functional, they fed fresh air to the truck mounted a/c

The design was changed and the "nostrils were eliminated by running flex hoses through the rocker panel area

Here's a better view

We think they look cool as hell

wolfman1 · ST GEORGE, ONT

The parts car we had was an early car with a/c ,so we had the "nostrils"

They were massive bronze or brass castings that were soldered in originally

if you notice , I rolled some metal to fit the radius and then used the casting as a hammer form to reproduce the shape

A tape pattern was made of the profile to transfer the location of the openings to the other car and we welded the steel nostrils in .

you can't tell the difference and I preferred to have the pieces welded rather than soldered, less chance of issues later

All welded in and primed up

dodge38 · MISSISSAUGA, ONT

Wow, I just noticed this build, what a nice car and excellent quality of work you guys are doing, thanks for sharing the build!

wolfman1 · ST GEORGE, ONT

Thanks For the compliment Hannu and thanks for looking

wolfman1 · ST GEORGE, ONT

I should mention that there has been a lot of smaller jobs being done

Dad has been busy sorting out the wiring harness, the convertible harness had been hacked apart under the hood

My guess is the previous owner didn't realize the car was designed to only start in neutral

Anyway Dad spent countless hours going through the entire harness (with it out of the car and all over the shop floor)

he replaced sections from the parts car and replaced some wires completely

He cleaned all the connectors

He even took all the window switches apart , cleaned the contacts and replaced some springs inside as well

Dad also spent a lot of time just picking the best pieces of trim from both cars plus the spare trim that came with one of the cars. A bunch of small pieces were taken to the chrome shop, the bumpers ,grille and some other parts had already been rechromed and never installed by the former owner

He also pulled all the gauges etc apart cleaned them up and painted the housings

Some of the sub-assemblies back together and waiting to go back in

Dad also cut all new plastic lenses for the instruments as well

-- Edited by wolfman1 on Wednesday 1st of October 2014 09:58:24 PM

Chris Stapley · CAMPBELLFORD, ONT

Excellent build, thank you for documenting and adding on the forum.. Simply awesome! I love phantom builds, did a very nice 1958 Buick 4 door convertible in a shop I worked at years ago..

51 Styline · NIAGARA FALLS, ONT

Thanks for the updates on your progress. The car looks great as is and I am sure it will be stunning when completed. The workmanship and detail will show the care taken .

wolfman1 · ST GEORGE, ONT

Thanks Chris and 51 for the kind words

wolfman1 · ST GEORGE, ONT

I guess I should tell everyone the this car is being built to be driven, it will not be a trailer queen

Although I reference that some items are "correct" for judging etc, this has not been a high priority, it's just that if you're going to paint something it may as well be the right colour

We're planning on driving the wheels off it

Anyway, on with the build itself

Got a call From Smax, the engine is ready but he needs a flywheel because we have decided to take his advice and put the engine on a dyno and make sure everything is good

Well we didn't have a flywheel, all we had was the torque converter

We couldn't find a flywheel to fit this engine, Smax says his buddy at the machine shop could take the plate and ring gear from the spare torque converter and weld up some type of adapter plate but they couldn't do it for a week , this was going to hold the engine up for 2 weeks, so we said the hell with the dyno

A shot of the engine at Smax' place

just starting to put some accessories on it for the dyno

The spare torque converter from the parts car, this is another difference between early and late production cars

the early car had this aluminum torque converter and the tranny is air cooled

the later cars are steel converters and have a trans cooler

wolfman1 · ST GEORGE, ONT

Went and picked up the engine, already had the trans back waiting

Bolted them together and did a bit of detailing

We do have another set of valve covers that have been glass beaded and we polished all the ribs

didn't want to put the good ones on at this point in the build

And in she went

sasquatch · NORTH BAY, ONT

Very good interesting pics ,,and info about this build. "Smax? is Smax Smith?

wolfman1 · ST GEORGE, ONT

sasquatch wrote:
Very good interesting pics ,,and info about this build. "Smax? is Smax Smith?

