iceman

Ralph passed several years ago. He built several first gens in the 80s including one convertible. The Shadow Gray car that was in MuscleCar Review in that time frame is likely mine. The photos from that shoot were used for the metal sign and the AMT model box cover as well.

I redid mine with the Eastwood kit 2 years ago. Sandblast and paint and it's holding up well. The previous application of the Eastwood system held up for 10 years fairly well ... just needed a spruce up.

The Flint plant was retooled for truck production at the end of the 1970 model year so the Monte was only built there in 1970.

Rob, try Old Air Products in Texas. They can rebuild entire systems to stock, or modify for newer refrigerants.

Thanks Carl. That's the conclusion that I'm coming to. It looks like the connector is swaged into the housing.

I have a really dumb question that I should be able to answer but I'm just missing something. I'm restoring the license plate light bracket and reverse light buckets as part of the winter detailing that I'm doing to the SS car. I can't seem to get the license plate light housings and the reverse light housing separated from the wiring harness. It looks like the small rubber boot on the harness separates from the larger rubber boot that holds the socket to the housing. Is this right? If so, I'm just not pulling hard enough. Thanks

Glad to hear that you're on the mend, Tony. I hope to see you out and about over the summer.

I just redid my SS with parts from The Right Stuff. All correct pieces, stamps, etc. The original master cylinders have the bleeders. Makes it easy to bench bleed the master cylinder and reinstall without bleeding all the lines.

I like the one Canuck has posted second ... but I'm partial because that's my car on the box

I have heard stories of cars not driving well on bias tires. I wonder if alignment shops understand that the alignment specifications are different between radial tires and bias ply. This was the premise of Pontiac "Radial Tuned Suspension" in the 70s. When we brought our 66 Galaxie home, the car had radials and wandered all over the road. Replaced them with the correct bias tires and now dives straight as an arrow.

Those of you who get Muscle Machines ... stay tuned for a feature on a Shadow Gray 70SS.

Best of luck Davey!

My parents ordered a 71 base new. The dealer couldn't order the car with the rally wheels and skirts, so they ordered it with the 15x6 plain steel wheels and skirts. Before the car was delivered, the wheels were changed to the rally wheels.

Firestone historically had a very close relationship with Ford, which is why some of you are seeing original cars with Goodyear tires on them. I actually believe that I have some original documentation for my 70 SS that states Firestone brand but I'd have to look to be certain. The only reproduction tire available for our cars is a G70x15 Firestone Wide Oval tire. This size has the proper 3/8" white wall. You can't get the G78-15 that would be the original standard size for small block cars either. If you are looking to go to AACA judging (I'm a senior master judge in their organization and the Assistant Chief Judge for Hershey this year and Chief Judge for 2016 and 2017), the brand does not matter. The tires only need to be the proper size and construction. If you are lucky enough to find an original Goodyear, it may hold air but the properties of the rubber are probably degraded to the point where they would be unsafe to drive on. The reproduction bias ply tires are quite safe to drive with, provided that your alignment shop sets the front suspension to the factory specs. The specs for radial and bias ply tires are different, hence the Pontiac trademark of "Radial Tuned Suspension". I can attest to this difference on my 66 Ford Galaxie. It's a 60K mile original and when I brought it home it drove like crap with radial tires. It wanted to wander all over the road. Since we were showing in AACA I immediately put a set of bias ply tires on it. Now it drives straight as an arrow. Between Dad and I, we have 4 cars running bias plies and haven't had an issue with any of them.

I would have thought that the fronts would have been dove gray spiral shocks. The rears are a different story. The GM replacements that were available were black. But I believe the originals were actually red.