Figured I might showcase some of the progress we've had done on our car since we bought it in May 2025. It was a very nicely restored car, zero rust, and turn-key ready. However it wasn't 100% all there when we bought it, so we've been trying to tie up some minor loose-ends that will make the car 100%. But first, I must tell a bit of a short story on how we came to buy it.

Since 2023, I would scroll through online classic car ads day after day searching for something, anything really, as I am partial to any good-looking classic North American car. I would always find lots of great cars for great prices but they were always a long distance away, and we were kind of hoping not to travel far for a car. Then it became September 2024 and I saw an ad on Facebook Marketplace for a blue, restored, 1969 Pontiac LeMans, priced a bit on the high side for us, but knew for sure it was worth a look, especially since it was here in town. Problem was, none of us have FB so there was no way of us messaging the guy. There was no phone number listed either. In fact there was no desctiption of the car either. We ended up having my great uncle message the guy since he actually has a FB account, but we never heard back from the seller. And this went on for 9 months. We started thinking the car was a myth, and the ad might be a scam but one day in May 2025, my dad had one of his friends message the guy this time, and 20 minutes later we got a call and sure enough it was the seller of the '69 LeMans. As you may have clued in, we did end up buying it. (photo below from the second time we went to look at it, just before we would make a deal on it).

It was missing quite a bit of things, most notably was the wiper motor, front side marker light housings, radio, antenna, trunk badge, and A/C unit, as the car came factory with air. It was also missing wheel-opening trim, and the rocker trim. We did aquire the wiper motor and bracket for it, bought repro side marker housings, and a friend of ours went to a swap meet down in Michigan somewhere and got us two trunk badges for a '67 GTO/LeMans/Tempest that we were able to modify one to fit on the trunk, and he also gave us an antenna for the car once we get the radio. (still looking for a proper radio, would rather have one that looks like an original piece).

Another thing it really needed was proper exhaust, as when we bought it, it had thrush mufflers with really short exhaust pipes ending basically right under the car, by the back seat area. So we brought it to the exhaust shop (we don't have the space or skill to do exhaust work like this) and the guy changed the mufflers, ran the pipes up and over the rear diff, and ended them under the rear bumper. We later added chrome tips which the exhaust guy welded on for free.

Now, I'm a fan of chrome, and you may have noticed a lack thereof on this car, mainly due to body colour bumpers and tailight bezels. Not 100% sure how well the original chrome on the bumpers were, but they must've been in poor condition and so were painted over. I heard it may be more expensive to re-chrome bumpers, especially around here since there is no close place to do so. Plus, the guy who restored the car painted it himself so it would make sense not to spend money on sending the bumpers somewhere for re-chroming. We do plan on changing the rear appearence though, so we'll see what happens. I kinda butt heads with my dad over the front bumper; I want the chrome one, but he likes the front in body colour since it looks like a GTO. So we'll see what happens with that. What we did do in order to brighten the car up was buy some repro wheel opening trim. It became quite the ordeal putting it on the car however, because on the rear openings, every hole for the screws to go in on the actual body of the car were filled over, so we had to take the wheels off, kinda tape the trim in place, and drill into the body through the holes in the trim in order to get the body holes in the right place. Some of the holes were present on the front fenders so that task was easier. Even drilling the few holes that were missing was easier since all we had to do was turn the front wheels out of the way to get the drill up there.

To satisfy my need for chrome on the front end of the car, I decided to cut chrome vinyl strips and stick them in the blackout grille. It really changed the appearance. The combination of the trunk badge, chrome exhaust tips and chrome lisence plate housing brighten up the rear end.

So, we got a lot done to the car already but there is still much more planned. It really has come a long way since the previous owner got it. We were given older photos of our car which depict it before it was restored. It was painted yellow at some point (more like a LeMon than a LeMans) and looks to have had purple window tint- yikes.

As Dorothy might have said….

There is no plate like chrome!

As you are aware chrome plating and metal repair is very time consuming and expensive. Nothing looks better than chrome!

That said, there are paint systems that give realistic chrome finishes for a lot less money. You still have to metal work and body work the piece you want to “chrome”. Once the primer is finished block and sanding, a couple of coats of black are applied and buffed out to a mirror like finish. Then a special chrome paint is applied to the black piece. Jay Leno uses this on a lot of his cars. Paint ain’t cheap but it is way cheaper than plating.

You can Google chrome paint for metal.

Edited March 23Mar 23 by Frosty

On 1/5/2026 at 8:58 PM, Frosty said:

As Dorthy might have said….

There is no plate like chrome!

As you are aware chrome plating and metal repair is very time consuming and expensive. Nothing looks better than chrome!

That said, there are paint systems that give realistic chrome finishes for a lot less money. You still have to metal work and body work tie piece you want to “chrome”. Once the primer is finished block and sanding, a couple of coats of black are applied and buffed out to a mirror like finish. Then a special chrome paint is applied to the black peice. Jay Leno uses this on a lot of his cars. Paint ain’t cheap but it is way cheaper than plating.

You can Google chrome paint for metal.

That's an interesting way of doing chrome; I never heard of that before. Might have to look into that as a possibility.

Finally got some minor loose end goodies by mail today. They were supposed to come in before Christmas, but the Lisence plate light was on back order for way too long, but now It's all here. In addition to that we got a battery tray hold bracket, dash light bulbs another spare fisher door sill embossed sticker, and the cowl leaf guard vents.

I keep thinking that the "Why did you get your Pontiac" thread says "What did you get your Pontiac" and I almost posted this there. Is there an actual what did you get your Pontiac thread; as for some reason I swear there is but I couldn't seem to find it.

Edited March 23Mar 23 by LeMans69

Maybe thinkin about...

On 3/23/2026 at 8:35 PM, JUSTA6 said:

Maybe thinkin about...

That must be it, "What did you do to your car today". I'll keep that in mind next time I actually do something notable to the car. Actually ordered a nice chrome rear bumper which should be coming in soon. Once we get that on the car later in spring I'll find that thread. It's gonna look real nice and totally change the car's rear appearence.

The pieces de resistance have arrived: The rear Chrome bumper, and the rocker trim with the 350 badges. Trim is in the tan box, bumper in the box under that. It'll still be a while before we can get those on, but it will look pretty awesome

Minor preparation for the cruise night show on Friday; made a front plate bracket a few weeks ago and made a custom sticker for the front plate cover. Looks good.