OneStopRestoration's Special Orange 69 Chevelle 300 Deluxe Coupe
 

This will be just like Rick's other post, where he will share the restoration of his Chevelle :beers:

Hello Everyone, Starting out another restoration project I wanted to share. From what I can research this car seems to have passed through the internet and Ebay a few times starting in the 2000s. At this stage in the cars life it’s anyone's guess as to what owner number I am. I can only say that I purchased it from a gentlemen located west of Galesburg IL, back in the 2015 time frame. Shortly after its ebay days it may have bounced around a few times. In the early 2000s I found the car was located and purchased off the Navajo Indian reservation somewhere in the south eastern part of Utah. That’s were my history ends on this particular Chevelle.

This 69 SS is a common fan favorite Monaco Orange car as indicated by the body tags 72 72 designation for body color. That alone is what made me wanna buy it as the color just pops on 69s. The intriguing part that puts some icing on the cake for me is the fact it’s a 300 deluxe sport coupe(no post).

At this time based on what I can learn from the car it still retains its original 331 CF posi rear as all casting and build dates fall right in line with the cars build. Car came with the 752 black interior. Car was an original manual transmission and either the L34 or L35. Car does still retain both a supply and return fuel line so any l78 lineage is out of the question.

Upon getting the car I made sure to check the gas tank and rear seats for any documentation that could help nail down the cars roots. I was successful in finding the original Baltimore punch card attached to the rear seat springs. Its too bad no one knows how to decode these.To be blunt this car has had a rough life. Its gonna need some serious help on the drivers side is it has some history of damage up high in the cowl area, and up high in the rear quarter. Rust wise the car is really in very nice shape. Not perfect but a really solid clean car to start with. At this time I have acquired two new NOS quarters, and outer wheel housings. As I get into the restoration it will remain to be seen how much I will need to change.

I enjoy seeing all the original paint markings and other items that the factory placed on these cars. The one cool thing that draws your attention in the engine bay is the clear as day marking on the firewall behind the engine that shows “SPCL” and “ORANGE” one on top of the other.

Now the fun part. When I bought the car my intent was a full restoration back to an original 350 or 325Hp 396. When you really get into this hobby you just seem to acquire certain items over the years. By luck I acquired an original 3 core BO tagged Harrison radiator. At about the same time I also acquired an original mostly complete 396 L78 motor from a 69 Kansas City Chevelle.

I'm gonna keep the original 331 posi, backed with a M20 dated for a 69 I had laying around and top off the full restoration with an original set of L89 Aluminum heads. Looking forward to this one hope everyone enjoys.

Rick

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Looking forward to your progress! Cool car.

Wow. Great find and I too am looking forward to following along.
Thanks,
Marty

Awesome find, can't wait to see the restoration!

Thanks for sharing!

Wicked ! Congrats,…can’t wait for the future pictures

Trim Tag and other stuff
 

Baltimore built car, produced in the December time frame of 68 according to the trim tag. 72 72 on the tag.

Tear Down
 

Started getting into the car. Its got alot of issues but this is one of the cleaner cars i have my collection. Its really impressive, floors and trunk only need a patch here and there. Window channels front and back are perfect!

752 Interior
 

The white stripes down the seats are just add to the mystique. Someone snagged the front seat many years ago so I have a donor chevelle bench front seat. Door panels were all still there, but rough. Only thing im keeping is the metal frames.

NCRS Shipping Report
 

Shortly after getting the car I paid for the NCRS shipping report. As much as it might make one thing it came from the western states, it actually came from Newport News Virginia, and was sold at Casey Chevrolet.

Very cool! Looking forward to this restoration.

What a neat find. Love the firewall graffiti.
Look forward to watching your progress.

I'll be following! Thanks for sharing!

I as well will be watching this one come back to life! Thanks for saving another one! Bill

3.31 rear axle ratio was standard with the 3 speed manual, whereas 4 speed equipped cars got a 3.55, so there's a good chance this was an original 3 speed car. I too will be following along as you progress!

Hi Bill,

I was thinking the same thing that the car may have been a 3spd 325hp car. I believe standard gear ratios came in open diffs correct? This car did come with a CF coded 3:31 posi so maybe the person that ordered it added the 4spd. One of the things i wont know or be able to prove.

Yes, Positraction was an option regardless of gear ratio, and it certainly could have been ordered with the standard 3.31 gear ratio coupled to the HD 3 speed trans. A moot point given your plans for the car, but interesting to speculate nonetheless.

Can't wait to see the transformation of this cool project!

Deluxe 300
 

Looking forward to following this restoration. I drove a twin to this car in high school, Deluxe 300 Sport Coupe, Monaco Orange SS, no side stripe. Paid $150.00 for it in 1974.

Very cool! Look forward to following this resto!

What a stunning car. Can't remember seeing an orange 13437 car, a couple post cars but not a hardtop. Very worthy! Now's the time to get a set of door panels and seat covers ordered from SMS......they'll maybe be ready in 2.5 years.

