Nice car! I am sure it will turn out great. Keep up the good work!
You could leave the console white and paint the center metal plate Aqua for accent. I did this on my 68 with the blue and white interior.
Brian, that treatment was the one we actually first considered because it’s reminiscent of the Pony interior on the Mustang my wife had 8 years ago. I didn’t realize someone had already done it. I like the way it looks, but I suspect it wouldn’t look as good on an XR-7.
The inspiration for B3Cat is Scott Ferguson’s XR-7G, just with exterior-matching accents on the seats. The console in the car now is dark blue so it will have to change color in any case. It’s just going to be a question as to whether the new color will be aqua (which is basically what Madras Blue is) or parchment.
Finally, this project is about to pick up steam. B3Cat has been languishing in the garage at the store, occasionally being moved outside when customer vehicle installation activity demanded. But now I have arranged for it to go to Dave sometime right around Christmas to begin the complete restoration. In the meantime, I’ve picked up quite a few parts from members here or elsewhere to make sure everything we’ll need is on hand.
B3Cat is going to be stripped to bare metal throughout. The engine is going to be pulled to allow a total clean-up and detailing of the engine compartment. Anything old and ratty will be refurbished or replaced. We’re still shooting for a debut at Carlisle 2015, so wish us luck!
Another step forward…
In order to make sure the project goes smoothly once Dave is ready to begin the body restoration, I’ve started dealing with some of the long lead time items. I had compiled a full set of window frames, grille surrounds, and trunk/quarter panel trim. All needed to be repolished or rechromed in preparation for replacing the dull, tired parts currently on B3Cat. I started looking for a good, reasonably priced chrome plating shop and ended up uncovering a hidden gem.
2 weeks ago today, I took all the pieces to D&D Chrome Plating in Providence, RI, and dropped them off. I also included the dash gauge bezels because, in a nod to CatVert, B3Cat is going to get the same chromed bezel treatment to add a little pop to the dash. Last night I picked it up again, all completed for a total price of $650.00. The pieces look absolutely beautiful to boot. So I think I’ve uncovered a hidden gem here in New England.
The spare steering wheel I had on hand was shipped off to Best in Show yesterday, but that won’t be back for a couple of months. So right now I have all the rechromed rear bumper, dash bezels, window frames, and hood/trunk moldings ready to go. On Monday, I should receive the Black Friday order from WCCC, which will provide the new emblems, rechromed front bumper, and a host of other pieces and parts.
I’ll post pics of the window frames and trim moldings tonight after I get home tonight, so people can see the results. But I’m fairly sure that the price and speed of completion is almost unheard of when dealing with plating and polishing services.
Are the dash bezels plastic or metal? Thanks Mike
Sounds awesome Bill, congrats on the find!
Congrats and 
to the planning ahead.
Good deal Bill. I was wondering if D&D’s work was up to show standards, glad to hear it is. Pretty sure a client of mine is in an LOI with them on a larger facility in Cranston.
Small world, eh?
The dash bezels are plastic, but the instrument bezels are metal. It’s the instrument bezels that D&D did for me. The dash bezels were already done when I bought them from the owner of an abandoned project.
Here are some pictures of the rechromed frames and polished moldings…
Sometime in the last 40+ years, someone decided B3Cat would be better off without its factory A/C bits from the engine compartment.
Since it’s going the restomod route, I don’t feel the need to source replacement original parts and would actually prefer to go with a Sanden compressor set up. But the Classic Auto Air kit is $1500 and contains things I don’t need. MU offers a Sanden conversion kit that’s a lot less money, but it doesn’t come with everything. Still, I’m thinking that kit and the few missing items like the condenser should be a less expensive approach. Has anyone done this already?
The restoration of B3Cat is proceeding to plan. I recently got some in-progress pictures to share.
In the picture below, you can see that the speaker pods are missing. I just received a replacement set from WCCC, along with the Custom AutoSound stereo with iPod/MP3 connections. My wife will have better sound in her Cougar than I have in mine! Note also the condition of the splash shields. They are virtually perfect. Every time I see Dave, who’s doing the restoration work, he makes it a point to tell me how good the body on B3Cat is and generally adds that it’s the best one I’ve ever given him to do.
The floors on this car, by the way, are perfect. When Dave pulled out the old carpet, the underlayment was found to be in beautiful shape. It didn’t even pull up with the carpet, so we decided not to disturb it even though it would have been interesting to see if there’s a build sheet under it.
I also stopped by the trim shop and took pictures of some of the interior bits that they’re prepping for when the car comes to them. They look fantastic. The dash pad came out great, although it was by accident. I had planned for the dash pad to go aqua to complement the exterior color, but Justin either forgot or I forgot to tell him. But the parchment looks really nice and I’m going to leave it that way. The lower part of the dash will also be painted parchment so it will all flow in together.
I wasn’t able to get good pictures of them, but Justin has also recreated new door and interior quarter panels that look very close to the factory originals. He wasn’t able to quite match the original heavy grain pattern but came very close. This interior is going to look awesome.
There is one small adjustment that we’ve had to make in the interior. Originally, we planned to have a running cat embroidered in the seat backs for the front and rear seats, but it became clear that we probably wouldn’t be happy with that look. Instead, I bought four of the running cats that normally go in the headlight cover corral and they will be mounted into the seat backs with a recessed look. I put one of the cats against the seat back in BBCat to get an idea of how it will look and my wife really liked it, as did I. So that will be a unique touch that I’ve never seen anyone do before.
At the moment, it looks like we’re on schedule to complete the body work by early March and get B3Cat to the trim shop right away. It should be fully completed by sometime in early April, which will allow us to do some shakedown drives once the weather clears and before it’s time to head down to Carlisle.
More pictures to come as progress unfolds…
Looking good, Mr. P!
Bill,
I may just have to come to Carlisle this year, if for no other reason, to see B3Cat! You are doing a wondeful job, I would expect no less!
Regards,
Robert
We had our first nasty surprise with B3Cat on Saturday. Dave called me while I was out of town to tell me that he had discovered extensive rust under the lip of the trunk lid once he removed the molding and started to strip the lid. Basically, the message was “we need a new trunk lid”. Since I was at a trade show, there wasn’t much I could do until I got home but a few hours later he called back to tell me he’d found a perfect lid in California, had confirmed the condition through pictures and conversation with the seller, and we could get it for $400, including shipping to MA via Greyhound. Problem solved!
A fast PayPal payment when I got back to the hotel and the lid was shipped this morning. It should be here by the weekend, according to Greyhound.
The weather here has also been a factor, so now the timeline for completion of the body work has shifted out to the end of March. But we should still be in good shape for Carlisle.
Nice to see the progress Bill, it looks great!
I hate to hear about the rust issue but at least you were able to get a replacement lid. I thought at the beginning of your post it might have been a tree limb came through the roof of the shop with snow weight or something like that. 
I can’t wait to see B3cat in Maradas Blue paint.
Steven
Here’s a link to the trunk lid from when it was listed on eBay:
The seller also sent me some pictures of the underside and it looks as good as the pictures in the listing. All Dave should need to do is sand it down and respray it with the primer he’s using on the rest of the car.