A good productive day today.

[John Mcgraw]

Well, I started on the 65 today in earnest. I got all the removable body panels off, got all the interior stripped out, removed the soft top assy, and removed both quarters and tail light panel. The quarters had flares, and a "customizer" had glassed over the tail lights. I have new panels on the way for all these panels. I got the complete dash removed and the metal around the windshiels and door frames is in excellent condition as is all the windshield trim. The dash pad is in perfect condition, and probably will be re-used. Hopefully the new panels will arrive here before the end of the month, but there will be no lack of work to do even if they do not. They sure come apart a lot quicker than they go back together!

http://www.villagephotos.com/pubbrow...der_id=1567438


Regards, John McGraw

 

[JohnZ]

And another "diamond in the rough" starts on its way to being a masterpiece; serious case of skill envy is developing here....

 

[61 Silver]

Wow! I thought that I could tear up an old Corvette, but your project looks like a complete dismantling. Keep the pictures and information coming this should be a very interesting project.

Ray

 

[firstgear]

And another "diamond in the rough" starts on its way to being a masterpiece; serious case of skill envy is developing here....

from my perspective....that is a major understatement for me!!!!

 

[ZRGator]

OK, how about some more info on the starting point with this car, John. Thatis, if you have a few...
Notice that the car has 67 vents on the side and the frame is missing, also the rear tails glassed over...just what did this thing look like or what was it trying to look like when you started? If all that info is in another thread, just say "search threads" and I'll go hunting.
More importantly, what is it gonna turn into?
Looks like you're offf to a heckuva start.

 

[John Mcgraw]

OK, how about some more info on the starting point with this car, John. Thatis, if you have a few...
Notice that the car has 67 vents on the side and the frame is missing, also the rear tails glassed over...just what did this thing look like or what was it trying to look like when you started? If all that info is in another thread, just say "search threads" and I'll go hunting.
More importantly, what is it gonna turn into?
Looks like you're offf to a heckuva start.

This car belonged to a guy that I have known for quite a while. He bought the car over 12 years ago and was "going to get around to getting it back on the road" for many years. A couple of years ago, he got into serious money troubles, and moved it from enclosed storage to parking it outside of the welding shop that he works at. I started hounding him about selling me the car while there was something still left of it. He finally called me up last year and told me to come and get it.
The car has been off the road since 1978, and looked like it was right in the middle of a typical mid-seventies customization. It had previously been painted with a Mako Shark look-alike paint job with the purple fade-away accents with a silver base color. It had been fitted with eyebrow flares on the rear openings and 67 gills before that paint job. Then someone got the bright idea to glass up the headlights and tail lights, and that is about where the work stopped. The tail light housings were cut off flush, but were saved and were still in the floorboard of the car. I had originally thought about just cutting out the holes and glassing the housings back on, but once I decided to replace the quarters instead of repairing the flares, then it only made sense to replace the rear panel as well. The glassed-up head lights were easy to open back up, and they did not cut up any of the structure while glassing them up. All the headlight assy's and hadrware was still with the car. The car came with no engine or trans, and the front suspension was completely dismantled. The frame cleaned up beautifully and looked like brand-new. It now resides under another board member's 67 coupe that had a badly rusted frame. The rear suapension was also sold off. The frame I am using is one of SRIII's tube chassis with C4 Dana 44 rear and C5 front suspension. The drivetrain is a brand-new LS2 and 4L65E trans that came out of a new car that was destroyed in a train derailment while coming from GM. I am going to put stock body panels back on the car. I just couldn't bring myself to put the "bulged" quarters on the car even though I know that traction will be a real issue. the 67 gills will stay, and a 67 bigblock hood will be used as well. With the bigblock hood, there will be enough clearance for a Magnacharger on the LS2, but since I opted for stock wheelwells, I will probably not put one on. The stock LS2 will put out over 400 hp without any work, and that will probably be more than enough to give me my daily thrills.
Here is a link to a couple of pics of the chassis and engine.
http://www.villagephotos.com/pubbrowse.asp?folder_id=1342584

Regards, John McGraw

 

[IH2LOSE]

Glad to see you have found some time to dig in and get started on the body. I look foward to your updates.

John also if you get a chance,I had compiled some information on how to determine if a car had side exchaust from the factory,I could use some pictures of your bird cage showing the tabs for the rocker moldings and the UN-notched gage.

Thanks is that a st louis body or an ao smith/dow

 

[vette]

Makes me think about getting started on my next GS coupe. I need to take the tub out also. I love starting with nothing. It makes for a much nicer build. Looks like fun. As soon as my 60 is done I'll be cutting up the coupe. Nice work John. Brian G.

 

[ZRGator]

Thanks for taking the time to post that great explanation. So this is the vehicle that gets the GTO motor. I can't wait to follow this thread to see how it all turns out.

 

[Seaside63]

Looking great John.!!

It's nice to see that cars once thought to be worthy only of becoming unusual garden planters can find a new life.

I have no doubt that this is going to be one gorgeous build by the time you're all done.