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I just purchased a 67 convertible with what I was told was a Baldwin body mod kit. It has enlarged wheel wells, a spoiler and the rotating headlights were removed. I would like to convert it back to stock configuration. Any and all suggestions welcome! I did a bit of Vette body repair as a kid so working with fiberglass doesn't worry me. Thanks!
You have two options for stock looking press molded glass Corvette Image or Lee Bomb composite (Shimershine) to do it right you will need a complete jig assemble front clip and two quarters And lots of time to put it on. Lots of people did what you describe to put larger wheel and tires A Ecklers was a major supplier of flairs and other ugly body panels
Last edited by Nowhere Man; 07-04-2019 at 08:51 PM.
Welcome to the CF! Plenty of experience people on here, so ask all the questions you care too. How about some pics and mechanical details as you go along. The archives have plenty of subjects documented for use. Baldwin Motion was a Chevy dealer with a high performance department and turned out many modified Vettes and other Chevys. Dennis
Happy Fourth of July! You should give the characters here a couple pictures and a description (more than you have) of what you intend (as end state) for this Corvette.....It should be an interesting ride....
This car runs and drives great, but body is really rough. I hope to fix up the cosmetics enough to make it a daily driver. It will never be a show car.
My my primary concern is getting the headlights back to stock. I probably will paint it myself, so no reason to look for perfection.
I am looking for suggestions on how to how to install rotating headlights. There are no mounting holes now. Front end Where motor and pivot should mount
If you don’t want to buy a new front clip your going to have to find a good used front end parts and graft them onto your car. But unless you get all fiberglass parts for free by the time you spent searching, buying, and time spent making it look good. You could have bought a jig assemble front clip and saved a bunch of time and money
If your car is not going to be a museum piece or an NCRS candidate you don't have to use press molded panels. I have not used them but ACI has hand laid panels which are thousands less. At some point I will have to do a front clip on my car and from what I have read, with either product there will be work involved to make them look and fit perfect. Have also read when purchasing a complete front clip to not have the rear lower extensions bonded. Install and bond those panels after fitting the clip. I do not know what type of resin is used to make modern panels, i.e. polyester or epoxy. There maybe some consideration then on compatibility of materials. Seems like epoxy to polyester is OK so long as not a gel coat, but using polyester to epoxy has less bond strength. Maybe someone like Dub will set me straight if I have info wrong.
I was counting on you guys to be my salvation! Where is everybody? Noone has had to graft in headlight mounts or piece in front of hood?
Let's try something easier, what are people using to strip old paint? I figure if I get the crappy paint off, I can see what they have done to one of the most beautiful set of lines ever drawn.
Thanks, Tim
It all depends on what you want to do with the car, but in my opinion those small eyebrow wheel flairs were always one of the more tasteful wheel flair modifications and don't look bad at all. If you want completely stock appearance then you will need a lot of new panels or do a lot of careful cutting and patching.
I'll most likely get creamed for this, but I thought the 1st Baldwin Motion Corvette was produced in 1969. Did they provide body kits only before doing the in house modifications?
I don't know if that is an entire custom nose piece or a modified original. I would say the metal bulkheads on either side of the headlights are not there - but not sure. You might probe around from underneath and see what seems to still be there. Probably trying to find an entire used nose piece with the rotating buckets is your best bet, Otherwise trying to find all the individual metal bulkheads, buckets, bucket guts, face plates, motors, shafts, bushing mounts, and a dozen misc parts will run into quite a hunt. Then if the existing nose is salvageable the parts can be fitted back on - and if not, then the whole nose can be grafted back on. It will be quite a job.
I will offer to get slammed also but I like those flairs, the headlights are flat out ugly. Take a moment and fill out your profile so we know approx what area of the world you are in.
The car has CA plates, we don't need to know your exact location but a general location is better than unkown. It sometimes helps when you ask for sources for the parts needed.
Thanks for more input. The vertical pieces on either side of the headlight buckets are fiberglass. I was toying with getting a template from someone and cutting with a coping saw. Then I decided that alignment might be off. It seems that those vertical pieces are available separately, waiting on catalogs to explore that. Are they metal from the factory?
Yes they are metal and bonded to the fiberglass. If you haven't already I would get an AIM (assembly instruction manual) for your year car as it has most of the body assembly parts and body dimensions that you will need. It can probably be fixed up if you aren't afraid of fiberglass work and have an eye for lines, fit and contour. Nice thing about fiberglass - it's just about the next best thing to modeling clay. Good luck.
07-04-2019, 05:13 PM
67 Body Restoration
Dennis
