Corvette Design - Monroe NC
New to the forum here. I've had several vettes in my time, but I'm now at the time where I have a vette that I really enjoy and I'm considering a little restoration. My car.....1968 L79 327/350 4 speed, convertible with 2 tops. Original Lemans Blue with a great interior, both ragtop and vinyl hardtop have been restored to like new. I have a partial build sheet found when installing a new gas tank. Doing my due diligence I found a candidate I think worthy of spending my hard earned money to restore a little. My research has found a very original car with some period correct mods.....Holley carb and hurst shifter. Goal is exterior resto, paint, rubber, a little glass work, etc. Add an engine cleanup and a little undercarriage cleanup. engine is strong...with points dist, no ps, pb or ac. Car has NO rust, just normal road gunk. The car has about $15k in new front end components, calipers, stain brake lines, Fuel lines, gas tank, master cylinder, bushings, rubber, etc. The engine runs great and all pertinent numbers appear to be correct, I just want it "freshened" with, correct paint, correct hoses and such, plus an original 68 Rochester if possible. Everything looks to be there and original by all numbers by doing my homework. The car was repainted in 1978 to factory Lemans blue by a Chevy dealer, but has definitely earned its current 20 foot look. I visited a local corvette shop here in Monroe NC.....Corvette Design. Jeff the owner and his wife Wanda took the time to walk me around the shop and also take a quick look at my car in their parking lot. Without putting it on a lift he gave me a budget estimate. I intend to go back on 11/11 (my personal earned day off (Veterans Day) to put it on the lift for a closer inspection for an accurate estimate. My question.....Corvette Design here in Monroe NC has a "not so good thread" on this forum, but I found him to be very straight forward. He took the time to show me all his current customer projects. The shop is definetly not NASCAR by standards, but I like to see work in progress and examples of some of his work. This was evident.
Any recommendations by more experienced owners with restoration knowledge is greatly appreciated. Budget price, things to stay on top of, or beware of. I also offered to volunteer my time to sweep up the shop and conduct minor tasks in the shop to learn and see my car through the resto period. Car goal is not to restore and sell, but to enjoy. Plus it's blue, not red. Thanks, Mike. Much appreciated.