Hoping to get the Firebird ready for sale at the upcoming Mecum Auction happening in Pennsylvania this July, Matt and Bill worked overtime this past weekend to finish the car’s exterior.

The Do It Again Garage was warm and toasty last Sunday despite the frigid temperatures outside. Our team was focused on installing the Firebird’s exterior script lettering on the front and back fenders. True to the name and reputation of the Do It Again Garage, the task was easier said than done!

Bill concentrated his efforts on the script for the back fender. For those of you who are not classic car restoration experts, this is a delicate process that involves applying a template for the letters to the surface of the car, and drilling holes to attach the letters where the template indicates they should go. Bill used self-threading speed nuts, which are, basically, unthreaded posts that are designed to acquire their threads when the speed nuts are screwed on. Problem was that the speed nuts wouldn’t grab onto the posts to thread themselves.

Despite the risk that the wiggly letters might scratch the paint, Bill decided to leave them in place for now until he can purchase some new speed nuts. With the letters in place, it shouldn’t be too tough to secure the script to the car properly, once and for all.

Meanwhile, Matt was up at the front end of the Firebird, attempting to do a similar job, but WITHOUT a template to guide his placement of the letters at first. Very dangerous! Quickly realizing he had too much at stake to chance drilling holes in the wrong place, Matt needed to find a solution. He remembered that the Firebird’s old fender was still lurking somewhere around the garage. Once he found it, he was able to fashion a homemade template using the old script, and applied it to the new fender. Matt’s self-threading speed nuts worked better than Bill’s had, and he successfully installed the front Firebird script.

With that job complete, the exterior of the Firebird is finished. Job well done, boys!

You may be wondering what’s next for our intrepid restoration duo? Well, it’s time to hook up the car’s electrical system, lights, wiring, etc. We’ll be sure to cover Matt and Bill’s progress on that and other finishing touches to the Firebird in upcoming blog posts.