Hey there-
I figure it is time to start a thread on this project now that the car is about as naked as it can be. When I was 13, I was riding my bike around town when I saw Costa (18 yo high school senior) washing his 69 camaro. I told him I loved his car and he threw me the keys and said take it for a ride. I thought he was kidding, but he insisted and he jumped in the passenger seat. He let me drive it around the block. He not only scored major cool points in my book, but also started a crush on 69 camaros.
A little history on the 69 I bought last year. My starting point is not as bad as Tenacity, but a disaster nonetheless. I found a car that was advertised as recently built, no rust, fresh paint, 600+hp 496 BBC, fresh interior etc. I had several conversations with the guy on the phone, he was a mechanic at a Mercedes Dealership, he built cars on the side and this is one of the cleanest/rust-free 1st gen camaros he has worked on. He sent me videos of the car and lots of pictures. After a couple weeks of talking to him, I bought the car and shipped it home. He even sent me a couple pics of the car being loaded in the trailer. Here's a couple videos from the advertisement:
I was stoked!
The day the car was to be delivered, the truck driver called and asked where I wanted to meet since he couldn't drive into my neighborhood. I told him a large parking lot 1/2 mile from my house, and he asked if I had a tow truck. Huh? He said the car wasn't running (missing battery) and they had to load it by hand. I had him redirect the shipment to the shop working on my vette in Vacaville (90 miles away from my house). I was tied up at work and it was a couple weeks before I was able to check the car out myself.
The paint looked pretty good, although the rally stripes were slightly off and it was in need of final cut and polish The interior was supposed to be new, although in pretty good shape, it was clearly not new. Oh well, I was going to swap the seats out anyway.
I talked to my painter about redoing the rally stripes and adding a few more layers of clear. He looked the car over and we decided it was best to just reblock the car and repaint it. I had Carter Hickman create a couple renderings for me and the snowball gained speed.
I love the blue one. However, my vette is painted this color combo and my wife really likes the Lexus Smokey Granite Mica. I let her win, keeps her somewhat interested in the car.
Well, a couple months later the car was stripped- drivetrain, interior, trim, glass etc and ready for the painter to start blocking. Then I got a call and he asked me to come up and check out what was under the "nice" paint job. Here is what we found:
Bondo hiding something?
How about a hole?
No metal?
Insulation foam from Home Depot makes a nice sheet metal replacement, seriously?
We also found some aluminum foil covering rust holes. It was soon off to the media blaster.
Off to media:
Coming back from media, the car was swiss cheese!
Here is a list of the new metal going in:
Floor pans
Trunk pans
Front fenders
Rear qtrs
DSE Minitubs and subframe connectors
Doors
Filler panels (front/rear)
Firewall
Dash
At least the roof, and hoods were in pretty good shape.
Here's a few cancer areas being address:
Before:
After
Before:
After:
Removing the rest of the qtr:
Installing the qtr and DSE tubs:
And here is a cool pic with the 18x12 Budnik Gassers:
At this point, the frame rails have been modified for the tubs, the new trunk, floorpans, and rear qtrs have been tacked in and all the body measurements have been double checked. The remaining cancer has been removed. Next up is the subframe connectors, final welding of all the rear metal, brace the front end and then replace the firewall and dash. Then we start test fitting all the panels/doors/hoods/drivetrain/suspension, before blowing it apart for paint.
Since the rust free car turned out to be a rust bucket, I had doubts about the advertised engine as well. We pulled the pan and valve covers to see if it was indeed a bad a$$ forged 496. My hunch was correct, it appears to be a rebuilt 2 bolt main 454 with a cam. Sounded great before we pulled it, but not the 600hp beast he advertised. What a lying dirtbag! Yes I retained an attorney. Nuff said on that.
The overall goal with this project didn't change, but a lot of the details (and budget) sure have. Again, this is a car that I want to be cool, reliable, comfortable, fun and easy to drive (remember, my wife needs to be able to drive it). So here is what will be going in:
LS2/4L70e (pulled from 12k mile TBSS- Thanks Travis)
New Cam
Corvette Intake and accessory drive
Champ oil pan
Stainless works header and Magnaflow SS exhaust
2800 billet converter
Rick's Stainless notched fuel tank
Vintage Air
Stock front sub w/guldstrand mod
Speedtech a-arms
Hotchkis sway bar
GM 600 Power steering box
Willwood Brakes (6 piston front, floater rear)
Ridetech 4 link
QA1 coilovers
Moser- narrowed 12 bolt, 3.73, 33 spline true track
DSE mini tubs
DSE subframe connectors
Felser door panel/headliner
The Shop LLC package tray
Electric windows/locks/alarm
Corvette (C6) front seats, GTO rear seats
Billet hinges
Smoked glass kit
Budnik gasser D- 18x8 and 18x12
BFG KDW2s
Shaved bumpers
Lizard skin, dynamat and a nice sound system
I am still thinking about the dash and center console setup/gauges, but for the most part the plan is in place and in motion. I expect the metal work to be done in a couple months, another month of test fitting, 3 months for paint and another 6-8 months for final assembly. My guess is that it will be done sometime around Jan 2014 (give or take a few months). I'll post pics as more progress is made. Nothing crazy, but should be a fun car.
Very nice Rob, if the vette is any indication this will be a very nice ride when built.
As for the seller, that really sucks when people are dishonest scumbags that hide behind thier keyboards. Good luck getting anything back from the guy.
I once bought a car from Peter Klutt.... yeah... the famous "mister restore big dollar stuff" butthead.... The ad stated all the best of the best frame off restoration blah blah blah...
When the POS arrived -- it might just as well have come from a parallel universe... but 180* out from ours and what was stated in the ad.
Yes they took the car back.... that or face interstate fraud charges/lawsuit. When a guy puts stuff in writing -- and we're talking 10's of 1000's of dollars... then it's got to match up or the seller is in some deep stuff that doesn't smell too good. In this case, it was INTERNATIONAL fraud.
The good news is - they took back the car - I got a full refund. Case closed.
Thanks guys! I was pissed last year, but have actually kept a pretty good attitude about the whole deal. I planned on the LS2/4L70, suspension, brakes and interior upgrades before I bought it. On the bright side, this opened the opportunity to install mini tubs, DSE subframe connectors and a sweet 4 link rear.
Sounds like a cool project. I dodged a bullet about a month ago with a similar car. I drove to Memphis to pick it up and the car was awsome just like advertised from 5 feet. I started looking it over (and under) and it was a $28K hunk of crap. I was so pissed but all I lost was a $500.00 deposit and a tank of diesel.
Ok- so the family car is making some progress, so I figured I would post up a few pics.
Did I mention there was a lot of rust?
After surgery:
The body mounts were toast:
But now they are nice and new:
He's also welding up the seams for some added strength:
New dash metal:
New firewall and floors:
New doors fitting nicely with the rest of the new metal:
Cyber monday was pretty expensive, but I ended up getting some pretty good deals on parts from my shopping list. The CA Chassisworks chassis/strut bars arrived last week along with a complete SS bolt/nut/connectors/shim kit, ididit steering column, a truckload of Fesler parts, bullet side mirrors, DSE wiper motor, etc.
As far as timing, I'm hoping all the metal work/test fitting will be complete in early Jan, I figure 3 months for paint, 3 months for assembly and another month for the custom interior/trunk work. I'm sure we will run into a few hiccups along the way, but I will be happy if this is complete by the end of summer.
Brian Hobaugh SCCA National Tour June 2014
First Hemi 'Cuda Convertible Ever Built
Short clips: Goodguys Pleasanton autocross and pit videos
69 Camaro- The Family Car
Mario
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