Nando870
Bigger Hammer
I decided to open this thread after the interest in my Opala I mentioned in my truck thread. My goal is to post here all things automotive I do that aren't related to the Willys or Jeep world, but I think you might find interesting.
To start it, my 1972 Chevy Opala:
You might ask: What is an Opala? Well, it was the first GM passenger car built in Brazil, starting in 1969. It's an derivative of the German Opel Rekord "C", their midsized offering from 1966-71, but adapted in both styling and drivetrain to suit the Brazilian tastes. The Front and rear ends were given a more "American" look, and the engines also came from the US, these being the 153" I4 (69-73), 151" I4 (74-92), 230" I6 (69-71) and 250" I6 (71-92).
The looks were updated a handful of times, and with Brazil's import ban of '76, the Opala was left without outside competition, and therefore, not replaced with something newer like expected. In 1991 the ban was lifted, and the Opala, now facing cars like the E36 BMWs was discontinued the following year.
My car is an early example, to be more specific, it's a Especial (special) trim, the base model for the year, equipped with the base 153 inline 4, and a three-on-the-tree manual transmission. I don't know it's early history, but it belonged to the same family since 1983, the owner having passed away in 2009, and the family selling it around 2015 to a friend of dad and I that lives in the same city. He keept it stored for a few years (he's more of a Ford guy) until 2021, when needing to free space, he offered it to us.
At the time, I had just taken a job in the city, and at the height of the covid pandemic, didn't want to take the bus. The offer was good, I needed a car, so I took it!
This is how it looked then (May 2021). The paint was dull, the interior was reupholstered in the wrong material, and a lot of things needed attention. The 14x6 chromed steelies were a period accessory with the same design as the originals.
Throughout the rest of 2021, I got the car in driving condition. The major work was on the firewall and floors. they had both been covered in some roofing material that trapped existing rust and increased it. I ended up replacing 2 pieces of the upper firewall, near the cowl, and a good bit of the floor pans. There was also some rust damage to the bottom of the doors, that were repaired as well.
I also had the engine repainted in the correct color, and did the interior in one of the patterns offered in the year. During the disassembly, we found a remain of the original vinyl, but no one was reproducing anything close to it at the time (more on that later) So I went with the easier, but still right for the year, plain vinyl.
To complete the look, I acquired another set of period steel wheels, these ones a bit more sporty, and had them paint matched to the car. I also ditched the generic driving lights bolted directly to the front valance, in favor of some period round Cibiés, attached to holes already on the bumper (Somewhere in time, the car already had lights there) and painted the front trim the correct color. On the Especials, the outer trim actually wasn't painted, only the corner covers, but I decided not to follow the factory correct pattern in the name of better looks.
I "finished" it on December 28th that year.
I actually used it properly as my main car for 2022 and a bit of 2023, but not without some hiccups along the way. When I first started driving, some issues coming from the fact it had been out of the road for nearly a decade started showing, but I kept fixing them.
In 2023, it became apparent that using the car like I was, would damage it long term. The company I worked for had a parking lot, but it was not covered, and I knew the sun and rain would take its toll. I decided to buy another car, and retire the Opala for weekend use. I would still go to work with it once in a while, but less frequently.
It actually sat for way longer than it should in '23, as I started a carburetor swap (single to dual barrel) but was in a not so good place mentally and didn't have the motivation to finish it. towards the end of the year however, I was better and got to it again. I decided to replace the springs, as i had gotten annoyed with how it rode, l actually found out the front springs were actually rears...
2 major things also happened in 2023.
One was that way back when I got the car on the road, I found a guy that specialized in vintage and original upholstery material, and bought some pieces of the correct material for my car, but since it was not enough to make a set for the car, I just stored them. In 2023, He reached out to me, having found a supplier that would do the vinyl, and asking if I could return him one of the pieces i bought, in exchange for a roll of the new material. I accepted, and after a few months, this arrived at home. I didn't install it immediately however.
