My story starts like so many others and follows a similar path encountering many of the same obstacles that many of you have along the journey to building our cars. As with most, my passion for muscle cars started back in high school where I owned a couple of hot rodded bowties and an awesome 66 Galaxie 500 convertible which took me through college. God I loved that car… so many good times were had in all of them; cruising, street racing, auto shop class and the weekly grudge match races out at Sears Point.
Then real life happened after graduation and hot rods became compact cars, luxury sedans and SUV’s. Once the career was established, I found the right woman, was done having kids and settled down it was time to reignite the fire that had been smoldering for many years while I was getting my sh*t together.
Well about 4 years ago now I was able to pull the trigger and picked up a really nice 69 Camaro badged as a Z/28. She was a beautiful black with white rally’s, had deluxe houndstooth interior with a good start on the suspension including 4 wheel disc brakes and Hotchkis drop spring. The 350 was solid but with the TH350 and a 3.42 12 bolt it was slow out of the hole and around town.
The car came with records and receipts dating back about 15 years so I had an idea of how it got to its current state. The paint was a great 5 footer… had some checking in the lacquer paint and some rust over both rear wheel wells. Soon the itch and inability to leave well enough alone took over and I started checking in to what it would cost to fix the rust and checking.
After doing some poking around at a few shops around the Bay Area and Sacramento I landed at West Coast Auto Craft. I hit it off with Chris & Jared who, at any given time, had 15 – 20 muscle cars in various stages of builds. They were mainly a metal and body shop but could handle all the other aspects as well so I was confident they could give me what I wanted.
What started as a 3 month simple repaint project back in November 2009 turned into a 6 month job, then 12 months, now 2 years this week… and hoping for completion before Autorama in Sacramento this February. So, on my 2 year anniversary of sending my baby off for some TLC I finally got around to getting the build chronicled to share with you all and to provide some much needed therapy for me.
After blasting the car it was recommended to replace both quarters, the trunk pan and tail panel. While we were in there might as well minitub it and replace the damaged frame rails too. So it’s not entirely their fault that it has taken this long as the project has evolved along the way as so many do… although they have not been overly “diligent” either...
So... since I am starting a build thread I guess there needs to be a project name. But what’s in a name? Does a car or project really have to have a name? If you post a build thread it seems you have to come up with some clever or not so clever but catchy name, right? I don’t know but I think I read that thread on here too.
All the real cool cars seem to have one...
So the other day I was driving home from work, thinking about my car, of course, and Guns N Roses came on… and wouldn’t you know it, there it was, Mr.
Brownstone. And then it hit me, my car & this PT thing is my Mr.
Brownstone… “it keeps knocking and just won’t leave me alone”. Cant ya hear Axle singing it now? “Because you just gotta have a little and the little wouldn't do it so the little got more and more… just keep trying to get a little better than before”.
Well, I can’t tell you how many countless hours I have spent on these forums, on vendor websites and ebay researching and reading. I haven’t missed a GG show in years and drool all over myself at all the autocross events. I am so jealous reading about the road trips and great times you guys are having at all these events. God I can’t wait to get my car back!!!!!
I am totally addicted to this PT stuff! Addicted, is that the right word? I don't know... Do you feel the same way?
As defined by Mr. Webster…
Addicted -To become compulsively and physiologically dependent on a habit-forming substance or activity.
Addict - a person who is addicted to an activity, habit, or substance.
Synonyms
1.
devotee; fanatic; junkie
Seems to me that there are a few of us on these forums that fit this description.
So now that you know the back story lets see some pictures.
Started with this - love the belt drive BTW
Ended with this - a little 383 stroker
At break in it dynoed 470HP and 515TQ ... a definite improvement
That was about all that I did the first 2 years I had her... besides a new fuel tank and lines (the old one must of been original and was pretty beat up) I also swapped out the de-arched leafs for Hotchkis drop leafs and rebuilt a couple dead QA1 shocks. I also added CPP tubular control arms which raised the front 3/8 of an inch.????
I drove her all I could and won a couple awards at some local shows. But then, as I mentioned above, and thanks to many of you who inspired me, I couldnt leave well enough alone and decided to kill the rust and fix the paint problems.
Tare down
Back from the blaster
While replacing the tank and leafs I noticed one of the framerails had a lot of undercoating on it. After scrapping it off it was evident that it had been straightened and the damage had been hidden nicely by the undercoating. Bastards! there was even a crack all the way around it that was filled with the undercoating. When I bought the car it wasnt visible as it was right behind the shock and well disguised. This picture shows where she was hit.
With that and the rust over the fender wells it was decided to replace both quaters since the truck was pretty much toast. I knew something was repaired since one quater lip was a 1/4" higher than the other when measuring ground to fender lip. The frame rail and body damage explained it and I'm sure it lead to the trunk not sealing properly causing the rust.
So the start of the "evolving" project... since we were going to basically have the back half of the car off we might as well minitub it right? So new quarters, trunk, valance, tail panel and frame rails went in along with a set of DSE minitubs.
Unfortunetly all of the good pictures of the panel replacements were lost by the builders. (Camera issues) Above you can see the driver side wheel well out and the new quater on the passenger side.
All the new sheet metal back on. It only took about 4 months to get to this point.
Brian Hobaugh SCCA National Tour June 2014
First Hemi 'Cuda Convertible Ever Built
Short clips: Goodguys Pleasanton autocross and pit videos
Mr. Brownstone - 69 PT Camaro
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