Born Again Torinos

The painted Trans Am is now home and I shot a quick video showing it with the paint only 3 days old. Plus Daisy the dog.

In this episode I take the Trans Am for a short drive and then a walk around.

A short episode showing the Turbine Wheel hubcaps I made in the sunlight. Also some nice bright interior shots.

In this episode I introduce my new dog Daisy and show the custom KITT Trans Am Turbine Wheels with hubcaps.

In this second episode, I show the new fender and cowl induction power bulge hood. Also the window tinting removed.

Well, this is a new project that I've been wanting to do for a long time. I'm really going in blind not having ever made a KITT before. I'm not planning on making the interior like KITT but the body will be exactly like the TV show. Follow me on this journey. It should be interesting.

Well we are heading to the finish line with this torino. In this episode I show the brand new windshield and the newly chromed bumpers. The body work is finished. Next step is paint.

Well here it is. I just got it back into my shop this afternoon. I don't see any issues to be worried about. It is very shiny, a few flaws in the paint like a hair I saw and a couple pin holes. Over all very pretty and Tony should be proud to take it anywhere. Next video will be the car done with all its chrome.

In this episode I show the newly chromed bumpers on the freshly painted bumper cores.

Well, here is Torino #44 all finished. It came out really well and I had four guys stop and come look at it while I was filming this. My goal was to bless Tony with a car that he could take to car shows, out to dinner or go get groceries and draw a crowd. It is not perfect and Tony has plans to continue working on it. Doing things such as rebuild the engine and transmission, recover the front seats etc. Old cars are always a "work in process". That is part of the fun of owning a classic car, tinkering with it. Tony chose the hybrid stripe which is both Hero #1 Torino from the TV show and the front of the stripe is like the L.E. He also wanted color keyed sport mirrors. He also wanted the bumpers chromed. I had never in my life had anything chromed so it was a learning experience. I had also never taken the skin off a torino bumper core. There were some odds and ends missing. Some interior trim gone. I added the rear arm rests, sail panels and hat shelf as well as some misc. interior trim. Tony had provided a better grill and surround so I put those on which made it even better. Another nice thing he wanted was a new windshield since the one in it was either put in wrong or it had shifted over to one side badly so I couldn't remove the window trim clips or install new ones. The rear window trim was not attached properly because it was pretty bent and it was missing some clips. So I took one of my extra trim pieces and replaced it so now it snaps on and stays. The fellow who has painted it before Tony bought it had replaced the passenger rear tail light mounting panel with one made of tin and sheet metal screwed it to the body. I left that on but had to re-do the tail light mounting holes because they were too low and made the tail light sag. Now it is nice and straight. The worst thing on the car I fixed was the opera windows. The previous owner had taken out the opera windows and J.B. welded a thin piece of tin in the opera window hole and then bondoed over it. Which of course cracked in the shape of the window hole. I welded in new steel and did the body work and it turned out quite well. You wouldn't know it ever had opera windows. So, now that it is done, I feel great and look forward to the next car project. Thank you Tony for the opportunity to starskyize your baby.

This is a short episode showing the hood perfectly re attached. Also our horse is walking around our back yard.

In this episode I show the hood removed and painted the underside. Also the finished painted engine compartment.

In this episode I show even more progress on the opera windows as well as the door jams painted. The side dent is fixed and the rear header panel.

In this episode, I show the guide coat on the opera windows, the painted trunk floor and some other odds and ends.

In this short video I talk about how to add sport mirrors to a non sport mirror door and how to make a template for the passenger side mirror.

In this episode I demonstrate board sanding on the opera windows and upper quarter panels. Also I start it up so you can hear how awesome this car sounds.

In this episode I show the cleaned up opera window holes and welded in a lip for the new steel to weld to. I also show the crease dent tapped out. At the end of the video I flew my Propel Snap 2.0 drone around a little bit.

In this episode, I show the opera windows fully welded and in place. Also the rockers with the trim off.

In this episode I show the POR Putty applied to the trim holes and the rear bumper and bumper skin removed.

In this episode, I take off trim and show the roof to quarter panel seam with the filler taken off. Also the condition of the trunk floor.

In this episode, I pull off the flimsy metal pieces that were GLUED to the quarter panel. I know. 8^O

Welcome to the 44th Starsky & Hutch Gran Torino Project that I am working on. I got to meet a wonderful fellow Tony from Oregon. It was a pleasure meeting Tony and his good friend Terry who trailered it in the rain all the way to Spokane Washington for Starskyization at the Born Again Torinos Facility. Ok, its actually my shop in my back yard. I will do a series on the entire process and progress of this torino to completion. We will discover together what hides under that paint and trim and sort it out.

This might be the last video of this series. I do a walk around to show the finished product.

In this episode I show a short ride down the street to take photos. All Finished. One more video on the way doing a walk around.

Here is the finished Torino. I haven't washed it as of this video, but I wanted to quickly get something posted showing it was done.