OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums General Discussion Forum Off Topics Rough Repainting of Green Lawkeeper.

Converse, I remember something along those lines as well, I know they mentioned it in one of the readers restorations columns at one point - I think it was a Mustang. I know I have the issue here somewhere - but I would have to go through 15 years worth of Unique cars magazines to find it.

Ok thanks for that Maxwestern, I was thinking wasn't most of the old corrugated iron sheets made back in the day galvanized? I have an old shed where the roof sheets have mostly rusted but the sides are still strong and solid after probably 50 years or so. I guess the roof does cop more of the elements than the sides though.

Converse I think it was Volvos that were galvanized, I think I saw pictures of them on the production line. I often wondered what distortion the body suffered from and how they were able to drain all the zinc out of all the nooks and crannies before it cooled.
Hi Max, I have had a lot of experience with tin snips and I doubt I could make an inner that would not look home made. Folding the tabs would always show

Hi Tyler, I tell ya what mate, I reckon it was from an issue from 1998 or 1999. I do remember I was buying them all the time back then and was looking at the cars. I'm not sure but i'm thinking maybe it was a Ford Mercury Cougar XR7? If there is such a thing? lol. I think it was something like that?

Cheers!

I dont know if Mercury could have possibly made the bonnets any longer on those Cougars. Although the Oldsmobile Toronado rivals it.

I sometimes read the old magazines and end up depressed at how one owner torana SL's and Kingswoods were only $4-5000.

Ok thanks for that NormK, never knew that about the old Volvo's. I still do see some of those older square looking Volvo's getting about. I also heard that years ago they were also fitting alloy bonnets and bootlids to Volvo's. Another thing that will probably never rust! lol

Cheers!

I hear ya Tyler! I am also kicking myself back then I saw an Ford XC Cobra coupe original one owner for around 10 grand, I also saw an original red pepper XAGT sedan for 9 grand. Also how about XA to XC Coupes, it was like take your pick what engine or colour you wanted. you could get a cheap one for around 2 grand upto a really nice one for around $10 grand. Darn I should have got something like that back then if only i'd have known they would skyrocket in value. It's always the way though isn't it...

Cheers!

At least we have our Victa's. No rego, no insurance, fun to work on, and much better on petrol than a 351 haha

Hey well the old Victa mowers are also becoming collectable now also...lol Yes they are much cheaper and easier to work on that's for sure! lol

Hey speaking of that fully galvanized car from back then I now remember that car was called a "matador" or something. I looked it up on google images and it was some sort of "AMC Matador", it definately had this funny looking front end like the one in this photo below. I sure remember the front on that car! lol

Cheers!

The earlier matadors had a more conventional front end, but the later ones sure shot out a bit. AMC sponsored one of the bond movies from memory and had the matador in it, and AMC also released a 'Matador Oleg Cassini edition' (after a fashion designer)

A friends grandfather bought the smaller hornet back in 1970 and they still have it, along with the land cruiser he converted to a 350 chev

The problem with the zinc coating is that the zinc oxide layer can be damaged relatively easily (especially with a mower). Hit a small pebble and stuff up the coating and the rust starts.

I just cut up a 30 odd year old shade house that the orchids are in to make way for a bigger one (made of galvanized temporary fencing), and you can see the rust was advanced where it was welded, because you have to take the galv off to get a good weld (and to avoid getting fumigated by zinc).

Then there is hot dip galv or electoplated (effectively electrolosis) - hot dip yields thicker coatings though. Only have limited knowledge of this, and a bit of knowledge is dangerous (as my last go at electrolosis ended up haha)

Hi Tyler,

So I guess really what we need is to press out some stainless steel Victa bases? lol

I wonder how hard wearing some stainless steel corrugated roof sheets would be? lol

A mate was here yesterday in his AMC Mattador and I can assure you that it was not galvanized and neither is the Hornet, another friend has one of those.
With these so called galvanized cars they were more likely zinc plated as opposed to hot dipped. The mower bases would be getting hot dipped

The AMC Matador was badged as the Rambler Matador for the Australian market and was assembled at the AMI plant in Melbourne, who also assembled Toyota and others, including Volvo.
It later became the Australian Toyota assembly plant.
They were unique in sharing the same colour palette as the Toyota models and the coffin nose Matadors as the later ones were nicknamed, actually continued using the dash from the previous model, where the U.S models from the Wisconsin plant, had a later design.
The LAPD ordered a lot of the pre-coffin nose model as they offered unrivalled power to weight ratio performance and better handling than the big three could offer at the time and were so well regarded, some remained in active duty until the mid 1980s.
The later coffin nose model still saw widespread service with U.S law enforcement in the 1970s, as attested by their common appearance in police shows at the time.
Only a handful of the coffin nose Rambler Matador were actually produced locally over two years and I got to drive someone's V8 wagon once and it was my first experience driving a V8 and it went! The steering had zero feel and was so over assisted it felt like it wasn't connected to the wheels at all!

Dodge Monaco and the Plymouth Gran Fury were 2 other regular cop cars in the TV shows from memory MF, lots getting spectacularly wrecked over the Dukes of Hazzard series

MF
you may have seen my mates Matador recently because you mentioned Chryslers on the Murray that was held a few weeks ago. The rego on his is AMC 401. Nice big fuel injected motor in it

Hey Norm do you or did you know anyone with an AP5 or AP6? My dad had an AP5 with the push button auto. I even had a photo, which I lost, of my mum cradling me as a bub in the front seat in 1973!
Sadly my dad left it sitting outside for a decade unregistered when it was finally towed away by a wrecker in 1982 full of rust.

MF,

never got involved with Valiants, but I still have a front tortion bar from one I did some front end work on and it is a great big punch that I have used on many occasions, very handy to have

My grandfather bought one of the first VF Valiant Regal Coupes made - the dealer didn't tell him it arrived for 2 weeks so it could be put on the rotating pedestal in the showroom.
First Auto car they owned, and Nanna apparently spend the first week of driving it hitting the brake pedal instead of the non-existent clutch.

Sold it 3 years later because the heavy doors drooped so much they had to be lifted then pushed shut (ran out of lock striker adjustment).

Replaced with a 6cyl torana - lost all brakes when the 4 wheel drums went over a big water puddle - ran down a steep hill into a ditch (fortunately she had it down to first gear to slow it down).

That reminds me of my mate who had an XB coupe which was a 302 when he first bought it but when that died we replaced it with a 351 V8. I drove it before he put power steering in it and it had the standard manual heavy steering. Then I drove it again when he put power steering in it and it was so feather light you could almost turn the wheel with a fingertip. I thought it was way too light for such a big heavy car. But it probably did make slow speed turning especially easy when parking than manual steer.

Sadly I think it was the same year I reckon when I was a kid watching the tow truck take away my dads old white HR Holden sedan down the driveway which was also taken to a local wrecking yard. I think the drivers side of the car was smashed in the doors wouldn't open and close on the drivers side, but it was still drivable, you just had to get in and out from the passenger side..lol. Eventually the police noticed it and said that the car was not roadworthy in that condition.

I had some mates that used to live near here and I went to school with them. They used to all have Valiants of all sorts, sedans, 2 doors, etc. I remember them having a same style Valiant as the one from that movie "The Wog Boy". The funny thing was my mates with those Valiants weren't all that far off what the movie was based on, and they were like that years before that movie was released! LOL!

Cheers!