My stuff

[Too Many Projects]

When I met up with Rick, Mr70, in Chicago, he asked about the pic of my cars on lifts and my user name. Yes, I do have 6 vehicles at the present time. All needing restoration, so too many projects. I have used that name on other forums over the years too.
Caution warning, if you plan to read all this blather, you might want to get a bowl of popcorn and cold beer first...

None of my vehicles is a supercar, so I am hesitant to start any build threads, but my '66 Chevelle was a 6 year project with 2 years on a roto and 2 more years before it got a paint job. No original drive train when I got it and the only options on the trim tag are bucket seats and console. It would have come with the heavy duty 3 speed and, most likely, the base, L35 engine. It now has the LS5 from my first '70 Chevelle that I bought in '73. I had an M20 on a shelf that is in it and a '70 12 bolt posi rear axle with 3.31 gears. The story of the LS5 itself, is way too long to get into here.


The '70 SS is an Oshawa built car. It is the second one I have owned. The first was a Fathom Blue over black car with the TH trans, A/C, stereo radio. It was a basket case with no original drive train too. I sourced a 396/TH400 combo from a wrecked '69 c10 and a '69 Chevelle 12 bolt axle to make it a "yard" driver. I always wanted a 4 speed and procured all original parts to convert it, but never had the heart to change it from it's documented build. About 5 years ago, a guy local to me, who is very deep into Chevelles, bought out a guys collection of parts and a '70 SS car, that he never got to restoring. I went to look at it and it was almost what I would have ordered from new, so I bought it and sold the blue car. My current car was ordered with an M20 and buckets but NO console. It also has the gauge package and 3.31 posi rear axle, which is still in the car. It was a basket case, roller and needs most every piece of sheet metal replaced, but with the documentation, I feel it is worth saving. I kept the 396 from the Blue car and procured another M20 and assembled the car to yard driver status also. I'm getting too old to keep pushing dead horses around, so I try to keep all my projects moving under their own power.


I have a '62 Impala SS that was, yes, another basket case that I assembled and drove for a couple years with the 350 engine that came with it. A couple years ago, I saw an ad on my craigslist for a complete, running 409 and bought it. Turns out it was well known in the MSRA community from Wings Callahan's '65 Biscayne sedan. He had sold it a year before and the new owner didn't like the gas mileage of the 409 and swapped in an LS engine. Lucky me, I now have the 409...


The last car I'll mention is my '67 Camaro ss/rs. I've had this for 17 years now and about 18 months ago, FINALLY, started restoring it. It was...wait for it.....a basket case when I bought it with non-original 350 and powerglide. It does retain the original 3.31 geared 12 bolt open axle. I assembled and improved it enough to be respectable and drove it for several years like that and then it got set aside for other interests. Over the winter of 2018/19, I replaced the rusted out trunk floor with an AMD 1 piece, along with a small rear seat floor pan patch. The car came from the Bay area of CA and is rather clean, but the salty air still rusted out the rear window channel and let the rain in the trunk. About the time I got the trunk in, my local Chevelle club group was looking for a winter "tech" session and came over for a club meeting, pizza and then work on my car. I had a disc brake conversion and tubular control arms sitting on a shelf for about 5 years....see a pattern here with basket cases and shelves... so I decided we could throw all that on in a Saturday. One thing led to another and you can't just throw on shiny new parts and leave the subframe all dirty and rusty, so after 4 hours, this is what was left....look familiar ?? I had a brand new engine built by one of the club members and had installed it with an M21, but never fired it before it was back sitting on the floor. This was March of 2019. By the end of June I was making progress on assembly when we, suddenly, moved and I had to get it put together and running enough to load itself on the trailer for transport to the new place. We had been looking for a different location to move to for 18 months and once we found this place and made an offer, it was accepted and closed on in 30 days ! We then had to get our other home ready to sell and that sold in 3 days with another 30 day closing date. Shit happened very quickly last year. I had cut the bottom off the tail panel, as it needed to be replaced anyway, so had to make a couple straps to connect the floor at the spring locations to the panel so I could move it. I have worked all summer to finish off the pole barn shell, that was here when we moved in, for heat to work on this over the winter.
We finished putting up the last ceiling panels and blowing in the insulation last Saturday, before my trip to PA. I installed a radiant tube heater and the "New shop" is now ready for cars. The pole building you see in the pics was erected last fall to put all the cars in for storage.

[1crossram]

I enjoyed reading where you are at. Thanks. Looks like you are moving in the right direction.

[Too Many Projects]

Originally Posted by 1crossram

I enjoyed reading where you are at. Thanks. Looks like you are moving in the right direction.

Thanks, I like your affinity for '67 Camaro's...
I bought my first one in 1971. Base 327, column shift PG, 3.31 posi rear axle. It was Turquoise outside and in. I liked it but when an opportunity came up a year later to buy a '68 SS Chevelle with a 4 speed, I sold the Camaro. LOTS of horse trading and flipping over the next 10 years, when these cars were a cheap hobby.