1974 Comet Gt Restoration

Thought I would share , not trying to toot my horn , or anything like that , but thought you all might want to see what is going on in this restoration , and the sheer speed we are running at... Now here is the deal .this car is my father's , he ordered it new and drove it as his daily driver up until fall 1999 , have you ever heard of the straw that broke the camels back ,the fact was brought up that we need to get on restoring the "comet"... well that's basically how May 16 of this year went , from calm to parts flying again after 21 years , this restoration started in 1994 with building the engine , and swapping it over to a t5 5 speed , and came to an abrupt stop right there until May 16th , I will start with these pictures in order , and show what can happen when a man is determined to be done while it is still summer cruising weather , you might be thinking right now , nope can't be done , or done right , well we will let the pictures answer that question ... Guys keep in mind , I do not know all the parts sources I am digging as I go trying to find stuff , so please feel free to comment with any helpful thing you might think of , because if you had to search the earth over to find something , and found it , most likely I am fixing to be doing the same thing , and your help / info will be greatly appreciated at this point Melvin's and Ebay have basically been my parts sources unlike any other car I have done

 

Welcome to the forum!

Nice project and should look nice when finished! Melvin's and Ebay are definitely good sources for parts. Auto Krafters in VA is also a good source.

There are plenty of members here that might vry well have some good used parts that you need. Just post a wanted ad in the classified section!

Good luck!!

 

That is going to be one Awesome car. Nice to have a sentimental value to it. I'm working on a Mav that belonged to my father in law.

Your pics are some of the most detailed I've seen. Keep us posted.

P.S. Gnarly sidepipes rule!

 

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from the looks in that first pic., you have some big birds around where you live...LOL

 

Real nice job so far - how did that aftermarket quarter panel fit the car?

 

well they turned out great , but like anything aftermarket , they took some tweaking , and persuasion to get them right , but I can give the 110% on metal quality , they are far thicker than the actual factory panels , a stab at guessing the gauge of them I would say 12-14 , and the cars factory quarters were 18-20 , the only major issue of sorts was the passenger side panel did not have the right roll in it at the bottom behind the wheel opening , but a few pie cuts in the wheel well lip , and it went perfect by hand , and just welded the pie cuts up , being we know the original dies for them are ancient history , so they actually were pretty good , they just require some skill to get on the car right , the body line is right , and very crisp , that was my major concern when I ordered them , that all turned out to be fine ...I know I wrote a book , but figured out years ago that to much info is never a bad thing

 

Thanks for the review - I bought the same panels but only used parts of them to repair my quarter panels - parts of the after market one don't match up so well to parts of the OEM panels - I know I should have just installed the both new ones as they came complete - I'm sure they will come out good in the end but there is still more work for me to do to get them right

 

Well I wouldn't go as far as to say you necessarily should have done the whole quarters , it all depends onwhat is going on in them , and where the splices have to be more than anything , but I was dealing with a car that had side swiped a fence on the drivers side years ago , don't get me wrong , it was not killed , just had some skimming of filler here and there , so it just needed to get the whole panel , and the passenger side also had collision damage from a car rolling off in a parking lot in the 70's and hitting it , it got a new door , and the quarter was repaired , so I was stuck doing fulls , the rust in mine was all low , I could have pulled a deal like you did , and snip and fit and taken care of the rust and made it look good , but the other issues made me go all the way , not to mention the outer lips of my wheelhouses were bad , so taking the panel all the way off made that turn from a pain in the rump to actually a cake walk , but you know everyone does what they do , and nobody does anything the same , but the ones of us that know what we are doing all get a great finishe product , and if you think about it it's kind of funny really , no mater what road we take , we all get there

 

Looks like you are well on your way.

 

Where did you buy the replacement quarter panel?

 

Nice project. Good Story. Hope you get it all finished.

If I recall correctly, these are the people who actually make them. I called them and got quarter panels for less that anywhere else:
Schott Metal Products CO
Schott Metal Products Company
2225 Lee Drive
Akron, OH 44306
Phone: (330) 773-7873

Micah

 

You have made a lot of progress since May. Best of success to you, it will look fantastic when you are done.

 

Don't forget to check Dennis Carpenter for Maverick specific parts as well, he has a small Maverick specific section now and it will only grow!
For the Maverick parts suppliers, competition is a good thing for all of us!

 

POPS CLASSIC CAR PARTS
607 W SOUTH ST
ARCANUM, OH 45304-1050 | view map
(937) 692-8855
I am sure others sale them , but found him to be the cheapest , and then found buying from him through ebay was another $20 cheaper a side , so I did it that way , they are ok quarters , they are not perfect , but good with some tweeking , then they look like they grew there ...