It comes with a power antenna powered trunk release.

All the things you would you would expect to find in a good sized Oldsmobile.

You know.

To see my dad in the car one more time, he he asks about it still.

And last summer we drove around in it a lot.

A lot, and he loved it.

So to be able, if we could get him in the car again would be the best.

The best.

Every car has a story.

(car drives by) Like the best thing ever.

For some, they end up here.

(metal crushing) These are just some of the stories about those who collect and restore vehicles, giving them a renewed lease on life so that their stories can be told right here on Radical Restoration.

(music) Closed captioning provided by Cre-Oil.

On line at Cre-Oil dot com.

Funding for Radical Restoration is provided by (Music) Rakabot sources sustainable materials to create boot racks that organize footwear that allows drippings to go in the bowl.

Models designed for home, work or recreational settings are available on line at Rakabot dot com Joe's Hand Cleaner Manufactured by Clean Products supports Radical Restoration With our without water Joe's Hand Cleaner cleanses to ingredients that are food or cosmetic grade A family business since 1948.

On line at Joe's Hand Cleaner dot com.

Tire tag.

Re Usable labelling to organize tire rotation and re-mounting.

Tire Tag.

(car honk ) Tire dash Tag dot com Additional funding provided by Nutrafarms and Hagerty Insurance 50 years ago, back in 1965, cars were either had innovative features or lots of horsepower.

In this episode, we're going to check out two rare cars a 1965, Ford Galaxie 427 (car drives by) and a 1965 Olds Starfire convertible.

(tires screeching) And we'll also take a look at some of the work that's being done in the shop.

(shop sounds) (grinding) (tires screeching) My name is Len Trombley.

The car that you will be seeing is in 1965.

Oldsmobile Star Fire convertible is one of only 326 that were built in 1965.

This is the last year of the Starfire.

You won't see another one like it.

It's the first year for a glass, back windows in convertibles.

Here you'll see where the exhaust comes out the bottom at the back.

That's the only car its ever been done on by General Motors.

My wife and I searched around for quite a long time to find something that we wanted because we we both like convertibles.

And so it's kind of the thing that we've always liked.

And I'm going to be retiring in the near future.

And we thought we'd like to have a convertible for my retirement.

It took us a long time.

It was just a little black and white picture in Kiji and we went up to Midland to see the gentleman that owned it and he was a retired schoolteacher.

We went back and seen it three times because the car was pretty rough and we were kind of torn whether we wanted to do it or not.

But when we found out how many unique things there was with this car and, you know, and the way it was, it's very difficult to find something that is it has a bit more individual life to it style and whatever than just another run of the mill old car.

So ... it comes with power antenna, power trunk release All of things you would you would expect to find in a good sized Oldsmobile, you know, it's like a downsized Cadillac, maybe you would say, but it's its own The car's virtually 20 feet long, as you can see inside, These are all the original seats and everything, but have been re-upholstered in such a way that there's there's the blues in the shoulders and around the edges in the whites and some silver.

The steering wheel is two tone now all the dash has been redone, totally different color, all new carpeting match.

Everything's all brand new windshield brand new.

Everything was covered, brand new, but still original.

But we updated the seating and everything in it by changing the color package as well.

But when you're back in the sixties, all the old cars like that, if you opened the door.

It was one color.

If it was red, it was red if it was blue, it was blue, there was no mixing of colors like we've done here.

(music and shop sounds) Yeah.

This 67 Mustang has was came in red with black stripes and a very beat up interior.

We stripped the car completely.

We found a lot of metal damage in behind the firewall.

Basically, it was at the point where the car would have collapsed.

The car had been hit also in the back.

And so there was a considerable amount of the frame rails and everything on the rear was completely off.

So we've painted the car, we've ghosted in a stripe that you can see very faint in the hood, the trunk, and we've got new tires and rims on it.

We're just finishing off final.

This is not a full restoration.

We only did minor modifications to the engine with carburetor, etcetera.

We changed the old interior.

We've just put new seats, new door panels which are present inside, painted and detailed, all the dash cleaned up, all the gauge cluster.

And we're just right now just we've waiting for the shipment to come in of the rest of the parts for chrome trim and bumpers mustangs in general 64 and a half to 68.

