Vogeezy

I'm more interested in this build than any other on this site lulz.

Great car and great work so far, it's going to be amazing!

Overkill

Too sick, in!

jond

badass man.
Just curious, how much $$$ have you spent in the body shop so far?

Todd00

What was the original color of the car (you mentioned gold w/ black stripes, but you never said if this was original or not)? And I know you're not going for a full OEM resto, but I always thought the OEM color combo was a nice touch. Personally, I don't give a second look to older muscle cars painted wild non-OEM colors.

AVA

agreed, non oem paint and rims totally ruins muscle cars

bad-monkey

kick *** project man. good thing i'm sitting down so it's easy to hide my inappropriate rager.

sicky

Yellow Dragon

This would be my dad's 40 Ford Coupe. I'll have to look for more pics if there's interest. Mildly built Chevy 350, Mustang front suspension, completely finished interior. It's a very cool Hot Rod. Him and a friend did about a 75% overhaul on it about 5 yrs ago.

Yellow Dragon

Too much. Sadly most people won't even appreciate some of the work that's been done.

The bodywork and paint will be around $12-14k total...maybe a little less. It's more than I was hoping to spend, but I know it'll be right. Once you start block sanding you find some areas that need additional work. It sucks, but it's part of the process.

Yellow Dragon

I respect your opinions, but I gotta tell you that car manufacturers did some strange things in the 60's-70's. The OEM color was Olympic Gold, but it had GREEN interior.

Keep in mind this project would never have been able to be returned back to stock. It was a drag car so things were done to it that would stick out. I guess I could've done it, but I didn't want to. I just don't think I could enjoy a gold w/green interior on OEM 14" or 15" wheels. Honestly. I could see if I had a COPO or Yenko.

The most important thing to me was that it's SS and it will still have the "numbers matching" 396. Regardless of the exterior/interior colors and wheels. When you take on a big project like this I say do it the way you want. In the end you will enjoy it more. Some people will love it and some will hate it no matter what you do.

Yellow Dragon

We're not completely decided, but the current plan is modern adj coilover springs in the front with good struts, we have new leaf springs in the rear and good shocks. I'm also doing front and rear sway bars. I've been looking into Hotchkis stuff, but it's so pricey.

I really want to get the car able to drive. I feel that suspension is something that can be changed later without much difficulty if I decide to do so.

Coach McGuirk

damn dude can't wait to see this beast finished.

jond

Yeah my mustang needs to go in for rust treatment and new paint. The hours add up quick.
Don't forget to get special insurance on it. Even if it's just a normal insurance company(I have state farm), you can get them to write the policy for a agreed stated value. You have to take your car to a "expert", I took mine to a guy who owns a resto shop and judges cars, and got a estimate of worth, and then the insurance co took pictures, yada yada. That way if you wreck it, or it gets stolen you don't get a $300 check for a $30,000 car.

TRUST8383

Awesome project Yellow dragon! I'm jealous...

Here was my project. It's been put on hold indefinitely? $$$

The camaro back in the day (in the background). That's me in the middle playing with the knife, lol. I was in 3rd grade i believe?


Currently...

GoodFella

Sick project! I love muscle cars

Knightsport

Beautiful car man.

My dad has a '72 El Camino SS wasting away in his garage I need to get my hands on.

Good luck!

Yellow Dragon

I've already got insurance on it for $20k. I'll up that once I get it from the bodyshop. Thanks for the info. I'm familiar with this because my dad has his 40 Ford insured for $45k or something like that.

Yellow Dragon

I need to look through my parent's old pics. There are a few of me next to the SS way back when I was little. There's also pics of me helping my dad with it at the dragstrip.

So what does your Camaro need? It looks like a nice driver from the pics. Don't give up on it man. Cars mean so much more when they have family history behind them...just like most things.

Yellow Dragon

Thanks! Does the El Camino need a full resto or what? Get your hands on it!

Knightsport

It more than likely will need a lot of work. I know it has a cracked bell housing.

Really nice though, all original rare SB400 with a TH400. Needs a little body work. Will need a repaint and my dad has those fugly "turbine" wheels that were so popular on it.

I'd like to spruce it up soon so he can drive it again.

Yellow Dragon

Then what are you waiting for? Stop spending so much money on those Corvettes and get to it. JK. Definitely take your time with it and enjoy.

Knightsport

I need my shop built first, which should be started this coming Summer.

No room in the garage really. Unless I park my cars outsidethat is, not gonna happen. lol

Not to mention it is buried in my Dad's garage. Eek.

dj_BUDDAH

wow this is an awsome thread, my dad rebuilds old chevy's for a living, he'd love this thread

Todd00

Obviously someone ordered the car with green interior and gold exterior. People go nuts for rare combinations, and yours certainly would be one of those. All the more reason to put it back to as stock as possible, especially with a numbers matching engine.

An SS 396 numbers matching car is rare. Just seems somewhat ashamed to ruin it with non OEM paint and funky looking 19" wheels that don't really look correct on a car from the late 60's.

It's not like the car is a basket-case--you actually have a very good frame and chassis. I know it is something that you want to do, but that car would be worth 10x more (literally) if you go with an OEM or close to OEM resto.

There are plenty of other bodies out there that aren't true 396 cars. Just buy one of those if you want to go wild.

jond

Good deal. It's important. One of my friends in college had a 70's CJ Jeep. It was perfect. He rolled it, and the insurance co said the blue book was something like $150. The end result is he had to fix it out of his own pocket.