Ever since I discovered New Yorker Broughams in 1984, I knew I had to own
one. In 2000, I bought a beautifully well equiped 1978 Newport. This can
was begging to be a New Yorker by virtue of its lengthy list of features.
This can has more features than some Imperials I know of. Shortly after I
bought this car, I found a 1977 New Yorker that was good for little more
than parts. Because I loved the look of New Yorker Broughams, I decided to
transplant a few of the NYB parts onto the Newport, which deserved them
anyway, being a NYB in spirit anyway. I changed out a number of things but
most notably the header panel, grille and front bumper. I'd also changed
the rear tail lights to those of a 74 New Yorker.
Recently, I've decided to return this unusually high optioned Newport to its
natural state. Since I modified it, I've purchased two NYBs so I thought it
would be best to return the "Newporker" back to being the most highly
optioned Newport I've ever seen.
Today, I replaced the 74 NYer tail lights with the original 78 Newport
lights and I did some repair work on the Newport header panel. When I
purchased the car in January 2000, it had some damage to the right front
corner. To repair the damage, I replaced the header panel (among other
parts). The only one I could find in my area was slightly damaged as can be
seen in this picture.
http://imperial.point2this.com/nybml/membercars/bradhogg/78Newport/FrontLow.jpg
You can see part of the fiberglass missing between the left headlight bezel
and the grille. With the help of my friend Matt Wappler, we used the old
header panel from my 76 T&C parts car to repair the Newport header panel.
We used my sawzall to cut out the required part from the T&C header panel
and then we used metal plates, rivets, and fiberglass body filler to join
the two parts. This worked rather well.
We cut, fitted and clamped the new part into place...
http://imperial.point2this.com/misc/CarStuff/NewportHeaderPanelRepair/image1.htmhttp://imperial.point2this.com/misc/CarStuff/NewportHeaderPanelRepair/image2.htm
Then we riveted in some metal plated to hold it all together...
http://imperial.point2this.com/misc/CarStuff/NewportHeaderPanelRepair/image3.htmhttp://imperial.point2this.com/misc/CarStuff/NewportHeaderPanelRepair/image5.htm
We had to shave the new part some because the two headers are not exactly
the same, particularly where the grille meets...
http://imperial.point2this.com/misc/CarStuff/NewportHeaderPanelRepair/image6.htm
To finish it off and add strength, we filled in the spaces with fiberglass
body filler...
http://imperial.point2this.com/misc/CarStuff/NewportHeaderPanelRepair/image7.htmhttp://imperial.point2this.com/misc/CarStuff/NewportHeaderPanelRepair/image8.htm
As you can see, the headlight bucket, bezel and grille fit perfectly over
the repaired area...
http://imperial.point2this.com/misc/CarStuff/NewportHeaderPanelRepair/image8.htmhttp://imperial.point2this.com/misc/CarStuff/NewportHeaderPanelRepair/image10.htm
The next step is to do the fine finish work on the repair and prep the whole
panel for painting.
Thanks to Matt for helping with this little project. He'll be helping me
install the header and front bumper this week.
I need one part to finish the conversion back. That is the flexible filler
panel between the rear bumper and the right quarter panel...
http://imperial.point2this.com/misc/CarStuff/NewportHeaderPanelRepair/RightRear.jpg
I'd appreciate any leads on where I could get such a part.
After this, I only have to change out the cornering lights, the driver's
lower door panel and the sail panels to return the car back to the Newport
that it really is. After all this is done, I intend to get all the body
work all done up just right and get the dear thing painted so its all one
shade of green for a change.
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