We're very popular, especially when the fastback designs this is considered a coupe.

But the fastback designs in 67 and 68 are very popular and mostly from movies.

You take the Eleanor car from Gone in the 60 seconds, which made that car extremely popular.

And if you can even go back to the earlier movie with Bullitt was Bullitt with Steve McQueen, where he had the Green 65 - 66 Fastback.

So that's what's it's sort of a cult car, so to speak.

How are you making out with.

It's pretty good.

Yeah.

doing the points, they're kind of being funny.

But thats the way of these thing Yeah.

So is it weights or Springs.

Springs mostly.

Yeah.

It was strong.

Yeah.

Way way out One was actually sitting there flopping around and the other one was actually really, really light.

Yeah.

But it was doing something.

Yeah.

It was maxing out at 52 degrees total.

Yeah.

So the car.

Yeah the car was advancing its timing so over 50 degrees it turned out it was a wait and spring problem within the distributor.

So Marcus is just bringing that back to where it needs to be.

Well, on some of these cars where we just do paint and interiors, sometimes we just do a little bit of tweaking on the engines.

This one has got a carburetor, some wires and a little bit of distributor work.

Usually the customers will come back at a later date and, you know, maybe pretty up the motor a little bit more.

Have some more engine worked on.

Yeah.

You want to try it?

Fire it up.

(engine starts) still got a bit of a miss in it doesn't it?

Yup.

Ten degrees.

We'll have to do it again.

Yeah.

Yep.

Moving around on me but I'll figure it out.

OK well and then Chris is actually working on the interior here.

Chris does our interior and wiring.

He just putting in a retro radio, which looks like an old school radio, but it has usb capabilities, iPod capability, and it also keeps that classic look.

So he's just in the middle of putting the dash back together on this one.

Let's make sure this works (music from car radio) Right.

This is a metropolitan Nash, 1955.

It's in for electrical.

This one here is just in for minor repairs.

This is electrical in the steering column and under the dash.

Very hard to find parts for these cars, actually, but that's why we have the steering column, a part.

The center horn button stuff is missing.

It's all shorted out and was broken inside.

This is a cobra replica.

The gentleman that owns this has a couple of different cars and he brought it in for just a little bit of a laundry list of stuff.

Well, what we found is we found that there was some coolant and oil leaks throughout the car and we repaired the major one.

But we found that as we've looked through the motor, he has damage cam bearings and a lobe that's more off the back of the cam.

So the motor is going to have to come out.

The owner hasn't decided exactly when he's going to have that done.

So we've basically stopped at this point because there's no use throwing money at patching it when it needs to be fixed properly.

Nice car again.

Rare motor 427 side oil or Ford Motor don't very there's very few of those left as well worth them to put the money into the car to fix it up because we've been out this such a long time.

We tend to have, you know, a lot of contacts for different makes and models The Internet certainly helps, but we have contacts in every area like with Fords, whether it's Chrysler, Chevrolet, and we're able to source pretty much anything, anything that we can't source.

We pretty much make (music) (shop sounds) another gem that's come into the shop is this really nice 1967 Chevy 2 Nova.

I'm going to show you a few things underneath the car to give you an idea of some of the other kind of work that we do in the shop.

This thing has suspension problems front and rear and a few other other issues like electrical.

The customer bought it in the States and then brought it in to us to tweak it for him and get it right.

So bear with me and I'll put the car up in the air (hoist sound) okay, so we're on the underside of the 67 Chevy 2, and I'll just show you a couple of things that have been done here.

This is your PANHARD bracket, which holds your alignment on your rear end.

As you can see here, they've whoever previously did this work, they've cut this out.

You can actually see that the metal is fracturing along this side.

If you look up in here, there's only half welds up in the sides.

It's it's too bad because the cars a nice car.

So what we have done is we've realigned everything.

You can actually see how off centered it was because this is where it was rubbing on the exhaust up here and here.

So we've realigned that there's a few other issues.

There's some the upper part of the fore bar you see right here, it's actually hitting the floor.

So we're going to re angle these bars and get rid of that problem because what he's paying is driving along, it's banging away.

And if we come up to the front, you can see there's some issues with the front suspension.

If you come around this side, here's an upward ball joint that's completely stick my finger in there.

It's gone.

