1976 Holden Rebuild

[bb1979]

After converting my pickup to a big block in late 2007 I decided that I needed a better daily driver to do the 50 mile trip to and from work each day so I picked up this 1976 Holden Station Wagon, straight six and auto, third owner and only 120,000 original miles. I relegated my pickup to weekend runner and used the wagon for around 3 months before changing jobs and getting a company car.

At this point I was contemplating beginning a full body of restoration of my pickup, however I was given a number of bodywork/painting quotes which would have been a substantial amount of my yearly wages. Given the fact that the wagon was starting to show signs of its age I decided to rip in and give it go myself thinking well at least I'm not hacking up Chevrolet metal (which is expensive over here) and learning how to do rust repair, bodywork and paint on something else less expensive

The Beginning:-

[bb1979]

As all projects do it got out of hand, what started out as a simple respray and panel job ended up as a full rebuild including changing the running gear for a v8 4 speed combo. So as the weeks dragged on the wagon went from a complete ride to a bare shell and me going flat out every night after work sanding of the old paint and epoxy priming all the panels and carrying out repairs as required using a the minimum amount of bondo that I could.

[bb1979]

Naturally I decided to shave the side trims and badges in an attempt to clean up the lines, I also decided to convert it to propane to take advantage of the governments $2000 rebate, which necessitated some customizing.

Propane filler:-

[NONHOG]

Cool car ! How about a front shot. Looking good keep the pics coming.

[bobjob]

nice job..is it a 9 passenger?? just wondering, cause i got 6 people in my family, they go everywhere with me, and a regular "family car won't fit them all !!!

[bb1979]

No its either a six seater or a 5 seater depending on whether there is a bench seat or a set of buckets in the front. You could fit a small third row seat in their but it would be uncomfortable for most people.

It was originally fitted with the single headlight front clip however I have updated it to what I think is the better looking dual headlight front.

[bb1979]

Cowl replacement......... no turning back now. Worst part was aligning the wiper pivot point on the patch panel and aligning all the body panels in. It has the guard, the door, the bonnet, cowl air vent and the windscreen/trim all adjacent. Have to redo the left hand side as it stands at the moment because the door doesn't line up how I want it to.

[bb1979]

More progress patch panel welded in.

[Ironclad454]

It looks like someone installed your steering wheel on the wrong side, . J/K very nice work.

[abebummy26]

I dig it. pretty cool man

[bb1979]

Thanks for the comments guys. Here is some more progress, finished repairing the left hand side of the cowl and patched up the right hand side upper hinge location (my welding is slowly improving, no chicken **** welds or blow thrus)