Yep, that's him, he just lives down the road from me

here he is in his other office, I stole this picture from Meester Jamie here on this site

-- Edited by wolfman1 on Thursday 2nd of October 2014 08:15:42 PM

sasquatch · NORTH BAY, ONT

Great pic!! A real funny crazy guy, must be a great neighbour!!

wolfman1 · ST GEORGE, ONT

sasquatch wrote:
Great pic!! A real funny crazy guy, must be a great neighbour!!

We're not exactly neighbours, he's 10 minutes down the road in Glen Morris ( the next little village)

Super nice guy ,always friendly ,he has a garage and does general auto repairs to help with his racing etc.

DavidP · BRADFORD, ONT

I was just watching "My Classic Car Season 12 Episode 26 - 1956 Continental Mark II & 1971 Buick Riviera" ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXWQenF8NBs

When looking at the clean lines on the car ... I can't help but wonder how nice it would look as a 'retractable hardtop' using the technology of some of the high end imports of today ... being almost invisible when in both the UP and DOWN position ...

wolfman1 · ST GEORGE, ONT

DavidP wrote:
I was just watching "My Classic Car Season 12 Episode 26 - 1956 Continental Mark II & 1971 Buick Riviera" ...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXWQenF8NBs
When looking at the clean lines on the car ... I can't help but wonder how nice it would look as a 'retractable hardtop' using the technology of some of the high end imports of today ... being almost invisible when in both the UP and DOWN position ...

Thanks for the link, funny thing is that Dad actually has a couple of those boat tail Riv's too

And we found some more Mark II's

That's a 57 Retractable roof sitting on the Mark II, so the wheels in his head are already turning

wolfman1 · ST GEORGE, ONT

This thread is getting close to being caught up to where the build is, so the posts will slow down soon

Trunk lid fitted, it can come back off now to be painted inside

All the primers, epoxy and paint have been House of Kolor / Valspar products

House of Kolor is supposed to have the blackest black, so we're about to find out

we're using their Shimrin 2 base and their Kosmic Urethane Show Klear

-- Edited by wolfman1 on Saturday 4th of October 2014 01:31:22 PM

wolfman1 · ST GEORGE, ONT

I took the front seat and some other pieces to the upholstery shop
I had completely stripped the seat frame ,repainted it and reconditioned the seat motors and related linkages ( 4 way power seat )
While at the upholstery shop I snapped a couple of pics of other projects he had there

-- Edited by wolfman1 on Monday 6th of October 2014 02:00:13 PM

dodge38 · MISSISSAUGA, ONT

Nice truck he had there, "Moonshine something", very cool

wolfman1 · ST GEORGE, ONT

dodge38 wrote:
Nice truck he had there, "Moonshine something", very cool

It was really cool, "Moonshine Runner" with a BBC

Always something nice there when I visit that shop

wolfman1 · ST GEORGE, ONT

Back to the Mark II
We fit the front end back on the car and set all the body gaps
I took the hood into be dipped , didn't want to take any chances of warping it

Got the inside of the fenders painted and installed the fresh air ducts

A shot inside the cabin

Fenders back on , waiting for the hood to come back from being chemically stripped

Final block sanding is being done on the rest of the car

sasquatch · NORTH BAY, ONT

Enjoying your'e great pics wolfman, looks great!!

wolfman1 · ST GEORGE, ONT

sasquatch wrote:
Enjoying your'e great pics wolfman, looks great!!

Thanks Ray, I'm glad you're enjoying the pics

wolfman1 · ST GEORGE, ONT

Well the car's been painted, it looks awesome

here's a sneak peek, I'll take some better shots tomorrow

JPB · AYLMER, ONT

wolfman1 wrote:
I hope I'm not boring people with the history lessons but I've become a little obsessed with these cars and find the history very interesting myself

History is Good, the build is fantastic ! smile

wolfman1 · ST GEORGE, ONT

JPB wrote:
wolfman1 wrote:
I hope I'm not boring people with the history lessons but I've become a little obsessed with these cars and find the history very interesting myself
History is Good, the build is fantastic !