If you look up here, here's your if you can see it from the side, John, this is the steering column that comes down.

And this is simple stuff.

It's a double D joint with Jorgenson fittings.

But if you shoot the camera in there, you can see see the in here, you see the movement, the bearings, the needle bearings are gone.

So that's half gone.

So that's a whole other problem.

There's a few other little things.

This is runs on an airbag front suspension when the bags let down, of course, it's fatter.

And what's happening is this crown nut that's up in the steering here is actually rubbing on the bag.

So we're going to straighten out all these little problems for him and get it running properly.

As you can see, it's got transmission leaks generally.

It's a nice car.

You see the ball joint on this side Yeah.

As you can see, this one is tore as well.

Not as bad as the other side, but it's still gone.

And there's other issues here.

You know, there's some stuff that we just wouldn't have done, like the some of the wiring is right up here, you know.

So you've got junction boxes here.

There's some on the other side.

You know, it's just a matter of just cleaning it up.

We get a lot of this sort of work where we're straightening out other problems from other places.

So another gem, I thought you might appreciate is the overflow tank zip tied to the fan.

So here we have blades right here and we've got this flopping around, so we'll make it right.

But the car is a nice car.

You know, it's got lots of power and that's when we've got all the work done.

We'll take you out for a cruise on it.

(music) (grinding) (music) This is a busy place, we've got we do a lot of mechanical and sort of sorting out problems with a lot of other cars, cars that are have been bought from the states and then brought up in this guy here's bought this real nice Camaro.

You know, killer motor in the thing.

But there's all kinds of little headaches with it.

they wrapped them around the header area and there's a crack.

Yeah, it's got a big crack right there.

So there's a leak.

Yeah, that's a good one, isn't it?

Yeah, it's crusty and dry through spark plug wires that are wrapped and the wiring harness where the starter is was melted and you've got oil dripping down from the valve covers.

And there was actually so much oil in the in the starter when they pulled it out, it was actually running out of the starter.

So you just try and sort out all these little problems for them, get them out on the road, let them enjoy their cars.

So this is a 1956 Buick Century, which was a barn find.

And this family is doing this car up for their son.

So we've started with metal fabrication.

The floors were completely rotted through Ryan our metal fab guy is made up of new seat braces in the rear.

We're going to be completely moving the trunk floor and customizing it to hold a big stereo and a custom fuel tank.

This area here was completely rotted out all the way across.

And again, Ryan has made a whole new look for this in here.

So at this point, we're going to finish the doors off.

We will pull the engine out of the engine bay and then we will completely smooth out the firewall all the because everything's going to change.

We'll have all Corvette braking system in it.

So we'll end up covering up all those those big spots that are there.

The old heater locations will be changed, everything.

So we'll see what smooth all that look out.

Once that's done, we'll finish blasting the rest of the body shell and then at that point we'll get the primer on it and start working on the bodywork.

This will be considered a what they call a restomod, which is a it's the old bodyshell with all new components underneath.

This will have a 500 horse small block Chevy with an automatic with an overdrive custom stereo.

The tire sizes will probably be 22 inch rims and a really nice two tone paint scheme.

We're looking at probably a really nice deep red and the black at this point.

And then we also have to restore all the chrome on that dashboard.

So there's a it'll be a custom interior.

So basically the only thing original about it will be the shell.

(music) (grinding) Up next, one man's passion for his 65 Ford.

Galaxie is sidelined.

His family does all they can to get him out for one last ride.

(music) This is a 65 Ford Galaxie.

It's one of 14 its a rare car.

It's a 427 side-oiler motor.

It's very rare from the factory.

These were basically built factory built race cars is what they were.

And we're just doing a same problem with the ignition.

The weights and springs tend to go on these things.

This car is actually going to be up for sale shortly.

The family that we built it for wants to free up the money.

But for a Ford collector, this is this is a beauty.

Oh, ever since I was little, my dad has been interested in nothing but classic cars.

We've had, from what I remember, boss Mustang that was once a black GTO convertible and a black and gold.

Shelby And then the Galaxie, that's.

That's the one he always, that was it that's the one that he's wanted since he was 18.

He always told me and he finally got one.

And that's been it.

That's all he's ever talked about.

