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keep in mind that any 're-bodying' a car includes a new VIN and title and depending how far you disassemble, new VIN rivets, and probably raised eyebrows at the DMV.
greatly increased potential for problems.
you better know all the ins and outs of the process before you commit to this endeavor.
you would be building a 'frankencar' in which you would have a ceiling on its value. not for the rookees or the feint at heart.
and hope your hair is already gray, because it will be.
I'm working on a 70 Monte, California and Arizona car all its life, so no salt, mostly dry areas with minimal rain, should be good. All windows up and fairly well sealed up.
But enough water trickled into it thru a badly installed kick panel vent from every little storm, and sealed as it was it just created a sauna inside. Very heavy corrosion in places not usually seen, incuding inside the gages. If this Vette sat outside sealed up it would have had the same effect.
Originally Posted by cuisinartvette
Good point, condensation can do damage also. Heck just from sitting this winter my cabin filter in the daily started growing some kind of mildew/mold.
That is super bad in post 1...if you see that much outside cant imagine what lurks. Some cars are just too far gone to even bother with.
If this car wasn't in a flood, this is probably the most likely scenario. Many years ago, I stopped in to visit the owner of "The Vette Shop" here in Michigan. In there he had a '73 Vette that was having problems with the doors closing properly as they were sagging. When they attempted to lift the car on a hoist, the entire frame and front end of the car, forward of the firewall, began to sag as they lifted the car off the ground. It turns out the frame had the consistency of cardboard. The frame was toast and totally unrepairable.
It turns out that the car had been purchased in Florida for the owner by his brother. It then sat under a tarp in the backyard of his Florida home for a year. It was unknown what the condition at the time of purchase was, but the consensus was sitting under this tarp, like in a greenhouse contributed greatly to this problem. To add to the horror, my friend, the business owner had to notify this car owner that the car was not roadworthy for driving. He pointed out that one 40mph turn of a corner could rip this frame in 2. By Michigan law, he could not let the owner drive the car away from his shop in this condition. It would have to be towed on a flat bed. He was advised to search for a new frame. One was found locally, for 10k. Add to this the cost of labor to swap out these frames. The owner was practically in tears. He had spent 13k to purchase this car, one that he considered to be a very good presentable "driver" (the car actually looked nice). He had no dollars available to correct this situation. He was advised by the shop owner to search for a cheap salvage, probably one totaled in an accident that still had a good frame. I have no idea how this story turned out.
To the OP, I would probably cut my losses, flip this car, and start over. I'm not sure where you are in your net dollars, but I have to believe that there will a cheaper and less exhaustive approach out there with another car. But that's just me. Best of luck.
Last edited by seacliffe301; 04-14-2019 at 09:56 AM.
I dug a little deeper. And cleaned up some of the ugly spots. To me it mostly seems like surface rust, although it is heavy surface rust, there are only a few pin holes in the t top. And I couldnt find any actual holes in mount #2. What do you guys think? Still think I should dump it? The metal is not falling off, seems like surface rust to me. It seems like it primarily is surface rust. Passenger side.
Keep going, the more you uncover the better the decision you can make.
If it does not get any worse then keep at it.
Pull the interior out and look at all the issues you find and then make a call.
Posting pics here helps too.
My bird cage looked worse than that when I started.
go to the driver and pass side fender and pull the small stainless trim at the windsheild, look down between windsheld and upper fender lip, from what i see on the backside in the pic, i would assume rust is there. its all fixable either way, im doing it now and ive done it before, if your up to the work, a 69 is a good vette. i pulled my front clip 2 weeks ago because of this.
If I knew then what I know now....still would of repaired it. Mine looked much worse. I opted to cut the tips of both fenders to get at the lower windshield corners. I was not going to remove the front clip. As long as you have the patience and a mig welder it’s doable.
Since these pics the welded areas have been epoxy primed and the fendertips replaced......I wouldn’t hesitate to do it again.
did you make those repair pieces or get donor pieces from a 68-72? cutting the fenders would of been nice, however im doing both rocker channels also, (ONE DOWN!!! ) so getting to the spot welds is much eaiser without the lower fenders in the way.
I popped them off and checked them out. I don't see a lot of rust there. I took a screw driver between the windshield and fender and poked in there to try and push through the metal. I could not push it through. But there is a bunch of debris in there so it's still probable I have rust in there.
Originally Posted by standardbyke22
go to the driver and pass side fender and pull the small stainless trim at the windsheild, look down between windsheld and upper fender lip, from what i see on the backside in the pic, i would assume rust is there. its all fixable either way, im doing it now and ive done it before, if your up to the work, a 69 is a good vette. i pulled my front clip 2 weeks ago because of this.
did you make those repair pieces or get donor pieces from a 68-72? cutting the fenders would of been nice, however im doing both rocker channels also, (ONE DOWN!!! ) so getting to the spot welds is much eaiser without the lower fenders in the way.
I had never done a Corvette before. I fabricated all my pieces from 16 gauge sheet stock. I too had to do 1 rocker, not too bad as well as two upper windshield corners. I used a lot of cardboard for making templates. It all turned out way better than my expectations
You may not believe this but it is a california car. I have the plate with a registration sticker from the early 90s, the last year it was registered. Do california cars look like this if they are at the coast? Or does it take them being IN the coast to look like this? Lol. As far as I can tell it had some form of restoration done in the early 90s. Reuphostered it, changed the paint from green to black. The original l46 engine had maincap and rod bearings dated 1990. So somebody had rebuilt it around then. It must have been in a flood then. The power windows are trash. I appreciate all the input so far. This has been an eye opening experience for me.
I lived right on the beach in Oceanside, CA for seven years back in the seventies. Constant salt spray almost every day due to the waves and wind. The cars outside would rust out all along the roof lines with in 3-4 years. The inside of my stereos rusted inside the house also. Even the aluminum window sills in the house would corrode.
Perhaps this car was use in the driving on the beach commercials for Chevy. Best of luck with your project!
Redvette2
Last edited by Redvette2; 04-16-2019 at 12:16 AM.
Reason: Kan't Spel
I purchased mine in CT where it sat for 10 years but it came right off the beach originally in NJ with rusted gauges. Not as bad as yours. I was lucky the car had surface rust and a good bird cage. So far not one broken bolt from rust. The bolt on cross member in front was bad and replaced. Best of luck.
04-14-2019, 09:09 AM
) so getting to the spot welds is much eaiser without the lower fenders in the way.
