Chris McDonald's 69 Vette

[XcYZ]

Check out Chris's 69 Vette. What a bad ass car!

https://lateral-g.net/mcdonald

[Keith]

OMG! From the pictures I'd say that started out as the ugliest Corvette I've ever seen. Cheers to Chris for seeing the potential in it!

[907rs]

Right on... Sweet..... Congrats Chris!

[jonny51]

Chris send me a PM when its time to sell

[Payton King]

Put me second in line on the selling thing.

[69MyWay]

Thanks guys!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Just a little extra background, etc. on this car if you care to know. This is going to be long...............

I grew up around some cool stuff, but never "magazine" quality, if you know what I mean. My dad was a real gear head, but everything was old school and on an ultra tight budget. I remember one time when we could not afford to buy new spark plugs for the 69 Camaro, so it sat for a while barely able to run! I mowed a lot of lawns back then to keep up with the extra expenses.

I think this was good for me because I have taught myself to make do with what I have. This also makes me a hard core DYI'er. So, I typically go the long way around the block to get things done, but the adventure I have is often worth more than the final results, especially if what I learn can help others out along the way.

Back when we first finished the 69 Camaro, I thought I was super man. I was so proud of that car that my teeth would actually chatter the first little bit driving for fear of other traffic!

In 1986 we took the car to the Camaro Street Nationals in Warren Michigan. I stayed up all night polishing the car for the big event. When the show got started I quickly realized I was out of my league. The show was all about bone stock original, or Pro-Street monsters. I didn't fit anywhere in that picture and went home empty handed. As usual, the guys with the cash got all the glory, and kids like myself with a hard working dad just got pushed aside in the crowd. I was just too young, and I really didn't get the big picture back then.

That was the last time I tried to show that Camaro. I guess that had a huge affect on my life and I realize it more each day. In fact, you could say I have held a grudge of some sort since then. I am still learning.

So, off I go on my journey through life having fun building cars and doing things my own way with what little I can scrape together. We have had some fun over the years with more cars, trucks, boats, and other vehicles than I care to mention that got a dose of the Chris McDonald treatment including a V8 S-10, V8 Fiero, and many others.

For reasons unknown to me my wife and I started talking about getting a 68-72 convertible Vette. For a number of years we shopped for one in just the right state of disrepair to allow me to start from scratch. I had actually given up on looking when our now "Killer" shark fell in our laps.

A co-worker came to me one day and asked me if I could help a friend of hers (another co-worker) get her old Vette running again. She told me it was a 69 convertible that needed some brake work, tune up, etc. and she had not been able to get anybody to help her with it. I took a ride over to her house and well...realized two things right away. One, this car needed a whole lot more than a brake job and tune up. Two, I HAD TO HAVE THIS CAR! I met with her and went over the extent of damage and approx cost to get it simply running again. I then offered to buy it from her, but begged her to please ask around, get advice, and make sure she felt what I was telling her was correct and my offer was reasonable ($1,500 and a riding lawn mower). It took about a month or so, but one night I got the call. She had really toiled over the decision since this was her dad's car and he had passed away leaving the car to her. She grew up around it and had many fond memories.

We struck a deal and the car came to my house. My dad saw it and laughed. He said I paid about $1,000 too much for it. My friends laughed at me. That only made me that much more determined. I made my mind up that some how, some way, if only a 1" x 1" photo, I would see this car in a magazine some day.

Over the next nearly two years I worked my fingers to the bone. I took on some other projects to help pay for the Vette. This should give you an idea of the crazy things I did to get the parts and resources I needed to build the car:

1. Prepped and painted a 69 Vette race car in trade for the 454 block and misc. other parts.
2. Installed a 1997 LT1 in a 36 Ford for the $$ to buy my suspension and other parts.
3. Installed a LT1 in a 1990 1500 truck for the $$ to buy engine parts.
4. Installed flares on my buddies 71 Coupe to get the $$$ for the Hooker Headers, etc.
5. Replaced the bird cage on my other buddies vette for the Richmond Six speed.
6. Overhauled a 70 convertable Vette for the money to buy my autometer gauges and interior parts.
7. Sold my V8 Fiero
10. Sold our motorhome.


The whole time I had a picture in my mind of where I was going even if my friends thought I was nuts. I set a deadline of Aug 2003 to be finished with the car in time to take it to Sharkfest at the Bowling Green assembly plant in Kentucky. The months leading up to that event were stressful beyond belief. If it could go wrong, it did. It seemed all odds were stacked against me, including a near fatal accident, reconstructive surgery, and a host of other problems. My dad was somewhat silent on this project, and stood in the shadows watching my progress and making comments here an there.

The weekend finally arrived. I was speechless. At the end of the day on Sunday (the last day of the show), the car was selected as a celebrity choice and was on display in front of the National Corvette Museum. Bob Wallace from VETTE walked up to me, handed me his card and asked if I would let him photograph the car for the magazine. The photo shoot took place late that afternoon. I drove home realizing I had met my goal and beyond. The months from Aug to the release of the article were almost painful waiting and anticipating what it would look like. Since that time the car was featured in one way or another in three different issues. The car generated some buzz which caused VETTE to get back with me for the Q & A part of the zine. They topped it all off as the Aug 04 Calendar car. WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Along the way I have met some many wonderful people and made so many quality friends. Vette Brakes offered to use the car in the new Vette Rod series of ads. The car now had full, 1/2, and 1/3rd page ads in virtually every VETTE related magazines. Hvydeez posted the car on the Intro wheel web site. As a result of the badly damaged nose on the car I invented an electric powered conversion for the headlights that is now on cars world wide. The car also inspired me to write a fictional book where the car is the "vehicle" that carries the story.

Although my dad was somewhat quiet while I was building this car I found out at his funeral from his co-workers that he had a copy of the magazine article and proudly displayed it to all that cared to see. He was constantly giving people my website and talking about it. That warmed my heart, because I wasn't sure where he stood on things.

Guys, this stuff really isn't about the cars. It is more than that. It is about the people we become while we are building these cars. The people we meet, and the people we help out along the way. I was finally able to throw off that stigma that haunted me after first bringing the Camaro out so many years ago.

I fully anticipate the current resurrection of my 69 Camaro to be the last big project I do for some time. I launched this project with a heavy heart as to why I even got it back, but with full confidence that I can and will finish it and have something that would have made my dad proud. I hope to get a feature on it in some future magazine, and can only picture my dad up in heaven with a wall sized blow up of the article telling everybody about the project.

Thanks again for the cool feature.

Will I ever sell the 69 Vette? Maybe. I don't have the emotional attachment to it that I have for the Camaro. It isn't getting used much now that we have a young child, and could benefit from a fresh set of hands to tweak and work a few details to the max. I think it has more potential in the future to continue to capture people's imagination. I have no idea what the car is worth. I would only want to sell it to somebody that I know will keep it and use it as often as possible.

[XcYZ]

Wow, that's a great post, Chris. Excellent story.

[mdprovee]

Great story and Congrats on the car. Very nicely done.

Mike

[jonny51]

Great Story Chris!That car is one of my favorite vettes ever, I can't wait to see the camaro.

[TwinSting]

That is a great looking Vette Chris. Congrats!