1984 Holden GEMINI SL

History

We had a car the same as this in the family for about 5 years. My son and I had tidied up all the mechanicals, stripped the body for a repaint, had it repainted and we reassembled it all. It turned out to be really good car. Sadly, that car was only back on the road for 8 months and it was hit by an at fault driver coming through a round about. The car was a write off but being a third party claim we received the car and payout. From there we searched for another car the same to do another project. I recall doing trips from Lake Macquarie NSW as far as west of Melbourne with car trailer in tow on the promise of sellers that their car was good only to find we shared a different opinion to them to return home with an empty car trailer. Eventually we found this car. A blue TG Holden Gemini SL sedan. It hadn't been registered for some years but was a mostly original, relatively straight and rust free car. It had some areas of "do it your self " attempted scratch repairs, the rear wheel cylinders seized, all the usual things for a car of that age. It had less than 80,000km's on the clock. Wanting to know the car before we spent lots of time and money on it, we gave the car a good going over, tidied up, repaired and replaced things in order to get the car NSW registered. We got the car Blue Slipped and registered. The car was never meant to be or going to be a daily drive. Before we restored it, my son and / or I took the car to a handful of different car shows and drive days including the 2014 Holden Gemini Nationals drive day, In 2015 we then took the car off the road. We dismantled the car down to a rolling shell. All that remained in the shell was the final drive, cross member, steering column and handbrake (so it could be put on and off my trailer and moved around the panel shop). Progressing the panel shop had the engine bay and sections of the inner floor pans sand blasted and repainted. Knowing Gemini's are prone to rust in the boot floor we had this replaced with a new panel. The body shell was straightened of any marks and primer coated. The engine bay and front radiator support were then painted in the car colour. We didn't want to be doing mechanical and electrical refit working around a nice newly painted car so we collected the vehicle with the body in primer but all the engine bay now painted.
We then removed the cross member, serviced front suspension, steering and brake components, repainted each part and reassembled. All of the underside was stone guard proof coated / painted. Brake and fuel lines were cleaned, checked / replaced and re fitted. All internal panels painted, electrical harnesses / wiring checked and refitted. Steering column replaced, pedal assemblies refitted, brake booster and master cylinder back in, wiper motor & mechanisms refitted, heater / ventilation housings dismantled, air flap foam gaskets remade and replaced and housings reassembled and reinstalled. With the engine checked and the cylinder head recently reconditioned refitted engine and manual gearbox. This now got the car to the state of a running and driving shell. The vehicle was then returned to the panel shop where the body and panels were then all prepared and painted / assembled back onto the body. We collected the car and then started on the reassembly process. Thoroughly fish oiled / cavity waxed everywhere possible. Refitted all door internal mechanisms, refitted (replaced as necessary) window channel and door seals, refitted door trims, refitted dash board assembly and instruments (TG optioned full instrument cluster), made up new underlay and refitted floor carpets, refitted centre and floor consoles, installed head lining and associated trims. Trim paint colour matched, painted and installed replacement rear parcel shelf. We had two full sets of seats of which we were able to match up a full set of very good seats (and still have a good set spare for any future use). Refitted seats, refitted rear windscreen and fitted new front windscreen. Refitted all external trimmings, bumper bars, external lighting etc... The car is fitted with a Blue Tooth single din Kenwood head unit (we still have the original Phillips AM radio). The rear speakers are hidden under the rear deck panel so as not to cut the parcel shelf and the front speakers are mounted one in the original dash mounting and the other behind the dash on the ventilation ducting. We did not want to cut, drill or mark any trimmings in the audio installation. We are very happy with how it this project turned out. From memory the project took a little less than a year from start to finish.

Modifications

Only modifications are the Performance Challenger wheels (Bathurst Globes), Kenwood Audio system (speakers all hidden), Electric Aerial, Electronic ignition, Engine immobiliser, Electric cooling fan and boot and bonnet lights. During the build we aimed to have the car remain original as manufactured.

Vehicle Specs

Engine: 1.6 Litre

Transmission: 4 Speed Manual

Body Style: Sedan

Trim: Blue

Colour: Morning Blue / Mornimng Lake (Genuine Holden)

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