1971 Grande never wrecked. unmolested. original. concourse driven restoration

[smartypants]

greetings from the north Idaho town of Harrison. i purchased this 1971 Grande from my best buddy in high school in Cove, OR. my buddy got this about 1983. he used to swing my house in this car and pick me up every single saturday night for 4 years straight. we would cruise the main drag of Adams avenue in LaGrande , OR all night long with the stereo cranking. cruising for chicks. ohhhh the good times. i was finally able to purchase this car from my buddy in 2009 with the intention to restore it. back in our high school days in the mid 1980's. some other friends and i helped him dye the dark green interior black and repaint the body from a light silver to dark smoked silver. i am currently very close to finishing my restoration. atleast all of the big hard stuff is done. this is a concours driven restoration. my first of this kind. this is a 1971 Grande born in Dearborn on Oct 6, 1970. with 351c 4v/c6. original grabber lime with white vinyl top. trac pac suspension. dark green comfort weave interior. this car is adorned with many rare original Autolite parts from one end to the other. most of the parts on this car have simply been restored. with very few repop or used parts needed. gas tank is repop. so are upper a-arms, and a few rubber items. otherwise, all original parts here. note the plastic trim divider sandwiched between the two halves of the dash. this is one of several ultra rare early 71' parts that my car came with, that other 71's did not.

 

[c9zx]

Welcome from Oklahoma. A very unusual car indeed, looks good. Chuck

 

[Idaho Chris]

The fact that you cruised this exact car back in high school makes it extra special. Thanks for sharing the story!

When do expect to have the old girl back on the road?

 

[PoFoMoCo]

WOW - she is a beauty! Congrats on a great build.

 

[cjstaci]

Nice story and nice work. Hopefully you can post a video of it running when it’s done.

 

[ib4stangs]

Nice looking restoration and the seats look great. Where did you get the material and who made the covers?

 

[MAD IRISHMAN]

greetings from the north Idaho town of Harrison. i purchased this 1971 Grande from my best buddy in high school in Cove, OR. my buddy got this about 1983. he used to swing my house in this car and pick me up every single saturday night for 4 years straight. we would cruise the main drag of Adams avenue in LaGrande , OR all night long with the stereo cranking. cruising for chicks. ohhhh the good times. i was finally able to purchase this car from my buddy in 2009 with the intention to restore it. back in our high school days in the mid 1980's. some other friends and i helped him dye the dark green interior black and repaint the body from a light silver to dark smoked silver. i am currently very close to finishing my restoration. atleast all of the big hard stuff is done. this is a concours driven restoration. my first of this kind. this is a 1971 Grande born in Dearborn on Oct 6, 1970. with 351c 4v/c6. original grabber lime with white vinyl top. trac pac suspension. dark green comfort weave interior. this car is adorned with many rare original Autolite parts from one end to the other. most of the parts on this car have simply been restored. with very few repop or used parts needed. gas tank is repop. so are upper a-arms, and a few rubber items. otherwise, all original parts here. note the plastic trim divider sandwiched between the two halves of the dash. this is one of several ultra rare early 71' parts that my car came with, that other 71's did not.

Sweet!

 

[B1John]

I have never seen Grabber Lime on a Grande before, looks good. Nice Job!

 

[dtmasoGT5]

Very very nice! Can’t wait to see it running.

 

[James Bond]

The car looks great, welcome from Oregon.

 

[72MustangSprint]

Interesting car for sure

 

[mach71351c]

Welcome from San Diego. Nice build.

 

[smartypants]

The fact that you cruised this exact car back in high school makes it extra special. Thanks for sharing the story!

When do expect to have the old girl back on the road?

my goal is july/august 2024

 

[smartypants]

Nice looking restoration and the seats look great. Where did you get the material and who made the covers?

I got my seat material from SMS auto fabrics in Canby, OR. The dark green comfort weave is not reproduced. SMS is the only place (i searched for a long time) that I was able to find that has NOS fabric for my car. It was on the expensive side, but not overly so. the dark green metallic vinyl is pretty easy to find from many sources. i purchased the material myself, then took it to Mild to Wild upholstery in Cheney, WA. Then they did the work. cost about $4,000 for all seats. They found a way to reuse the original stancions inserts also.

 

[ib4stangs]

Same here, SMS and my NOS blue 73 knitted vinyl was not cheap either. I'm now searching for a quality upholsterer to do mine...