My Mid Year - FINALLY- Comes Home!

[Dan in Pasadena]

Well, my baby finally came home for the first time today...only 9-1/2 months since I bought her!

After extended time in the paint shop she blew her airbox with a backfire and the "While I Am In There's" hit me so I had the chain tensioner upgrade done, installed a new clutch kit, had the rear main seal changed, the oil Thermostat O ring and pressure switch replaced. Also the throttle bushings were basically gone and the drop link bushings were toast. Did the heater backdate and installed a new engine sound pad as well.

It has been raining today so I could do very little when I got her home, but I did pull the "dog blanket" of a trunk carpet she had in her and started cleaning all the crap out of there. I have a new carpet trunk that will go in tomorrow - I'll post pix later.

Oh by the way, Sahara Beige just doesn't photograph worth a damn but it a beautiful color, rich buttery yellow. Here she is:

[450knotOffice]

Nice Dan!! Pkaaso has one just like it and you can meet him on one of our SOCG runs.

[Dan in Pasadena]

Hi Scott,

She passed smog this morning so I will license her on Monday and s-l-o-w-l-y drive over to the insurance office. After that? I am up for meeting some of the locals at the next SOCG run. But very soon I have to do a complete brake job. Gotta gather parts.

Gonna be at Pomona tomorrow?, If so I'll be wearing an SCWDP t shirt in red. Maybe I'll see you there.

[RFR]

NICE!!!

[bigchillcar]

congrats, dan..she looks beautiful! how you've standed nearly 10 months is beyond me..haven't you heard of the need for 'instant gratification'? btw, the rear..ahem..'74 bumper..looks great!
ryan

[gulf908]

Dan,

This colour is so hard to take a proper pic with.
I had a '75 Carrera Targa in this colour for 12 years and although I was indifferent to Sahara beige at first,I came to like it very much.
BTW I believe the US market name was Desert Beige.
What interior do you have ? Is it a beige leatherette?
Mine was delivered with a beige leather interior but when I got it the inside was an all black.
Do you have pics of the inside pls ?
ps - do you know Greg Gustavsen(RS 505) ?

Cheers,
Dennis.

[rnln]

oh my... you paid for your car almost a year before you can get it? OMG
Congratulation.

[darkbeer]

Sweet !!!!!

[efhughes3]

Splendid!

[KNS]

That's got to be the 210 freeway in the background... I love Sahara beige and the chrome trim. Beautiful job!

[k9handler]

very nice...here is her evil twin



My friends often refer to the color as baby**** yellow! lol

It's a great color when looking at an older car.

[livi]

Oh my.. that is one beautiful car, Dan !

Love the color. Real classy.

[Joe Bob]

Looks nice.....

When's the flare job and special graphics goiing on?????


Insert evil grin...

[Dan in Pasadena]

Originally posted by gulf908
This colour is so hard to take a proper pic with..... I was indifferent to Sahara beige at first, I came to like it very much.
BTW I believe the US market name was Desert Beige.
What interior do you have ?....Do you have pics of the inside pls ?
ps - do you know Greg Gustavsen(RS 505)

I couldn't agree more that Sahara/Desert Beige just can't be photographed correctly. When I bought my car it was absolutely FLAT with oxidation. I wondered if it wasn't Light Yellow? When I finally found out it had the word "beige" in the name I thought, "Oh hell no my dream car isn't going to be anything called friggin beige!" But you'd have to see it to know what it really looks like. I think it is a truly era-correct color. I almost had it painted Continental Orange - which I love, but in the end went for originality...well, almost!...except for those '74/Euro bumperettes, the stainless rectangular mirror instead of the flag mirror and the H4's in chrome. I think they all look better with the bright trim around the windows.

Interior? It is Cork and it is pretty much trashed. I keep thinking about going to black but someone spent a lot of money to have a new dash put in (this conditon after 30 years?). Because of that I will likely stay with Cork. The spaghetti of wires you see under the dash got ripped out last night - GONE! The old Alpine cassette player and manual graphic equalizer screwed in under the dash? -GONE! The big cylindrical noise suppressor and the wiring was typical "17-yr-old-stereo-store-employee" crappy - GONE. I am keeping the original Becker Europa II (assuming it works) and will put a modern CD head unit under the seat or in the trunk with an interface for my iPod. Temporarily I am putting the El Cheapo slide on Pep Boys seat covers so I don't get a spring up the butt. I'll worry about the interior after doing the full brake job.

[bob tilton]

Well done Dan! The brightwork (chome trim) looks great on that body style which IMO keeps the car classic looking.

[Dan in Pasadena]

Oh by the way here's the rats nest of wiring I found under the dash and a closeup of the mid 70's state of the art (I think)stereo system. Also, those speakers with the square aluminum trim? I took the passengers side apart and pulled those damned things. The speaker cones were ripped and that trim smashes your fingers when you try to roll the window cranks up or down!

[Dan in Pasadena]

Good Morning Bob. A compliment from you with a car like yours means a lot, thanks so much. Yeah, as we spoke about a year ago I would have loved to have bought an early car - my real passion is a '72S. But we both know the prices for those have gone nuts. Plus, I am old enough to have grown up in the pre-galvanized era so I didn't want to deal with rust. This car had zero rust on the body - I triple checked that during the disassembly for paint. I noticed it does have a little surface rust under the battery location. I will take a variety of wrire brushes on the drill to that area, use metal prep on it then coat it with POR 15 from above and below. Hopefully that along with one of those battery mats will keep it from returning. Later when my 250 lb (WTF?!!!) battery craps out I will go with an Optima or an Odyssey - not sure which.

[bell]

dan......what are you doing with the old crappy electronic? i have a nice collection of old audio stuff and your 2 pieces would fit right in ......my crown jewel is one of the first sony car cd players ever made

nice 911, i think the cork/black would look great if pieced together properly

[pieterk]

So pretty! The car looks wonderful. Those buttery, creamy early colors are a joy to behold.

[k9handler]

Dan...I went black on my interior and it looks nice. You can keep the dash if you just use a dash cap.





and before:


If you are considering keeping the cork, my passenger seat is in very good shape and I am willing to sell it.