1985 CHP #E408395

[jarhed123]

WOW!! Car is coming along just fine. Can't wait to see it fininshed.

[28HopUp]

I stopped by the body shop today, but didn't have my camera with me. That's OK, because I left the shop with a small momento.

Neal (one of the body shop guys) removed the rear bumper, and had difficulty reaching one of the bolts on the passenger side. This is the area with the known body damage. He started probing the area just under the gas cap with a screwdriver, and was able to pop off the following slab of Bondo from the rear 1/4 panel -




Once I got the slab back to work, I weighed it on a postal scale - it's over 2.5 lbs of body putty!

[28HopUp]

Here is a picture of the 1/4 panel where the slab of body filler was removed -




The other quarter panel is where the CHP whip antenna was mounted. Here, you can see where the CHP braized the holes closed -




Here are two shots where the spot lights were located on the A-pillars. Note how rough the holes are -





I will bring the spotlight brackets into the body shop by Friday so they can determine how much work will be needed on the A-pillars to make them look good. Not pictured is where the hole in the roof was re-opened for the shorter CHP roof antenna. The headliner was removed, but a new replacement is in-hand.

[28HopUp]

Here is a shot of the bottom edge of the door where they removed the rust under the caulk. The rust wasn't as bad as it looked, and hadn't gone through to the outer door skin. Parts of the door have already been treated with POR-15. The other door will receive the same work -




This shot shows where they removed the small dent from the driver's side front fender -




Here is the new replacement front passenger fender -




And here is a shot of the car as it sits this morning -




So as you can see, progress is being made on the car.

[28HopUp]

There is a gentleman at the CHP named Robert Read who privately sells some of the obsolete CHP parts that were on many of their SSP's, depending on vintage. I know other members have bought parts from him for their CHP restorations. These parts were not inexpensive, but highly necessary for an accurate build-up.

Below are the a-pillar spotlights. California law still requires that their police cars have a steady-burn red light as part of their emergency lighting. The red spotlight meets that requirement, and will again be mounted on the driver's side post using the original hole. I probably will not make the red one functional, as my car will be a driver and I do not want to be hassled by the local police for having emergency lighting on my car.




The rear emergency lights sit atop the rear package shelf inside the rear window. These also will not be wired up, in order to keep the local police from being concerned while I drive around. I also plan to buy some off-road light covers to keep everyone happy. Here is a video clip of an SSP Mustang with these lights.




The final CHP parts (for now at least) are the spring-ball base for the long whip antenna on the passenger rear 1/4 panel, and the shorter roof antenna.




Down the line, I will probably purchase the original radio equipment and locking shotgun rack. I figure the CHP-specific parts will only become more difficult to find as time goes on, so I will pick them up as opportunity and funds allow. I do not want to put Mr. Read's contact information on the internet, but he his agreeable to me forwarding his information along to anyone interested in buying parts. So please send me a PM if anyone wants to contact him.

[ImEvil1]

Nice pics.

I also have a contact for NOS spotlights if anyone needs them. They are (or were) $50 each. The shafts are incorrect (length), but you can't beat NOS, especially at that price.

I've also bought from R. Read before and he has a ton of hard-to-find parts.

[FHP813]

Man they really messed up those pillars. I can't believe what was under that bondo. Good thing they found that before it was painted and it popped out later.

[28HopUp]

Originally Posted by FHP813

Man they really messed up those pillars. I can't believe what was under that bondo. Good thing they found that before it was painted and it popped out later.

I could see that slab of Bondo falling off from hitting a pothole on a highway and then going through the windshield of the car behind me. Scary!

[28HopUp]

After seeing so much body filler behind the passenger rear tire, I wasn't sure what the rest of the 1/4 panel would look like. The initial sanding showed putty all the way up to the door jam, but more effort revealed that there was in fact Ford steel under all that Bondo. The C-pillar and roof were slightly flexed from the accident, so that's why you see body filler there. Notice the 4-lug rear disc brakes...




This shot shows the car as it sits today. The roof is sanded, and the antenna hole was reopened. The driver's side 1/4 panel is being massaged around the area of the CHP whip antenna mount.




The removed body panels are being prepped for cut-in. New taillight lenses are enroute, which I will install into the light panels next week. A Ford NOS headlight header panel is enroute to replace the busted one behind the bumper cover. The old one had been damaged and very poorly repaired, so a new one was needed. New weatherstripping and doorchannel strips will be installed.

I decided to return the original window trim back to its polished state, however I will be straying from stock by painting the roof rail trim in body color. Dark colored 4-eyes just look too cluttered IMO when all the trim is left bright on the car. Below is a comparison that shows Marcos's car on the top (prior to restoring) with the bright roof rail trim, and Scott's car without it:




It's a subtle difference, but it reflects my personal taste. As a point of reference, my car when finished will look ALOT like Marcos's car at the top, with the spotlights and antennae. The most obvious difference between his car in the above photo and my car when done will be that I am keeping its non-original blacked-out 10-hole wheels because the car has the larger '87-up front brakes.

So that's all for now. I will post up more pictures next week...

[FHP#1357]

I just went through the same thing with my NCHP/CHP Clone, it all worth it in the end!