The other major event, was a trip I did with friends, in September, where all hell broke loose.
The started died, the tube that connects the shifter lever to the levers near the steering box that move the rods, broke (in hindsight, it was probably cracked since the beginning, and in the months before, I was having issues getting it in gear), leaving me with only 3rd gear by the end of the trip, and it also started dying randomly.
The starter and shifter problems I solved quickly, but it would take until the last week of the year until I figured the intermittent stalling issue. What was happening, was the gasket for the fuel pickup/sending unit, was dissolving in the gas, and pieces of it would make their way to the pickup and clog it. After cleaning it, it ran fine (well, I thought I had cleaned it all out, but some months ago it started again, and I found more pieces from that old gasket. it's 100% clean now!)
In 2024 I didn't do anything of note to it, just regular maintenance and driving. At the end of the year, I left the job and went back to the farm to work with dad, so I had a bit more free time to work on all the cars.
In 2025, at first I didn't do much to it. In the middle of the year, I attended an amateur drag racing event with it!
I then started changing some things, to give a breath of fresh air to it. Dad sold a Opala wagon that he had for more than a decade, but before that, he took out the steering wheel he had on it, a rare piece from a '71 SS (in brown, all other years are black), and gifted it to me, so I put it in the car. I also 3D printed some covers for the driving lights, upgraded the audio with an 80's Bosch amplifier/equalizer, and installed some tire lettering, copies of period correct Goodyears (some people use these add-on letters to pretend they have a more expensive tire, like BFGs and I dislike that a lot, but to each their own)
I also finally got around to redoing the seats!
That's it for this car so far. Like i mentioned on the truck thread, I have a trip planned late next month, through Paraguay and Argentina, and i have some things to do to get it ready. Cosmetically, I'll repaint the black on the front trim, that is chipped, and mechanically, I have to replace the fuel gauge sender. that stopped working, and replace some valve seals. Around mid 2024, it started smoking on startup, and it's getting worse with time. My hope is that it's the seals, and not the rings, since it doesn't blow in the PVC system, but if it isn't... well, let's think positively for now.
Oh before I forget to mention, when I got it, the speedometer had been replaced with one from the wrong year, so I got a refurbished (and zeroed) replacement. Since then, I've driven almost exactly 13000kms (roughly 8100 miles) with it!
Nando.
To start it, my 1972 Chevy Opala:
You might ask: What is an Opala? Well, it was the first GM passenger car built in Brazil, starting in 1969. It's an derivative of the German Opel Rekord "C", their midsized offering from 1966-71, but adapted in both styling and drivetrain to suit the Brazilian tastes. The Front and rear ends were given a more "American" look, and the engines also came from the US, these being the 153" I4 (69-73), 151" I4 (74-92), 230" I6 (69-71) and 250" I6 (71-92).
The looks were updated a handful of times, and with Brazil's import ban of '76, the Opala was left without outside competition, and therefore, not replaced with something newer like expected. In 1991 the ban was lifted, and the Opala, now facing cars like the E36 BMWs was discontinued the following year.
My car is an early example, to be more specific, it's a Especial (special) trim, the base model for the year, equipped with the base 153 inline 4, and a three-on-the-tree manual transmission. I don't know it's early history, but it belonged to the same family since 1983, the owner having passed away in 2009, and the family selling it around 2015 to a friend of dad and I that lives in the same city. He keept it stored for a few years (he's more of a Ford guy) until 2021, when needing to free space, he offered it to us.
At the time, I had just taken a job in the city, and at the height of the covid pandemic, didn't want to take the bus. The offer was good, I needed a car, so I took it!
This is how it looked then (May 2021). The paint was dull, the interior was reupholstered in the wrong material, and a lot of things needed attention. The 14x6 chromed steelies were a period accessory with the same design as the originals.
