Pertti's 1970 Imperial Lebaron

[Mntac]

I've bought an ozone generator to remove mothball and musty smell from a barn stored 63 Cadillac. No mice, but it's a toss up which smell is worse. After a good cleaning and lots of treatments with the windows rolled up it actually removed most the smell. A couple green tree air fresheners and it was good to go. If you try this, dont breath the air it creates I'm told it can be bad for you.

 

[Pertti K]

You are just one example of the reason why I like to sell a lot of my cars to folks in Finland. Every one of you that I have dealt with is fair, honest and hard working plus all of you that I have dealt with love these cars as much as any of us. Most of the ones I have sold many cars to now are farmers who have time in the depths of winter to restore your vehicles and none of you is hesitant to dive into restorations and dealing with the many problems that come up. I attribute a lot of that inherent behavior to having to deal with a lot of troublesome farm equipment that is always breaking down and usually in very cold environments. That makes you tough, smart and competent. You all show an aptitude for restoring these cars with good analytical skills and good judgment. One of my friends has received 5 cars from me that were restoration projects and nearly every one of them is eventually highlighted in one of your classic car publications over there that represent restorations of all makes of collector cars and are absolute show level condition. I love seeing photos of the finished projects that you folks take on heartily. I will soon be shipping another car to the friend of mine who already has 5 of them and that one is a 1971 Charger R/T that needs a full restoration. I know it will be an award show winning restoration when it is done.

Keep up the good work and you have shown me more than I have ever seen regarding the original ATC in the C bodies and make clear some of the issues that make them so unreliable.
Thanks!

Well that's a bit too much, but thank you for your kind words! I'd like to see all Finnish car enthusiast as you see, but there are bad apples here too. Maybe someone who goes through all the trouble of finding a car overseas and importing it, also wants to take better care for it than average. Years ago it was also a good business but not anymore, the price difference is not that big and shipping is costly. But what is true, is the amount of world class restoration projects and especially custom built cars in a country of only some 6M citizens. I'm not a farmer myself, but I did grow up on a farm so vehicles and driving / fixing them has been in my life "always".

Never say never, but I don't think this will be a restoration project, not during my time at least. It's too good for that - or good enough to keep it like it is, how ever you like to put it. First I didn't like the dull and sloppy paint job it has and was already planning to have it painted some day with the original gold color. But then again, it has been painted in the 70's, so it's already part of the car's history, which you would loose, there is no rust and it looks ok from a distance, plus I don't even want to think the cost of a decent paint job for a car this size. Just had my '93 GMC Typhoon painted and it costed pretty much the same as I have put money in the Imperial, including the purchase price, shipping, taxes, everything... And it's only half of the size of an Imperial.

Also having a car that is not show class lowers your stress levels, you don't need to spend sleepless nights after every small scratch. Speaking of which, I had a close call last summer when I took the Imperial to work and tried to squeeze it to the tiny parking space, avoiding hitting other cars and especially the heater post on the right hand side of the car as I only have the driver's side mirror. And when I got out of the car, this was on that side.

 

[Pertti K]

I've bought an ozone generator to remove mothball and musty smell from a barn stored 63 Cadillac. No mice, but it's a toss up which smell is worse. After a good cleaning and lots of treatments with the windows rolled up it actually removed most the smell. A couple green tree air fresheners and it was good to go. If you try this, dont breath the air it creates I'm told it can be bad for you.

I did borrow one, but the ozone also causes plastic to go brittle in time so I only used it for a very short period and thus didn't do much. I've kept all the windows and trunk open when ever I can and cleaned the interior thoroughly several times, using for example a wet vacuum cleaner for the carpet. The rate of the odor has come down from the eye watering starting point to where you don't always even notice it any more. Of course in humid weather with all windows closed it still is there. But considering the logarithmic scale of a human nose (meaning that if the sense of an odor has come to a half, there is only 1/10 of the particles in the air), the amount of mold particles has had to come down dramatically within an year and a half. So I'll keep the windows open and let time do it's deeds. And maybe change the carpet, but let's see at least until next winter.

 

[Pertti K]

Although there are still lots of issues do be dealt with, it gives pleasure and the next cruise is again a bit more enjoyable when you can tackle at least some of them. For example:

I tried to fix the leaking washer fluid reservoir but no luck, it was so brittle that you could hear it fall into pieces if you even looked at it. But I got a solid one from Furyfinn, it had gotten some overspray probably from an earlier engine bay "restoration" project. I didn't want to use any solvents on it but soda blasting cleaned it pretty good, not too bright to fit the rest of the patina around it. In the photo I have cleaned just half of it for comparison.

Some very strange rust holes (the only ones found so far) at the right rear door were fixed by my friend, it seemed that there was a small hole in the wheel well which had let the mud and salt get into the housing behind it. After that the car was good enough for the Finnish veteran vehicle registration. There was an absolutely mint Renault Alpine to be inspected at the same time as my Imperial, wouldn't mind having one!

Didn't like the bit too James Bondish look of the wire hubcaps, and also they were quite noisy, which could be helped at least a bit by adding pieces of fuel hose between the hubcap and the wheel. I'd wanted a more OEM look like road wheels, Mopar dog dishes etc. but the availability wasn't very good, and ordering them overseas is a bit pricey. So I went with a budget option, but I'm still keeping the pentastar hubcaps just in case I change my mind - or until I find something even better. Photo of comparison between white wall vs. not. I decided to go with the white walls. The front end has been lowered about an inch from the starting point and is now just right in my opinion - although you loose some of the land yacht captain feeling as the hood is not that dominant in the view in front. ;-)

 

[Pertti K]

The headlamp doors didn't always shut when turning off the lights, but did shut by just slightly rotating the manual wheel. At one point they stopped opening as well, so I took the gear and the contactor arrangement open and managed to get them working again - for a while. Soon the movement started to be very low, but some lubrication for the motor helped. Now they stop a few mm before they are properly closed and there seems not to be any adjustment for that, but I think it can be solved by twisting the operating bar a bit. Or opening the gear fitting holes a bit so I can rotate the whole assembly.

 

[Pertti K]

My friend who I mentioned in the Auto-Temp thread fixed the AM/FM radio, 8-track and clock for me. And another one gave me an 8-track cassette. Cool!

 

[Pertti K]

I've taken all the doors apart now, the left rear being the latest. Each one had some issues with windows and/or central locking, but this one and the front vent windows were the only ones requiring new parts. A new gear assembly for the motor in this case. Now I can fully enjoy the best features of a 4 door hard top! Also central locking and all 6 windows work as the are supposed to.

 

[MacLebaron]

I like it, enjoy!

 

[D Cluley]

The picture of the interior with the lights on is great. Looks like it could have been in the advertising back then.

 

[Joerg]

I love that gold interior - and that pictures!

 

[Pertti K]

Competitors from the old days. Guess which one I like more? (Hint: Caddy is for sale....).

 

[ayilar]

A 1969 Caddy (is it a Calais or a de Ville?) without vinyl top is a rarity. Both are great cars, but the Imp looks better IMHO.

 

[Pertti K]

Coupe DeVille.