Car Restoration

I have a 1973 Pontiac Grand Prix that I am going to start restoration on soon, some (all) of the interior plastic has gone brittle, any idea where I can get replacements?

Congratulations on your money pit.

Apostle can probably give you better answers. Best I could say is CraigsList. Google pulled up some places that carry parts too, but a quick glance didn't reveal any interior plastic. Are you going for a restoration or a customization? If you are embracing the pimpiness, just dispense with plastic and upholster the interior in hot pink fun fur.

eh, I joke about pimping it out, but I'm just going to restore it, the car was my grandmother's

I only deal with used engines, and late model ones at that. I am definitely no body or interior guy!

I have bought a lot of body parts off of eBay with great luck though, since I only buy plastic new. That's about all the help I can give - I'm clueless right h'yar.

Well, since UA's work on older vehicles doesn't exactly class as "restoration", you my be our resident expert soon, BK. I guess maybe magazines are the way to go.

Crap, that reminds me: I read somewhere about a guy in Wisconsin who does insanely accurate restorations and I have a '63 Grand Prix rusting away in a shed in Wisconsin. I should see if he wants it.

I'll give eBay a look, but who seriously sells maroon interior window trim and steering column cowlings for a 74 (my mistake on it being a '73) grand prix

I don't restore. That implies pretty-fying.

I look for things that make me go, and then I bolt them on.

Hemmings Motor News. If you can't find the stuff you need there, you're SOL because that means nobody on the planet can help you.

Off topic, I was nearly boned when I wrecked the bike on that deer a year or two ago--I bent the forks and Honda doesn't carry them any more.

But I poked around and found a guy in Chicago who custom builds obsolete forks for motorcycles. Interior plastic is probably trickier. Forks, you're just machining a pair of two pipes that fit within each other. You're dealing with something that is molded plastic, colored, and probably has a relatively limited market.

While you're poking around for parts, you should try douching everything down in Armor-All. If it is as badly cracked as I expect it is, it probably won't make the nut, but you'd be surprised at how much Armor-All can bring back damaged plastic.

I nicely resurrected an early '90s Dodge Ram pickup with it, although I've had less luck with the '83 Nissan, so I'm guessing you'd be SOL on a '74 Pontiac.

i'll try but alot of it falls apart at the touch

I would suggest LMC or Year One catalogs. Summit is also good for that sort of thing. A word of advice from a Body Tech......stay away from aftermarket body panels as much as you can. We call them "Sordafit" parts. By the by, what sort of resto are you doing?

the body itself is in good shape, other than needing a paint job and some chrome work, there's no rust or missing pieces it's just some interior plastic trim parts and the steering column cowl that needs replaced (and the word "NEED" isn't a big one, she'll function just fine without, she'll just look a little crappy)

Excellent, those catalogs I mentioned will provide you with all the interior trim pieces and column cowl action you need. Are you going to prep and paint the car yourself?

Junkyards are a great place to start, then I'd go to Craig's list.

I've always wanted to take one of these:


and make it look something like this:



Alas, I don't even have a garage now, let alone any of the tools necessary.

Plastic wears out with age. Junk yards are not an option in his case.

missed that part. but, I'd still check there anyway. You'd be surprised at what can be found there.

This car is old enough to where you wouldn't want to use salvage parts, especially plastic or rubber parts. Belt moldings, trim panels, all that stuff is made aftermarket new and available to the general public!

I've never been much of a car guy, but a few years ago I started watching the Power Block shows on Spike.

I was amazed at what's available out there to people looking to restore/refurbish old cars.

Fuck no, I have neither the equipment or the know how to do it myself, I'm lucky there's a paint and body guy here that doesn't charge much and he can work miracles

Nice. Has the car been sitting for a while? I'd also change out the suspension parts, bushings and anything else rubber on the undercarriage.

^that's been done allready, and yeah, my father has had it garaged since 96

update! I've got her running smoothly now, got tags back on her, gonna take her to my body guy next week to see what he can do, the back half of the roof has this white vynl/leatherish covering that's gone to crap, I hope he can replace it