Banzaitrey

I'll start off with a little backstory and all of that boring stuff. I have been meaning to start a thread for a while, but I am finally getting around to it. We are located in Southaven, MS just south of Memphis, TN and have a hot rod shop. The best part is, we don't do any work for the public and just work on our own cars all day! My dad is currently building a 60' Corvette and I am sure I will have a thread started on it before too long. I graduated college in 2012 and as a graduation present, my dad helped me buy an 81' Corvette. I've grown up around hot rods and my first car was a 68' Camaro that I spent the better part of 6-7 years restoring from the time I was 14. After driving the 81' for a year, I decided I wanted to go with a road race look and figured the best way to do that was selling the 81 and going with an older model corvette. Having a 68' Camaro, I was instantly for the idea of getting a 69' because of their tradition in racing and I really like the look of the chrome bumpers. I also decided to try to find a convertible to enjoy during the summer and I love the look of a convertible vintage road racer. After months of searching, I came across a really beat up car that most would not have even given the time of day. The previous owner had fiberglassed an 80 front cap and a newer model rear section to the car and did a not so great job I assume. Then he decided to just rip it all off and it left the car in a condition that many would have just junked it. Being a recent college graduate and halfway through grad school, my budget was low and I bought the car for a super low price. I purchased the car in early March and immediately sent it to get some body work done. This thread will have a lot of pictures and I know that the car will never be a pristine original Corvette, have all original parts or a car that everyone will like, but it is what I have envisioned it looking like and all I can do on my budget.

Here is the 81' Corvette I started with

Here are a few pictures of the car the day I got it home, you can see just what a piece of junk I am starting with

The car obviously needed a ton of body work and thankfully I had a great friend and retired fellow that helped us on my Dad's 60' Corvette and offered to help us out on this car as well. Here are some pictures of what he started with and the end result.


After countless hours of body work, I was finally able to bring the car home and get to work on the rest of the restoration. The car still needs many more hours of body work to get it ready for paint, but I decided to give Charlie a little break since he did such a great job getting me to this point.

I got the car back to the shop in early June and it set for a while until the last two weeks when we were able to get a lot done. The car has a lot wrong with it that I hope to fix in the future and had some pretty different flares on the bottom of the fenders, but I decided to go with it since it would be a vintage race racer and I liked the look. Next up was pulling all of the front suspension off the car and installing new Polyurethrane bushings, sandblasting and painting all of the suspension pieces, new shocks and springs, drilled and slotted rotors and new wheel studs. I also wire brushed the frame and engine bay and got it ready for paint.



After getting the front end back together, except for brakes which is my next big purchase, it was time to get the motor and transmission ready to drop in. I painted the engine bay and I decided to put a 406 SBC with a 4 speed in the car. It had been freshly rebuilt with new rockers, cam, rebuilt heads, crank and lifters. I know it may not make the car valuable, but heck I don't plan on ever selling it anyways. It should make some power and give the car a great sound through the Hooker side pipes, (Without mufflers of course.)

We were able to get the motor and transmission in yesterday, as well as the headers and side pipes. Today I was able to install a new water pump, fuel pump, spark plugs and wires. We were able to get a lot done in a few weeks as the car just got back to the shop a few weeks back from getting the body work done. I recently graduated grad school and I am using the time during my job hunt to get this car as close as I can to being done. We still have a lot of work to do, but I plan on driving it around the block a few times by the weekend, without brakes! Next on the list is hooking up the clutch and gas pedal linkage, installing the new shocks and rotors on the rear of the car and painting the rear of the frame, etc... The drive shaft should be hooked up tomorrow and the next big purchase will be the brakes. Unfortunately, these corvettes as you know can break the bank and I have to slow down on the spending since I am still on the job hunt. I will continue to post some pics and updates as we go, as well as post some videos once I get the car driving, soon hopefully. I attached a youtube video of the car firing up this afternoon, let me know what you think! Thanks for taking the time to read all of this and view all of these pictures, I hope y'all will like the end result.

jr9170

Banzaitrey

Here are a few pictures of the Camaro I started building when I was 14 and the end result, as well as a picture of my Dad's cobra that I plan on painting my Corvette with the same scheme to look like a vintage road race team.


My car will be #2, which will match our cars that we currently road race as his race car is #1 and mine is #2. It's great to be able to build and race these cars with my dad and have something that we both love in racing, cars and especially Corvettes! Our next project after finishing the 60' and 69' is a 66' Corvette we picked up last year and hope to make it #3 in the race team with the same paint scheme, wheels, etc..

CSX66

Nice work there!

I'm restoring a 72 roadster at the moment. I've got some bodywork and fiberglassing to do down the track too.

I'm a fan of the cobra replicas too. The corvette shares the work shop with mine. I do a fair bit of work on other cobras and a buddy of mine had one in a very similar look and paint scheme to your dads.

Keep up the good work and keep us posted.

Cheers

Mike

69L46vert

Great job Banziatrey! Looks like you've got a ton of work done in a short time. That's going to be a fun car and at the rate you're going it won't be long before it's ready. Thanks for the pics and the write up!

929nitro

Great work. Keep the updates coming.

redvetracr

is that a Saginaw transmission?

KLUTZ

I would love to see more pictures of the body repair. There are some very similar sections in the rear clip on my '73 I'll have to tackle...

Mick71

Car sounds great! Mine sounds like an Impala compared to that

Nice write-up, thanks for sharing.

Banzaitrey

I will try to find some more pictures of the body repair and post them this weekend. I was able to get the Harrison radiator painted and installed this afternoon, but the heat in the mid-south this weekend has been terrible so I am gonna take it easy tomorrow and wait for the weather to hit the mid 80's Monday before I hook the drive shaft up. Shouldn't be too much longer before I take it around the block. Unfortunately, it will be without brakes, but I will have my GoPro on the car for the first ride. Hopefully I make it back in one piece.

redvetracr

I have never seen a Muncie with a vent on top of the tail and where reverse lever bolts through the side door.....

Banzaitrey

That's what I get for answering questions so late at night, we are rebuilding a Muncie transmission to switch out, just wanted to get the motor in and transmission mounted and fitted. The Saginaw is gonna come out before it is torn to pieces after banging through the gears a few times!