I bought this car in 1986 because I wanted a convertible. I found a 68 Caprice with a 327 and turbo 400 transmission and swapped it in place of the anemic 283 that was residing in the engine bay. Later I had a friend at a bodyshop paint it for me for a hundred dollars(i prepped he sprayed). I replaced the top and put some bucket seats in and drove it all over the place. In 1989 I decided the frame had to much rust to fix and sourced a new frame which was sandblasted and repainted. I rebuilt the suspension with H.O> Racing's kit to use f body spindles adding disc brakes and changing the roll center to greatly improve the handling. I also installed massive sway bars and springs from Global West along with their Del Alum bushings on the upper and lower control arms.
I had an "expert" welder repair some rusted body mounts and put it back together. It drove great and my wife and I enjoyed driving it for several years, As time went on circumstances dictated that I store the car which i did for about five years. After buying a house i retrieved it from storage, where all the old bondo body work had begin to bubble and crack. around 2000 I tore it down again, intending to fix the rust and get it back on the road. The deeper I went the more damage i found! Thankfully Stacy David was doing the Bronco on his show Trucks so i had a good teacher! ultimately I have replaced the entire firewall and front bodymounts , The entire floor with rockers all the way back to the one piece trunk pan. Also I found a NOS passenger quarter panel and replaced that, and repaired the driver side quarter panel with a coupe panel, which I seamed in.(still working on finishing that). Did I mention replacing the driver side rear wheel house entirely?
At this point I have the car on a rotissiere and am finishing grinding all the welds and making some adjustments on various parts. I am going to epoxy prime, paint and then use bed liner on the underside. At that point I will turn my attention to the chassis. It is in good shape. Sandblasting and painting or powdercoat will have it ready. Then I will bolt the body to the frame and finish all the final body work including all panel gaps etc, since it is a convertible i don't want it flexing too much. Then a LS engine and appropriate transmission along with updated Global West suspension parts.