Thanks John

Bringing the car home tomorrow, so we can finish it at our leisure over the winter, Dad was hoping to at least drive it around the block this year but that ain't happening

Bob T · BRANTFORD, ONT

Love it. More pictures of the paint.

entourageguy · BARRIE, ONT

Great story. Love following a build.

slab · BRANT COUNTY, ONT

The paint looks amazing. Must have been fun painting the valleys between the fins and the body! Somebody sure knows how to lay out clear.

wolfman1 · ST GEORGE, ONT

Bob T wrote:
Love it. More pictures of the paint.

More pics from today

All loaded up ,ready for the trip home

And she's finally home

The car will be wet sanded and polished yet but still looks great as is

A couple little specks of dirt and some minor orange peel that will be polished out

Lots of clear coat

wolfman1 · ST GEORGE, ONT

entourageguy wrote:
Great story. Love following a build.

Thanks

wolfman1 · ST GEORGE, ONT

slab wrote:
The paint looks amazing. Must have been fun painting the valleys between the fins and the body! Somebody sure knows how to lay out clear.

Thanks ,but I can't take credit for it

House of Kolor / Valspar had their tech guy spray it for us as a demonstration of their product

Bob T · BRANTFORD, ONT

Who painted it ?

wolfman1 · ST GEORGE, ONT

Bob T wrote:
Who painted it ?

The Valspar / House of Kolor technical rep's name is Brian, I can't remember his last name but I have his card somewhere

If you're wondering about the shop the car was at, Dad rented the shop with the booth.

Andrew that was doing the bodywork has now taken the shop over and has just started his own business

-- Edited by wolfman1 on Friday 10th of October 2014 10:57:07 PM

Bob T · BRANTFORD, ONT

Very, very nice. Is the shop in the St. George area?

wolfman1 · ST GEORGE, ONT

Bob T wrote:
Very, very nice. Is the shop in the St. George area?

Thanks Bob, the shop is in Burlington but the car is now at home here in St George

will · WALKERTON, ONT

Thank you so much for sharing both the build and especially the story. Love it!

wolfman1 · ST GEORGE, ONT

will wrote:
Thank you so much for sharing both the build and especially the story. Love it!

Thanks Will, more story and building to come

wolfman1 · ST GEORGE, ONT

The wheels on the car are now driving my Dad nuts , he can't stand looking at them any longer and stuck some crappy plastic wire wheel covers on for now
If anyone has a really nice set (new or nearly new) of 15" radial wide whites the want to sell let me know

Chris58 · WATERFORD, ONT

Incredible car Howie. They are one of the most beautiful cars to come out of the fifties. That black looks unbelievable! Great build.

wolfman1 · ST GEORGE, ONT

Chris58 wrote:
Incredible car Howie. They are one of the most beautiful cars to come out of the fifties. That black looks unbelievable! Great build.

Thanks Chris, I have to agree with you, they were one of the nicer designs of the 50's

If you're in the neighbourhood stop in, that goes for any other members

wolfman1 · ST GEORGE, ONT

Just realized I hadn't posted any pics of the front of the car

invision · NIAGARA FALLS, ONT

Very NICE!

jarvis1 · COBBLE HILL, BC

It doesn't get any better than this !!

wuga · PRINCE EDWARD COUNTY, ONT

Now this is a car/build worth discussing!

Warren

fatchuk · ST MARYS, ONTARIO

Stunning build..and way back you thought nobody would be interested in this ..remember??? Thanks, it's a great looking car great build and paint ..

wolfman1 · ST GEORGE, ONT

Thanks for the compliments
Nothing worth taking pictures of right now
We've been getting the car ready to fire the engine, lots of small things like hooking up vacuum lines, fuel lines and bolted the exhaust manifolds on with the heat shields etc.
Going to get the exhaust on soon
Still a lot of wiring to be tied in
Need to cut and polish the paint before we put the trim on

wolfman1 · ST GEORGE, ONT

Got the exhaust in place , still have to tighten all the clamps up ,just snugged everything up for now, the exhaust exits through the bumper and we don't want to completely tighten everything up until after the bumper is in place .
Still working on small details to ready the engine for start up.