Throughout the rest of 2021, I got the car in driving condition. The major work was on the firewall and floors. they had both been covered in some roofing material that trapped existing rust and increased it. I ended up replacing 2 pieces of the upper firewall, near the cowl, and a good bit of the floor pans. There was also some rust damage to the bottom of the doors, that were repaired as well.
I also had the engine repainted in the correct color, and did the interior in one of the patterns offered in the year. During the disassembly, we found a remain of the original vinyl, but no one was reproducing anything close to it at the time (more on that later) So I went with the easier, but still right for the year, plain vinyl.
To complete the look, I acquired another set of period steel wheels, these ones a bit more sporty, and had them paint matched to the car. I also ditched the generic driving lights bolted directly to the front valance, in favor of some period round Cibiés, attached to holes already on the bumper (Somewhere in time, the car already had lights there) and painted the front trim the correct color. On the Especials, the outer trim actually wasn't painted, only the corner covers, but I decided not to follow the factory correct pattern in the name of better looks.
I "finished" it on December 28th that year.
I actually used it properly as my main car for 2022 and a bit of 2023, but not without some hiccups along the way. When I first started driving, some issues coming from the fact it had been out of the road for nearly a decade started showing, but I kept fixing them.
In 2023, it became apparent that using the car like I was, would damage it long term. The company I worked for had a parking lot, but it was not covered, and I knew the sun and rain would take its toll. I decided to buy another car, and retire the Opala for weekend use. I would still go to work with it once in a while, but less frequently.
It actually sat for way longer than it should in '23, as I started a carburetor swap (single to dual barrel) but was in a not so good place mentally and didn't have the motivation to finish it. towards the end of the year however, I was better and got to it again. I decided to replace the springs, as i had gotten annoyed with how it rode, l actually found out the front springs were actually rears...
2 major things also happened in 2023.
One was that way back when I got the car on the road, I found a guy that specialized in vintage and original upholstery material, and bought some pieces of the correct material for my car, but since it was not enough to make a set for the car, I just stored them. In 2023, He reached out to me, having found a supplier that would do the vinyl, and asking if I could return him one of the pieces i bought, in exchange for a roll of the new material. I accepted, and after a few months, this arrived at home. I didn't install it immediately however.
The other major event, was a trip I did with friends, in September, where all hell broke loose.
The started died, the tube that connects the shifter lever to the levers near the steering box that move the rods, broke (in hindsight, it was probably cracked since the beginning, and in the months before, I was having issues getting it in gear), leaving me with only 3rd gear by the end of the trip, and it also started dying randomly.
The starter and shifter problems I solved quickly, but it would take until the last week of the year until I figured the intermittent stalling issue. What was happening, was the gasket for the fuel pickup/sending unit, was dissolving in the gas, and pieces of it would make their way to the pickup and clog it. After cleaning it, it ran fine (well, I thought I had cleaned it all out, but some months ago it started again, and I found more pieces from that old gasket. it's 100% clean now!)
In 2024 I didn't do anything of note to it, just regular maintenance and driving. At the end of the year, I left the job and went back to the farm to work with dad, so I had a bit more free time to work on all the cars.
In 2025, at first I didn't do much to it. In the middle of the year, I attended an amateur drag racing event with it!
I also finally got around to redoing the seats!
That's it for this car so far. Like i mentioned on the truck thread, I have a trip planned late next month, through Paraguay and Argentina, and i have some things to do to get it ready. Cosmetically, I'll repaint the black on the front trim, that is chipped, and mechanically, I have to replace the fuel gauge sender. that stopped working, and replace some valve seals. Around mid 2024, it started smoking on startup, and it's getting worse with time. My hope is that it's the seals, and not the rings, since it doesn't blow in the PVC system, but if it isn't... well, let's think positively for now.
Oh before I forget to mention, when I got it, the speedometer had been replaced with one from the wrong year, so I got a refurbished (and zeroed) replacement. Since then, I've driven almost exactly 13000kms (roughly 8100 miles) with it!
Nando.
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