That thing is gonna be cool when its finished. :biggthumpup:

Ain't it the truth :crazy:

So now that the subject of interior gets brought up I do have a question as I have yet to speak with SMS. From what I can tell you can buy the headliner, seat covers and door panels. Do they also source a new rubber floor, and if not, what alternatives do i have? I believe i have seen that PUI makes a 68 rubber floor and the grain pattern is different.

Dan Vasic may be your best source of info on this subject. AFAIK, no one makes an exact reproduction of the 69 vinyl coated rubber floor covering. Bummer.

Would that have held for 1970 also ? I've had 4 '70 SS 4 speed cars and 3 of them had 3.31 ratio. The 4th was a 3.73. Of all the 12 bolts I've had over the years, I've never had a Chev 12 bolt with 3.55 gears, but all the 3.31's were M20's also. Maybe the M21 came with 3.55 ?

Mitch,

Not the same in 1970, according to Dale McIntosh's site...standard rear axle ratio in 70 was 3.31, regardless of transmission. HD 3 speed manual was not available on 1970 SS396 or SS454.

http://chevellestuff.net/1970/power_teams.htm

I bought the ACC molded rubber floor. It had it's issues especially over the tranny tunnel, but it came out very nice. No other choice out there unless you can find a NOS floor.

Brake Fitting Colors
 

Time to get into some details. Ive seen many restored cars with colored brake line fittings. Ive never been able to actually see the colors on the original parts as I took them apart till now. All lines appear very rust free and original. Brake booster is dated late 68 which matches the car and the master cylinder is cast 341 i assume of 68 to match the car

Colors
 

Both fittings at the master cylinder are colored Blue, while the remainder of the fittings appear plated in zinc/gold. The other fitting that is colored in purple is the rear line down at the frames distribution block.

Gas Tank Sequence Number
 

A little bit tough to see the number on the tank but it was still there in black marker. I had noticed the number and location on Ricks Yenko. If there is one thing that everyone can take away from my restoration its the picture of the gas tank. Nothing irritates me more than to see a restored car and the fact that someone put the isolation felt on the underside of the tank between the strap and tank. As you can clearly see in the pic the straps go between the tank and bottom of the trunk.

Some 300 Deluxe Items
 

So I had known that the 300 deluxe cars got some stripped down items that can be normally found a regular SS or Malibu. One that had to do some digging to understand was the trim piece at the base of the window. This car did have some very high front end damage in its life, and I noticed it had the hideaway headline trim piece, but had the square non hideaway headline wiper motor. After i pulled off the trim piece it was obvious had the thinner non hideaway piece as can be seen by the line where the paint is faded, and the fact that all the holes where in the cowl for the smaller piece. I also found what I think is a date code on the motor. Im taking a guess here that it means 38th week of 1968 so thinking its original.

First picture is with the trim piece above, the line clearly shows the thinner piece left a fade mark. Second picture shows one I found in my dads stock from a heavy chevy. More to come on this later

Wiper Motor
 

3868 In Yellow Ink

"Now the fun part. When I bought the car my intent was a full restoration back to an original 350 or 325Hp 396. When you really get into this hobby you just seem to acquire certain items over the years. By luck I acquired an original 3 core BO tagged Harrison radiator. At about the same time I also acquired an original mostly complete 396 L78 motor from a 69 Kansas City Chevelle.


I'm gonna keep the original 331 posi, backed with a M20 dated for a 69 I had laying around and top off the full restoration with an original set of L89 Aluminum heads. Looking forward to this one hope everyone enjoys.


Rick "

I love this! I mean if born with is gone and anything else is just close- why the hell not?

This might be a stupid question,but this car was built when I was 1 years old. Now I've seen some low power 396 and also L78 and L89 300 deluxes, I just want to know if this was common thing that anybody could order, or is it more of like a hidden option like the copo Camaro's? Could you just walk into a Chevy dealer and said I want a 375 horsepower 300 deluxe?

Not that old so can't help 1st hand, but the L78 wasn't even listed in the power team combos and the 300 deluxe in either hdtp or sedan was very rare but not unheard of. Very interested also if anyone here remembers what was known in the typical dealer of '69.

1969 is the ONLY year the SS package was offered on a 300 model car, both sedan and hardtop, and yes, any of the 396 engine choices were available.

Looking forwards to following alone. Love the Orange cars.

Cowl Damage
 

So if anyone has a sharp eye you should have seen the very upper part of the cowl on both sides where the front fenders mount had received damage. My best guess is the car was hit at grille level or higher, and the fenders and hood pushed back wrinkling the top of the cowl on each side where the fenders mount. If you study the pictures you can see the rusty areas where the cowl popped the paint from the wrinkling of the metal.

Donor Cowl
 

I was able to source a donor cowl from another 2dr 69. I was happy to find it but not happy that once I removed the dash on the donor that it was pretty rotted underneath. This meant 10-12hrs of fixing the donor cowl before I could even tear into my car

Damage Before on the Side Wrappers
 

Note the rusted areas from the paint being crinkled so bad