So, this car was the first car I ever bought. It appears it came off the assembly line the month and year I was born, branded as a 1972 Corvette Convertible L84 car, it eventually made its way to TN and someone tore ALL the original stuff out of it and turned it into a track car, but kept the chrome bumpers, added aftermarket chrome side pipes, and a flat tappet racing motor with the Muncie, welded a roll cage in it, aftermarket seats, 5 point harness, 78+ dash parts and steering wheel.

For whatever reason, I thought it was cool, bought it, drove it for a couple years as a daily driver, but the engine did NOT like constant highway driving and ate itself on a cruise back from Knoxville to Nashville. Started traveling for a living, parked it at a friend's house, and started restoring it to original, but his dad eventually sold his house and I had to move it.

Some shady guy who was dating my aunt and had a body shop said he'd help me fix it cheap, cut the roll bar out, get the interior back in from the parts I was buying. Instead he disappeared with it and sold a crap ton of parts, including the side pipes, L88 pinned hood, door panels, convertible top, etc, etc. 17 years later, I finally got ahold of him to sue him, judge ordered me the car back (but no money for parts), so here I have my car, but stripped. I have a lot of parts I had purchased and never got rid of, so this starts my journey...

Here's how I picked it up (pictures in reverse order).

Cleaned up and parked. And so it begins.
Almost there! Back right caliper was frozen, got it loosened up.
Half-way through cleaning. It's still red under there. Those headlights got to go!
Wow, she's a mess.
Picking it up from Mr. Thief.

 

Cleaned and ready for scotch bright pads.
Buh-bye roll bar.
This thing sucks.
So today we started on interior.

I drove down to a nice gentleman in Alabama who had an original hood, steering wheel, and headlight assembly. I am headed to another gentleman out of state this weekend who has an entire original dash assembly, brake booster, and more headlights to swap for my recessed headlights. I also have an original carpet set here, 2 full sets of brand new seat belts plus the original passenger side that is still in the car, and bought several sections of nomex heat shielding tape-down to put in after it's cleaned up.

Today we started with the roll bar cut out. Took us a while but we got the main part of it out. Now to cut it flush with the car, foam fill it, then fiberglass over to seal. It'll be covered with carpet, so that's good enough. It'll never be stock again, anyway.

I then proceeded to rough scrub the dust and nastiness off the stripped interior, vacuum up all the small bits and dust, then simply wiped down with water. The difference was amazing! Tomorrow I'll scrape the carpet remnants off, use the angle grinder with a scotch bright pad, then use a light grey primer all through the interior so I can see what I'm doing better.

 

1. Welcome!

2. Nice body.

3. Keep us updated!

 

Glad you got your car back! What a story. I just bought my first Vette, a 68 coupe. I'm not sure yet which direction I will take it, but it will be fun to watch you put yours together.

 

A few more pictures from today.

 

Glad you got it back. No stress in keeping it original. You can build it the way you want. Enjoy.

 

Glad you got the Vette back, look forward to the restoration pics.

 

On a related note, what is this wiring in the rear passenger cargo bin?

 

That would be for the alarm system, anti-theft relay - square, anti-theft flasher - round.

 

Hi LM,
That's quite an interesting story!
It appears you have quite a project ahead, but a 72 convertible is certainly worth the effort!
I'll be interested to follow your progress.
Good Luck!
Regards,
Alan

 

Interesting story, can't wait to see the end.

 

Thanks, gents!

Revi, I didn't even know this car had a factory alarm, wasn't ever functional when I was driving it. It doesn't have the original key by the driver's side "Stingray" that was on later C3's (my old '76 which was my first car out of college - Dad bought for $1,400 in terrible condition and it kept me out of trouble my first year of college away from home fixing it - lol).

Where is the alarm switch on the 72 years? Need to make sure I wire that back in right while I have it all exposed to work on.

Thanks!

 

The alarm became "standard' in 72. The switch is located on the rear of the car.

 

Weird... Mine doesn't have that there. I wonder if someone glassed over it at some point? Curioser and curioser. Thanks!

 

I was SO confused why the car was getting dirtier as the thread went on! At first I thought you were stripping paint, then saw the pics were in reverse order. Keep up the awesome progress!

 

Man, heck of a story, glad you stuck with it and got it back. Looking forward to watching you put it back together.

You still have a picture of it when you first got it ?

 

No, I don't unfortunately. That's why the judge wouldn't award money back. I had no "proof" that the car was drivable or in one piece when I took it to the guy, even though I had been driving it before that point.

Such is life. At least I got the car back.

 

Absolutely, you got the car back. Life is good.

 

bet it is a bit of a wait. this does not look like a quickie...

 

lol - likely not.

I'm hoping to have the birdcage cleaned out and primed, heat shield in on the firewall, and dash installed by the end of next week. Optimistically the rest of the heat shield, carpeting, seat belts, and seats in as well before my vacation is over next weekend.

The engine compartment cleaned out, new bushings and everything suspension that has rotted replaced, brake booster, brake lines, windshield wiper motor, vacuum lines, and a/c blower motor and heater core swapped and box installed by the end of November.

December to finish up the undercarriage cleaning and rubberized paint coating sealing, tunnel trans heat shield in, brakes re-done, and steel fuel return line installed plus a new fuel pump installed in-line with a filter (the tank supply line is already braided stainless), plus the fuel tank drained and cleaned again, basically ready for engine install.

January transmission and engine building and ready to install.

Feb engine in and running.

March body cracks repaired in bumper corners, etc. and off to paint.

April chrome back on, exhaust installed, and ready to enjoy for Spring.

We shall see... lol Gotta get started on the scotch brighting of the birdcage.