Well, many of you already know that I have a Crimson Cat, but I think this thread is still in order. From the beginning, I purchased my Crimson Cat last fall from a life-long friend of mine, who is also a member here (Crimsoncat66). He listed the car for sale on eBay, and I was the winning bidder.
Thus far, I have replaced the rear seat with a mint original acquired from another member here. From same said member, I also acquired an original set of Crimson Cat TRX wheels. I refinished the wheels, adding a little of my own personal touch to spice them up. You can find the thread on the wheel refinishing here:
http://vb.foureyedpride.com/showthread.php?t=84008
Another thing I have done since getting the car is to mask off and repaint the faded Crimson Cat gold stripes. A new kit was a bit more than I wanted to spend, so since they were mostly still there, but badly faded, I thought I'd try painting them on instead. It came out very well. I am very pleased with it. You can find the thread on the stripe painting here:
http://vb.foureyedpride.com/showthread.php?t=82860
Another thing worth mentioning would be that I touched up all the interior silver trim accents with a silver sharpie. It had all rubbed off over time, so I just went over it with the sharpie and it looked very nice again. As an update, the silver is still holding up! You can find the thread on the sharpie touch-up here:
http://vb.foureyedpride.com/showthread.php?t=81127
Well, other than that, the car is mechanically very sound. The paint has its blemishes in the form of some scratches and fading, especially on the plastic bumpers, but overall, for original paint, it looks very nice. I intend on keeping the paint original, since the paint scheme is a big part of what this car is. I do intend on touching up the scratches and addressing small details.
Future projects include reinstalling all the emissions components, including the evap canisters and smog pump. I will also be reinstalling the cruise control, which was previously removed. If funds and parts hunting allows, I would eventually like to reinstall A/C. I do have the lines and compressor, but the pulley is bad and I do not have the condenser. For now, I'll also give some of the more technical information.
The Buck tag is as follows:
CAPRI
609572 61D F TR 0045
277 DF ST
AC 06 HB S
CAR PW MOD 02 V
ELECTRIC-A NLR
On the door tag:
Build date is 01/83
1MEBP79F1DF609572
BODY: 61D
INT. TRIM: KA
A/C: G
R: 7
S: D
AX: Z
TR: 4LLJJ
I will also post that info in the decoding section for anyone's enjoyment.
As far as the original owner, I have been unable to track him down personally, but when I was replacing the rear seat, I found an old credit card receipt with a date in 1985 and a name. It was from Fresno, CA, and there is also a Fresno City College parking sticker on the windshield from 1991. I searched for the name in Fresno, and I was able to find some old court records, but just from a divorce and without any kind of contact information. A search on Facebook led me to someone with the same name, only Jr. and much, much younger. I sent a message, wondering if it was possibly his son. Turns out, it was, and he remembered the car, but hadn't spoken to his father in over ten years. He didn't want to talk anymore about it, and things sort of dead-ended there.
Anyway, like I promised, here are a few pics of the car to check out. I will be updating this thread as I get more and more accomplished. Until then, I hope you Crimson Cat fans enjoy!
This is how it sits right now in my garage:
This one is with the old wheels:
Here is a shot of the interior:
Another interior shot:
Here is a wheel pic before I cleaned it up and painted it:
And here is one after:
Here is a close-up of the stripes on the hood (Which were quite the PITA to mask off):
And the stripes on the side:
Ok, well, that's about all I have right now. I will most likely do a little cleaning/detailing at some point this week, since the weather is supposed to be sunny and nice. If I do, I'll post a couple more recent pictures.
So, that's my Crimson Cat. Thank you for looking!
Connect With Us