1992 Grand Prix Progression

[Ringo64]

I want 3 week vacation Hope you had fun!

That's cool, pics are must of your GP cleaned up!

[Twenty]

As I mentioned, this past Sunday was a local Show 'n' Shine which I'd been invited to. With a week's notice, I got around to fixing some minor issues on the car, and on the Friday before the show I brought it to work with me to detail it. While it was spotless, I took a few pictures for fun. Nothing special.

Also in the week leading up, I swapped out the rear-view mirror. I had the original mirror wrapped in CF vinyl, but it started to peel around the edges so I removed it and in its place put in another mirror I had previously colour-matched to the exterior. A subtle change, but I like it.

Apart from the detail and minor touch-ups, pretty much nothing has happened to the car. Winter is approaching fast though, meaning I have to find a car soon as the GP will be put away as soon as the snow flies. Once it's away for the winter, it (And the Thunderbird as well) will see some body work and hopefully more, so that come spring 2012 it can be back together and ready for another season of meets and cruises.

[Ringo64]

Looks great! I like the new colored matched rear-view mirror, gives it a nice clean look.

How was the show?

[Twenty]

Looks great! I like the new colored matched rear-view mirror, gives it a nice clean look.

How was the show?

Thanks!

The show was really good, we had everything from the GP and my friends' Civics, Integra, etc, to a Gallardo, McLaren SLR, and even an Alfa Romeo 8C.

[Twenty]

While I was walking around the show 'n' shine on Sunday, busily taking pictures of all of the cars there, I killed my battery before I could get a picture of the Grand Prix. Fortunately, one of my friends did and the pictures went up today.

[Ringo64]

Cool pic, looks like there was a lot of cars there

[valid]

Nice, he looks great!

[Twenty]

Cool pic, looks like there was a lot of cars there

That's actually looking toward the corner of the lot. There are many many many more cars out of the frame.

Nice, she looks great!

*cough* He *cough*

But, thanks! Starting to get up there in mileage though, as of tonight, the odometer finally rolled to:

150,000 kilometers, currently sitting at 150,008 in the garage.

[95naSTA]

No coilovers this year.. sad face.. I still cannot wait to see that meat meet the arches.

[Twenty]

Sad face here too. Working full time over the summer prevented me from getting to the junkyard for the last parts, plus it kept the car in active duty and I couldn't have it down for long enough.

Fortunately this winter and next year will be different, once I can find a second car I'll have time for the GP again and will have something else to rely on for DD duties.

[Ringo64]

150,000 kilometers, currently sitting at 150,008 in the garage.

Damn! I hit 44,144 today driving to work

[Twenty]

Today was the Grand Prix's last official day on the road, for 2011 at least. Snow is just around the corner, meaning I had to put it away before the city had an excuse to salt the roads.

Fortunately I had a relatively free weekend, so I used it to get everything ready. Some parts were swapped out, and the car was given a good cleaning.

The stock wheels came out of hiding to replace the Crosslaces, so on Saturday I jacked up the car and changed them.

After all of the time spent on the Crosslaces (Sourcing, stipping, painting, etc) they only saw about 2000 kilometers of use all summer, before it was time to switch back. Sad.

Today I gave the car a final cleaning and then with my parents following in the Focus, it was put into storage. I used the opportunity to get one last picture of the two together out front, as it'll be a while before the GP sees our driveway again.

Here's hoping the winter months can be used productively, getting some things taken care of on the old Pontiac.

[Ringo64]

Sad to see her go into storage Anyway she's lookin good! Keep us updated on what you do over the winter

[valid]

Mmm, she looks good! I just love those stock wheels. I can't wait until the snow is gone and we can see her on the road again

[Twenty]

Thanks Jim and Sadie! I'm hoping that the downtime over the winter will be worth it.

No pictures or real updates yet, though in the coming weeks I want to try to start taking parts off in preparation for the work to be done. I've been planning and budgeting for the winter though and I'm thinking that now that Judge is only a summer toy, I can go ahead and do some more restoration work as well.

Despite being winter driven for two decades, the car is overall very solid (Despite the rust scare earlier this year). It was undercoated when brand new so the shell underneath is good. The suspension and related components under the car, that weren't undercoated however, have aged. It's by no means a death trap with suspension that's waiting to snap in half, but it doesn't look new either.

I'm thinking that I should, one by one, replace the old suspension components (And other items, I think my rear bumper reinforcement could stand to go too) with new/newer and cleaner pieces. I have a set of trailing arms that I may be picking up (Brand new OEM) from a guy I know in the states, so they'd be the first to be collected.

Ultimately, I want Judge to be nice and new underneath, and now's the time to start I suppose. I'd better go pay him a visit soon and get started.

[Twenty]

Also, because it's been shown in this thread, here's where the Thunderbird sat as of last week.

Full, down-to-the-metal repaint. My mother isn't wasting time with her project, that's for sure.

[Ringo64]

Wow! Good for her, sticking with stock color?

[Twenty]

Very close to. Instead of a plain, single-stage maroon, it'll be a metallic maroon with clear coat on top.

Looks almost identical, but more modern. I think it was actually a Ford colour, too.

[Ghost]

nice! when can i take it out for a spin?

[Twenty]

Don't ask me.

Also, 'cause I got bored. Quick and poor MS Paint edit.

[[ChaosweaveR]]

Use Gimp, foo!

[95naSTA]

Can't wait to see the GP start looking new again on the underside.

[Ringo64]

They still put Paint on modern Windows? Oh hey look at that they do

[Twenty]

I do all my editing with paint.

Can't wait to see the GP start looking new again on the underside.

Thanks, neither can I. I think working on the Focus has really motivated me to get the Grand Prix's underside cleaned up. Time to bid farewell to rusty bolts and arms, and make the chassis nicer to look at and work on. Icky rust.

Yesterday I posted up a list of wanted parts on my W-body forum, hopefully I can track down the items I need to make all of this work. I still need a few parts for the coilovers. Longest. Coilover. Install. In. History.

[valid]

Longest. Coilover. Install. In. History.

But it will be SO WORTH IT.