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We are not as far apart as I once thought, I am making the car I want and most any purist and many non purists would not think it's not the right way to build but I get what I want for way less than 15k, I am not concerned with investment or resell valve.
Yes, I'm not concerned with investment or resale value either. I can't buy the car I want (purple, or hot pink) because the factory never made it and I can't afford to pay someone to fix it to my liking.
Originally Posted by The13Bats
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While some will have different opinions to mine I love the idea of you taking the 79 that you are already happy with and making it more personalized to what you believe the perfect vette is.
It will have the engine, drive train, etc you desire the dash you dig, in my case I never liked the 68-77 dash much either then with the 76 and on to this 69 it grew on me, not saying I like it better than the later dash but it has a classic old school feel I love.
Me, I have to build on a budget, I look long and hard for good deals. your wallet might be deeper..
No, I don't have a lot of money although I expect to inherit a significant (to me) sum at some point in the not too distant future. Its unfortunate that this didn't occurr to me back in 2009 because I paid 12K for my 79 and it would have been a lot smarter to get a car needing interior, paint, and drivetrain rather than paying top dollar for a car in great shape that I intend to all redo anyway.
Originally Posted by The13Bats
Used the 68-72 clips are not so easy to find but they are out there, you didn't say if you would keep the 79 rear bubble window or nix it, It might look cool the bubble glass but from there back chrome bumper, I have seen pictures of them.
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Yes, I'd keep the bubble window, I've seen a couple bubble window cars converted to chrome bumper and may even like that better than the 68/69 body. Its a bit of a toss-up as to which I like better though. I see press molded 69 clips for $4000 and hand laid fiberglass ones for about $1400. I understand the hand laid ones are harder to fit but for the difference in price I think that'd be the way I go.
Originally Posted by The13Bats
Project 68-72's that are not either way over priced, basket cases or both are also hard to find, so to me that's another reason to go with your 79 and make it the car you want,
There was a 69 coupe needing paint/drivetrain/interior for sale on the forum in Texas claimed good frame and birdcage and ready for paint when the customer decided he couldn't afford to finish it. That one was for sale for 6k, sold, unsold, and is now for sale again. Unfortunately I'm not in any position to buy it. I also saw a 70 Texas car for sale for 8k supposedly rust free needing int/paint/drivetrain. The price of the cars is good but the kicker is I figure it would cost me another 4k to travel to look at it, stay in hotels, taxis, etc. and to ship it back (assuming the car is as described and not a rust bucket) If I convert my '79 I'm already 4k ahead of the game.
Originally Posted by The13Bats
Get ready for people to tell you to sell the 79 and buy a 68-72 but you will not find a 68-72 just the way YOU want it and you are right back to modding a car that doesn't start with as much of what you want as your 79 already does.
Yes, the standard advice is "Buy the best car you can afford" and that is what I did but in looking back I should have bought a project seeing as I want it purple or hot pink with a silver interior, 5 speed, fuel injected, etc. I have just as much work ahead of me with my 12K 79 as I would have if I had bought a 6k C3.
Originally Posted by The13Bats
I know you said 68-69 but any chrome bumper 68-72 will work for what you want to do, the side vents are not an issue to change.
Yes, I was thinking probably not too much of a big deal to change the 70-72 side vents to the 68/69 style so if I decide to go the early C3 route I'll look at 68-72 cars and have a better shot at finding a good base for a good price. I also like the square exhaust openings on the 70-72 better than the round ones on the 68/69.
Originally Posted by loup68
Priya, I feel that you would be better off changing a later Vette like your 79. The 68,69 cars were meant to road race and have solid aluminum body mounts. They ride extremely rough, but they do not lean at all in a hard corner! Besides, we keep losing stock looking ones every day. Lou.