Couple things to look forward and thats the Galaxie Brian saw an ad in a magazine an Auto Magazine where a 65 for Galaxie 500, he got really excited.

It was in Loveland, Colorado.

So in March of 92, he put a trailer on behind his pickup truck and we drove to Loveland to pick it up and it was in pretty good shape, but it had sat in the desert for quite some time and they had danced on the roof, so it was caved in a little bit.

Very, very sun faded from sitting in the desert, but Brian just had to have it.

So we put it on the trailer and and brought it home.

From what I remember, my dad would work on the car in the various places that we lived.

He worked on it until he got sick and then it got a little bit too difficult for him.

He wasn't able to use his hands anymore to be able to work on it.

Brian has Huntington's and he's very with it, but his body doesn't work.

We finally I with perseverance, I was able to find some good people and the motor got rebuilt and, and then Rob introduced me to Gary here at Radical Rides and Restorations and he's been amazing.

And last summer, the dream was realized, which was all I ever wanted was for my dad to be able to see the car done and be able to go in.

I didn't tell Brian that the car was finished and we told him we were going for a barbecue at our daughter's house.

So I picked him up at the long term care facility where he is, and I took him to Orangeville where the car was.

Our daughter got in the car and we made a little excuse that we were going to see a friend of hers for something that we needed.

And I backed the car in beside the garage and Sarah got out of the car and went around to the garage where Brian's car was sitting.

And she came out around the corner of the garage with it.

And he was just so excited, so, so excited to see the car.

We got him into the car and our daughter took him for a spin and squealed the tires and he just giggled.

He was so happy, just loved it.

That's the day that we that's the day that we drove the car.

We put him in the car and took him for his first ride.

That's the day that we got him in there.

Yeah.

We were just about to pull out to have him in the passenger seat beside me and the wind in our hair, driving as fast as we could was the best thing ever.

Was the best thing ever.

He was shaking, really.

He was he was just vibrating.

He was so excited.

And I love to see my dad in the car one more time.

He he asks about still, And last summer we drove around in it a lot.

A lot.

And he loved it.

So to be able, if we could get him in the car again would be the best.

The best.

He's hoping that he's going to get in the car again and have another ride.

He's hoping it's his dream to be in that car.

Do you think we can get him in the car?

Can we do it?

Yeah, we probably could.

They've shined it up a lot since the last time I drove it.

We had a little bit of bugs and stuff.

(laughs) Yeah, all the dust is gone.

Looks great.

So we were moving the car from Tottenham to Hillsburg and my dad was driving the car.

It had no windshield, it had no windows at all, actually had no seat.

So he was sitting on a milk crate and it was really cold.

So he had on a toque and a winter coat and I was following him in the car behind him and had no plates or anything.

And the police pulled us over (laughs) and the police officer got out and he said, What are you doing?

And so my dad told him what we were up to, that we were just moving it to another shop and he said, This is a fantastic car.

And he said it was, he said, a really nice car.

And he said, Carry on.

(laughs) (music) (car races by) And I just was talking with the daughter yeah, apparently last night he passed away.

Oh, well, originally when we were filming this episode, we had interviewed with Sarah and Lynn, And the following week we're going to have Brian up and have a, some filming of him in the car, and I got some bad news this morning that he actually passed away last night.

So, you know, our condolences to the whole family as he was a very nice guy.

(music) Closed captioning provided by Cre-Oil.

On line at Cre-Oil dot com.

Funding for Radical Restoration is provided by (Music) Rakabot sources sustainable materials to create boot racks that organize footwear that allows drippings to go in the bowl.

Models designed for home, work or recreational settings are available on line at Rakabot dot com Joe's Hand Cleaner Manufactured by Clean Products supports Radical Restoration With our without water Joe's Hand Cleaner cleanses to ingredients that are food or cosmetic grade A family business since 1948.

On line at Joe's Hand Cleaner dot com.

Tire tag.

Re Usable labelling to organize tire rotation and re-mounting.

Tire Tag.

(car honk ) Tire dash Tag dot com Additional funding provided by Nutrafarms and Hagerty Insurance Thank you for joining us.

My name's Gary Nichols.

Until next time.

May all your rides be radical.

(music) (tires squealing) (sanding) (car drives by) (shop sounds) (music)