Shifter

Cheers man. It's my fault really for not having the skills to do the work myself, opens the door to that kind of stuff. Was pretty dark on the car for a while but a couple of years of driving fixed that.

And we're pretty much up to current day. The car is now in primer thanks to Chaz Allen (pinstriper, custom painter and highly recommended) Will get it painted shortly and reassembled and back on the road for summer. Maybe with some fresh chrome via a contra deal. And that'll be phase 2 done. Phase 3 is 2017 and that's to bag it and mess with the wheel/tyre combo (again). Not worried about laying frame but without notching we've got 3" to play with out back and lots up front, still running stock Jag springs. Santa needs to bring me some of those Coker bias look radials in a 3 1/4 whitewall and you might have spotted the sets of ponty full wheel covers on the wall earlier. Will run the Caddy Sombrero style ones. After that I'll probably break something and start over. Talky bits here: //oldschool.co.nz/index.php?/topic/53947-shifters-51-pontiac-chieftain-talky-stuff/

Anyway, hope this isn't getting too boring but the next problem was this: I don't mind patina and this car had the good version in places, but the variations between panels just annoyed me - so this happened. It is actually a real solid old beast so it was a case of tidying it up rather than back to bare metal. Unfortunately the rear guard didn't get that message...sigh. Was a rather poor mud job done previously, but hidden by chrome. Better to catch it sooner rather than later though. And fortunately the rest of the car was good.

Ebay find: Took about 2 years to finally track these down via the HAMB: They're now gray with black lettering. Staggered SBC pattern. I mount them to the centre bolt crate motor with adapters. Recent find - rear overriders and bar, needs chrome.

Right, so we got it legal and drove it round for a couple years. Kept losing the full wheel covers so changed them out to Chev dog dish and most recently baby moons with beauty rings. Stuck a visor on and started collecting more bits and trim.

Those pics are at Valley Custom. So that was where it was getting made better! My master cylinder is under the car too as a side note, but yeah, remote reservoirs. My excuse with the SBC is that all the Canadian versions ran them OE. I'm so CDM.

Here's where any discussion relating to my 51 Chieftain build goes...fire away. At least mock me for putting an SBC in it. Here's the build thread... //oldschool.co.nz/index.php?/topic/53946-shifters-51-pontiac-chieftain/

Will upload some more progress shots in this enthralling series a bit later. Cheers. Here's the link to the other page where you can leave all necessary insults and mockery: //oldschool.co.nz/index.php?/topic/53947-shifters-51-pontiac-chieftain-talky-stuff/

Getting it back looking like a car again after a few years off the road. As you'd expect lots of stuff that takes time and money but isn't too exciting for highlights purposes like custom driveshaft, new exhaust, Rebel wire kit, 6 x seat belts (required due to power increase). Blah blah.

Life goals...

And here's a few randoms from the more successful second attempt. Changed plan to use a HQ diff instead of the Jag rear for $ reasons. Changed headers to Camaro for steering column clearance and engine colour just because.

Bit of a lurker but always enjoy following the build threads on OS. Came across a few pics of my car so figured I'd post a few up to now, and then update going forward. Got the car off a friend in stock form. It was "restored" in the UK at some point but from what I understand the guy emigrated to NZ but had health issues and passed away once here. I think the car sat for quite some time after. Anyway, I got the car and promptly broke it. The OG six needed a rebuild which priced out pretty high and as I had always planned to make it more of a daily driver I figured there was little reason to throw $ at the six. Isn't hindsight a wonderful thing. That's exactly what I should have done. Oh well... So, the short version... Jag IFS, 350 SBC crate motor, TH375 trans (yes 375!), HQ diff, rewired. Some other stuff. Would like to point out rather quickly that I'm pretty hopeless with the tools and although they entertained my efforts knocking round their shop, all the real heavy lifting was done at Valley Custom in Cambridge. However, Valley Custom wasn't the first lot to have a crack at it and I'm picking this up from when I dragged it to their shop. Long story short, none of the first lot of work was up to cert standard inc engine mounts (had even bent on trailer ride over), gearbox crossmember, rear Jag IRS mounts, and steering rack mounts. But the firewall was painted so totally worth it.

Well, it's making a much bigger thing out of it than it really was but for those who weren't there to witness firsthand... No, my strong impression is that the approach certainly wasn't in line with what the organisers and associated parties hoped for. And as an example...on thursday morning there was a checkpoint style setup next to a bridge on way to Tairua. They were waving over any car with a "noisy" exhaust or missing a front plate and ticketing. Was a well oiled production line. Cars were back on their way quickly with a fine in the glovebox. I have no issues with police at all. Happy to face consequences if I'm at fault. All I'm getting at is this wasn't a "poor me, I got a ticket for doing a burnout in the middle of Whanga" situation. Was a lot more calculated. This was a response issued by a party with a long association with the Beach Hop: Okay as most know I support the NZ Police 99.99% of the time. They have a bloody difficult job to do at the best of times and one that gets harder by the day. Having said that I was completely gobsmaked (as were most) at their "overtly agressive response" to a situation that didn't exist in the first place at this years Beach Hop festival. Their behaviour was nothing short of a calculated attack on the event and its participants. I have had a long association with Beach Hop, both as a participant and sponsor/supplier, and believed the event has always had a very positive & collabartive relationship with the NZ Police. Yes there has unfortunately been occassions when police intervention has been neccessary, but for the most part these were incidents involving those with no legitimate connection to the event and of a much younger age group than that of most participants. So what has changed since last year that warranted such an aggressive display by our boys and girls in blue? Why such a hard nosed approach. One could understand these behaviours if preceeding events had been problematic, but they haven't been. So I ask the question again, WHY? The police will no doubt tout this out as a "tatical success" but really their actions were no more than "police management political point scoring" and served only to further alienate a significant portion of the community and leave a blemish on an otherwise extremly successful event. One can only hope that NZ Police management will come to their senses and return to providing a more collabarative & supportive role for Beach Hop 2017 rather than again attack one of New Zealands most iconic motoring events. So this is the .01% of the time when I can't support the police and the powers that be need to know how wrong their actions were at BH 16.

Rattled the pontiac round as a camera car over the week. Making a one hour special for TV3 and the Beach Hop DVD. Good to catch up briefly Mr Gasser. The cops thing was interesting. Yep, not attracting attention is a good start but they were operating with a directive of ticketing missing front plates, noisy exhausts, and people riding round in pickup trays. So bit of intent there. Made it much more exciting as I discovered I was minus a warrant. Got waved through two checkpoints while they were busy so must have been crossing fingers the right way.

Timing is amazing. Everything else is dumb.