Well, which way I go will depend largely on what my husband agrees to. Off the top of my head I think it will be a lot cheaper to modify my 79 than it will be to take a loss on selling it, spend 4k on travel and shipping to get a 6-8k 68-72, buy 79 doors, hood,interior. It might be less work to do the 68-72 but a lot of that work would be in converting 78-82 gauges/ac/heat/vent, etc. to work in a 68-72 and I'm not strong on that sort of thing, body work is much more my thing. If I have a choice between doing 2 hours of electrical work and 5 hours of body work I'll take the 5 hours of body work and the 2 hours of electrical work would probably take me 5 hours anyway. But ultimately I'll need to put down some cost and labour estimates for both routes, discuss with my husband and I'll go whichever way looks like the best combination of cost/labour.
you should google_ cic chrome bumper conversion. Or take a look at brent319's vette
I think I've seen Brent's (76?) chrome bumper conversion, that's part of what led me to think about this. I googled cic chrome bumper conversion and it gave me a bunch of stuff for British MG cars conversion to chrome bumper.
Oh, yes. I've looked at Custom Image's Corvette stuff. I don't care for the look of the bolt on chrome bumper conversion they have. They sell a mold on rear fiberglass tail panel with 69-72 rear quarter panels that isn't too bad but its a little different than the factory C3 69-73 rear and I prefer the factory one over theirs. I think they took the mold for it off of Brent's car. Its got the molded in (c6?)Corvette script whereas I prefer the factory push in chrome letters.
Priya,
I believe I recall you putting a fair amount of $$$ into the 79 and I admit I have no idea it's current condition or the going rates on 79's but we both know you would take a hit if you sold it, just the way this is.
You and I think alike on this mod, the chrome bumper kits out there do not look anywhere near as good as the rear parts and if I was gonna do it I wouldn't think twice about a front clip swap and then a rear end swap,
I know of a Ecklers one piece front clip 68-69 new for 950.00 I can't afford it right now , wish I could, I would use it to pull a mold to make a one piece tilt clip, then flip it...
Point is if you hunt around this project while radical to some would not be that heavy and just think of the cool car you would have when done....
Priya,
I believe I recall you putting a fair amount of $$$ into the 79 and I admit I have no idea it's current condition or the going rates on 79's but we both know you would take a hit if you sold it, just the way this is.
Yes, I've been watching 78-82 cars for sale and I'm pretty sure I'd take a significant loss if I were to sell it. I put (if I recall correctly) about $2000 in GM factory weather stripping and I bought standard springs for it and a Keisler 5 speed tranny although I haven't installed the tranny or springs yet. Like I said, I haven't put any numbers on paper yet but I'd be surprised if it wasn't quite a bit cheaper to convert my 79 to chrome bumpers than it would be to buy a 6-8k 68-72 project and put in the power options and 79 interior.
Originally Posted by The13Bats
I know of a Ecklers one piece front clip 68-69 new for 950.00 I can't afford it right now , wish I could, I would use it to pull a mold to make a one piece tilt clip, then flip it...
Great price! The cheapest one I saw when I was looking was around $1400.
I can appreciate the classical appearance of chrome bumper cars...having owned three of them, and now two..a 68 and a 70.
First of all realize these two points..
(1) The chrome bumpers offer no ...NO...collision protection. In a front end collision, the front steel bumper will be forced backward to damage subsequent body structure. Rear End Collision? The REAR BUMPER EDGES ARE BOLTED TO THE REAR QUARTER PANEL FIBERGLASS. An extremely small collision force is guaranteed to damage the rear quarter panels.
(2) The chrome bumpers are subject to corrosion..rusting. To get them replated today is extremely expensive due to Environment Protection Agency regulations. 74 and up no chrome has a lot of advantages.
The chrome bumpers offer no ...NO...collision protection. In a front end collision, the front steel bumper will be forced backward to damage subsequent body structure. Rear End Collision? The REAR BUMPER EDGES ARE BOLTED TO THE REAR QUARTER PANEL FIBERGLASS. An extremely small collision force is guaranteed to damage the rear quarter panels.
