Just thinking and wondering how in the world did you guys rebuild these cars before the computer age & not having the forums and the WWW?
I know there was the old AIM and Service manual and even the vette clubs but was thinking there is no way that I could have ever taken on the task of rebuilding my vette with out my computer and these corvette forums.
Also in todays world with a simple click of the mouse we have all the parts delivered to our door in a matter of days. I bet that was a pita waiting on parts or even finding the parts for these vettes.
How did you do it?.

 

some things took longer and cost more

 

Swap Meets and Junk Yard Hopping.

Went to a large car show 2 weeks ago. Probably 200 cars of all kinds.
This same show has always had a swap meet with lots of sellers.
I can remember when there where as many swap meet venders as cars being shown. I think there was less than 10 people selling parts and what they had, nobody was buying.
The WWW has killed swap meets.
R.I.P.

I also remember back in the 80's spending Saturday driving from junk yard to junk yard looking at wrecked cars searching for the best part and price and then haggling with the yard owner over the price. That would no longer ever happen.

 

Thats why us "old guys" have a tendency to drink too much

SEMPER FI--1970 Dave

 

 

Junk yards are a bust now, but there is still one or two large swap meets out here worth going to. Long beach has a performance parts swap meet every month.. Pomona (which I dont go to anymore) has about everything under the sun.

San Diego has the big3 meet once a year - its about 50-50 wether its worth the effort.

 

Junk yards used to do it, but parts for these cars are getting rare. Used to have to wait for an actual paper catalog from Ecklers or Corvette America. Then order by phone and wait, have some beers, LOL.
Most of the knowlege was gaind from doing and or screwing it up (more than once) But there were some guys around that had some to share.
IMHO the web and the forums have been a HUGE enhancement to the whole experience.

 

hanging out with old guys with old cars in old garages, its how i learned most of what i know about cars. i still hang out with them, most of them love teaching young guys everything they know!

 

However, there's a whole world of guys out there that don't know anything about computers and never will......it's just not their cup of tea. They still do it the old fashion way and are very happy.

 

You don't say....

 

 

Way back in '85, just try getting parts for a car made on a another continent in another time zone. Getting up at 5 am to make a call for parts, worrying if you will be ripped off on your credit card, then receiving a big box with the wrong parts 3 months later, and paying a huge shipping fee!
Swap meets here have died as well, used to have a couple of guys with Vette parts, now nothing.......

 

Letting you know that I enjoyed reading everyones thoughts on how it was done in the old days and what you had to go through to get parts and or rebuild these vettes as opposed to todays convenience's.
I take my hat off to you all and feel proud to be amongst the pioneers of this hobbie, no thats not the right word. Passion is a better description.
Thanks.

 

The good ol days

 

STARTING AT THE BACK, THIS IS THE WORK I CAN THINK OF:
rear window reinistalled and sealed
New rear spring installed
rebuit rear trailing arms with new bearings-GM
turn rear rotors on the car
New rear disks
New rear calipers, hoses and steel lines
New rear dual 6" sub box
New rear shoulder belts
New front lap belts
All new U-joints- spicers
New rear ground strap
Batt cut-off installed w/bypass
All nes weather stripping inatalled, including T-Tops
New Tach installed
New steering wheel installed
New CD player installed, with new speakers into the kicks (for $300)
heater/ac switch removed and cleaned and reinstalled
New headlight switch installed
All gauge bulbs changed
new rear view mirror installed
new side mirror installed
Trans shift linkage rebuilt
seats removed and foam added/reinstalled- drivers side
window bumpers changed
window linkages greased
d/s window crank re-done
new Front wheel bearings installed
new front calipers installed
new front disks installed and hoses
front disks turned on the car
New front and rear shocks installed
Rear end oil changed w/ GM lube and 2 bottles of addative
trans oil changed
Wipers arms replaced
High speed fan fuse replaced
steering box replaced
rag joint replaced
full front lube
remove A/C compressor
remove air pump and plug holes in manifolds
install new hand built spark plug wires and loom them above
replace distributor with HEI and wire into ignition correctly w/o res wire
Install new Holley 4175 mech sec carb, and adjust
repalce all vac lines on engine
replace all heater hoses, back flush Radiator, new coolant
replace upper rad hose
install flat caps on ralleys
install new front emblem
install new front ground strap,,
New timing chain, New Harmonic ballancer, New water pump, 1 peice oil pan gasket, running Royal Purple 5W40, mobile one filter.

It takes work to gain experience.

 

Eckler's and Corvette America were around in those days. Just had to fill out the order form by hand, mail out, and wait...........

Locally, people would just hang out and swap tales, technical tips, who knew what, and what shop had a "Chevy" mechanic. When we could afford it, we took Polaroid photos (film was very expensive). Here's my 1979 back then (late 1980s) complete with Western Cyclone II turbine wheels with spinners, Le Bra, and fancy stripes. All "cool" accessories.



And years later in plain jane form. I caught a restoration bug in the late 1990s.

 

I taught myself. Trial and error. The AIM and the magazine How-To articles were never out of my hands.

Not really. You called the toll free number, told them your customer ID, and gave them the catalogue numbers of what you wanted. We also spent delightful hours searching the swap meets, digging through boxes and tons of crap until we found what we wanted.

Miracle? Stubbornness? Persistence? Determination? Several cases of FCB*.



*: Favorite Corvette Beverage

 

There were more "personal" contact, face to face.
Now it happens more often in the cyber world, face time is always appreceated, just hard to come by.

Swapmeets use to be popular because that was the easiest way to get your un needed part sin front of a lot of people. Forms like this have replaced that. Makes it easier to find/get parts faster. Is it better or worse .. depends what generation you are from. I fall some place in between, and apprecreate it all.

 

I have only known the internet era but my uncle, a professional restorer often mentions his experiences in finding parts, first he only speeks french and all the parts catalogues came from the US,, but he managed and produced very nice cars for himself and customers. He says there are no longer any deals to find, or very rare. You could show up at swap meets ealy in the morning and pic up all the good stuff that most venders had no idea of there worth and sell them big bucks the next day. Ebay distroyed this, not to mention even in junk yards you can no longer find that rare part for 10$.

 

By being too broke to afford to have someone fix it for me, by hanging out at the local performance type garage and keeping my mouth shut, my eyes and ears wide friggen open and willing to lend a hand if someone needed a hand working on anything from a Ford to a V.W. And by being able to do without certain things, and by recognizing treasures at the wrecking/junk yard. Peace,,,Moosie