What, another story about a car? Well this one belongs to our friend Chris of RLJ Electric a hard working family man. He bought this 1969 Chevy Chevelle back in 1990 from a family whose mother bought it new. Along with this came visions of using the car and possibly restoring it. Of course, along with those dreams came life, opening a business, buying a home and having children. Needless to say, the Chevy took a back seat to life.
But a little over a year ago, as Chris watched some of the hot rods coming and going out of our shop, he decided it was time. His 1969 Chevelle he had for 20 years was about to get a well deserved make over.
Now, I have to tell you mother nature is not kind to automobiles. What started off as a restoration turned into a full frame off restoration complete from top to bottom inside and out. Why would someone spend this kind of money on an old car you ask? Well that's simple; it was his and what he loved.
So then starts the hard part. First you take out the seats and carpet to see what needs to be done. If you have never seen a car separated from top to bottom it is a sight to behold. Next, remove all the old floors, that's right, remove and replace with new ones.
Of course you know from watching all the car guy shows we need to replace quarter pannels, and they make it look easy. Often wonder how Chip Foose can do all this work in an hour. Well, along with body work comes cleaning up that engine, because you know it ain't cool if your chrome don't shine. And, of course, fresh carpets, headliner, and seats.
We only ran into one real problem working on this car, Brian lost the tip of his pinky removing the rear end out of the car. He took the injury in stride, went to the hospital and came back the same day. The road to recovery has taken the rest of the year and we promised Chris we would not include the hospital bills as part of the restoration. And I will not tell you where the top of the pinky is.
Chris has promised he will take this beauty to car shows this year. So be sure you look for it. It is as well put back together as the day it rolled out of the factory, maybe even better.
Please feel free to follow us on facebook at Brians Automotive Inc, or contract Brian at, brian@briansautmotive.net, or bdee@verizon.net. We enjoy working on our customers cars.