That is the one thing that gives me pause about chrome bumper cars. If I convert my '79 there is no room for the rear crash bar and the thought of a rear end collision directly into the gas tank makes me pretty nervous. I looked into safety fuel cells to mitigate this problem but ones that I truly felt had significant safety to them were as much as 4000 dollars for a standard unit and then there's the problem of making it fit and use the stock fuel inlet. Custom ones are available to spec but that would greatly increase the already steep $4000 price tag. I'm not so much concerned about the cost of damage in the event of collisions.
I think I can make room for the rear crash bar in the 79 after a chrome bumper conversion if I remove the hydraulic cylinders that provide rebound for minor impacts and mount the crash bar directly on the frame. If I go this route that is certainly what I will try to do.
I'm not worried about corrosion on the bumpers as the car is stored for the winter, garaged in the summer when not being driven, and I so far have only put about 300-600 miles a year on my '79. I would like to drive it more than that but I really don't have many places to go that require a car. I guess its time to start taking drives for the sake of driving.
the spoiler is what I like about those tails. That why I put an 82 rear bumper years ago now im gonna do that rear conversion when I start bodywork.
I've always liked the appearance of an upturning spoiler on sports cars (78 firebird, etc.) but I never liked the look of the rear bumper on 80-82 C3s or any of the other body mods made after 79. I think the pace car spoiler on a 78/79 looks pretty good, maybe not quite as good as a 68-73 rear but pretty good nevertheless.
I've always liked the appearance of an upturning spoiler on sports cars (78 firebird, etc.) but I never liked the look of the rear bumper on 80-82 C3s or any of the other body mods made after 79. I think the pace car spoiler on a 78/79 looks pretty good, maybe not quite as good as a 68-73 rear but pretty good nevertheless.
As far as safety the mod can be as safe if not a little safer than a 68-72 was, I guess we differ here, I have built too many kits and customs that safety as far as collision goes did not dictate what I built.
I doubt a single 68-72 owner will sell their car on the grounds, "it's not safe"
Rear ends, the 68-73 duck tail is to me the perfect vette rear ...but Ecklers did a spoiler for 68-73's that was a bond on make it fit idea, this was carried onto a rear bumper sold by Ecklers and made more fame being on the rear of a few Motion cars, but Ecklers gets credit for it...
Here is the one I had, it's basically a 78 pace car spoiler made to fit a 68-73 rear...
I doubt a single 68-72 owner will sell their car on the grounds, "it's not safe" If I was worried about collision damage.... I wouldn`t drive ANY classic car!
Here is the one I had, it's basically a 78 pace car spoiler made to fit a 68-73 rear...
As far as safety the mod can be as safe if not a little safer than a 68-72 was, I guess we differ here, I have built too many kits and customs that safety as far as collision goes did not dictate what I built.
I doubt a single 68-72 owner will sell their car on the grounds, "it's not safe"
I'm not so much concerned about a front end collision but having once been on fire from the shoulders up by having gas sprayed on me I'd like the gas tank to be more protected than it is in a 68-73. Ever since that I'm pretty nervous around gasoline, I'm even still a little anxious whenever I pump gas myself at the gas station. In my '70 Torino the gas tank was just laid into a hole in the trunk floor making it possible for burning gas to enter the passenger compartment due to a rear end collision. That was always in the back of my mind when I drove that car.
I doubt a single 68-72 owner will sell their car on the grounds, "it's not safe"
My sentiments exactly. All the old classic cars are vulnerable to collision damage. The vettes just crack the glass. I was surprised at just how much damage was hidden under the paint of my 72 once stripped. No fear though. 4 months of effort resulted in a solid car again. I can tell u this, there was some hack body men who did the old repairs.
Even if you find a solid chrome car, mine was $8k, installing all the new parts, rebuilding original pieces, and updates, will set u back more than a pristine already done car will. At least mines bought and paid for.
10-11-2014, 07:20 PM
Convert my 79 to chrome bumpers or put a 79 interior in a 68/69
