Good evening guys! I am back to thrashing on the 69, getting ready to send her to the paint shop. I am trying to decide between the original Dover White/Black Top combo and Cortez Silver/Black Top combo. I've got plenty of pictures of the white/black combo, and some pictures of Cortez coupes, but nothing of a Cortez vert. I'm going big block and planning to black out the tail and the rockers, and will go with black D90 or DX1 stripes.

x22d80ragtop, I called you out by name because I noticed you have one of these in your sig. Do you have any pictures or a website to share? If not, anyone else got pictures of this combo? My guess is that it is a sharp combo, but I'd like to be sure.

Thanks in advance guys!

bump

Depending on how original you are going to equip the rest of the car, I would go with white if the rest is stock, but I love the silver/black top combo.

It's not original at all. A 396 lives where the 6 cylinder once was, and a TKO600 in place of the 3-speed. It has all new GM sheet metal, which for the most part is straight (couple minor dents where the previous owner bummped it with a tractor, leaned on it, etc.), so I don't need the hiding qualities of the white.

The only part on it now that is white is the windshield frame under the moldings. The previous owner wanted it bright red, and it's trimmed out in a mid 90s GM red. I want an original 69 color, and have narrowed it to Dover White and Cortez Silver.

Just trying to see what a Cortez/Black top 69 looks like.

Was your car an original 6 cylinder convertable? They only made about 1000 of those.

Yes, it was. I'm pretty sure it was even a floor shift, which if I read the info Chevy sent me correctly, means it was actually an M-20 car. The column is a floor shift column, and the date matches the car, so...

Anyway, the 6 has been gone for a long time. I'm kinda glad, because even though a 6 cylinder M-20 vert might be rare, I couldn't drive it with a 6.

I understand what you mean, I wouldnt want to drive a 6 cyl either. My car was originally a Dover White 6cyl w/black vinal roof, and I couldnt see ever putting anything less than a v8 in it. I only asked out of curiosity

I met a guy with one of the Camaro vendors at Carlisle last year who had a silverish green (not original color) 69 RS 6 cylinder/glide vert, with houndstooth and a bench seat (everything else except color and AC was original). Talk about rare. I'm sure a few others on here saw the same car. It was very nice, and a real conversation piece, I just couldn't drive one.

My $0.02. The Cortez silver and black was one of the best combos on a 69 that I have ever seen. I remember in junior high my older brother had a 69 hugger orange Z. He had just got it and was filling up with gas and the other Z guy in school pulled up in his 69 RS Cortez and black Z with three other guys in the car. All four had racing Helmets on and yelled out "come on lets go!" That was a scene and experience I'll never forget and that was 1975. Besides the humor of it all, I was thoroughly impressed with that Z, that combo was spectacular! Now, I have somewhat completed the circle and have a 69 Z striped Hugger Orange and black SS convertible. My brother lost the race that day and I wish I could avenge his loss. Unfortunately I doubt I'll have a chance to run across another 69 Cortez silver and black Z. But if I do I'm sure it will be as impressive now as it was then. "Come on!"

Thanks for the input Dave! Now from that story, I can think one of two things:

You and your brother weigh as much as four guys in helmets; or
The other Z was worked enough to overcome all that dead weight.

Four guys riding around wearing helmets in 75? How'd they get 'em on over all that hair?

Sorry, it's been a long day and I'm getting punchy.

Good one, Punchy. Yes those were the days of long hair, in fact a few years later it was stylish to have a blond afro. Imagine that! Old is new and new is old, kinda like our rides. Oh, and it was a real race ... everyone got out of the cars, and one of the passengers staged 'em and dropped his arms. It was a sight to see two hot Z's take off from a dead stop. Muscle cars ruled the day and Camaro's were a part of the street race culture. Light to light the 302 was hard to beat. Go Cortez and you won't regret it.

Just a quick note on Cortez Silver - I had a couple gallons mixed last year (PPG) for my Z. Started spraying the car and noticed the PPG mix was off by quite a bit from the original Cortez Silver on my car (package tray area, cowl sides, inside the doors). It was too silver and didn't have the slight green hue of factory Cortez Silver.

Anyway, my door frame had some excellent, unfaded original paint on it. I took it to the paint shop and they were able to correctly match the factory Cortez Silver, as sprayed in April of 1969 at the Van Nuys plant. Pretty Cool! The paint shop noted that the PPG formula was missing a tint.

Just in case this is important....

Also, my first Camaro was a Hugger Orange/White Vinyl roof 250 6 Cylinder with a factory 4 speed (Hurst shifter and all). Though not particularly fast, it drove great and was very well balanced. Really enjoyed the 6, though I like the 302 better!

Hey Diego- come on! I would really like to see some pics of the Z RS. As a matter of fact so would my brother. No rear end pics tho, saw alot of that. Thanks

Man, I'd love to post some pic's, but it's not done yet.

Here's my website with some before shots...

http://www.littooy.com/hans/gallery.html

Last year, the heater core blew-out on my Chevelle and I decided to replace it. Well, to get to the heater core, the hood, bumper, and pass fender had to come off, as well as about 1/2 the interior. Got the heater core replaced and said, "Oh, since its this far apart, let's pull the motor/trans and clean-it up and do some detailing. Can't more than a weekend or two worth of work. Well, since it now this far apart, can't be too tough to apply some fresh paint (it was about 8 yrs old)....another simple weekend, right? 1 yr later, the Chevelle got another un-needed resto, and the Camaro sat. Just starting up on it now and hope to have it completed by Fall.

Hans

sounds strangely familar. my first resto work was a 65 Mustang i inherited from my dad, 6 cyl. 3 spd. no floor board. had it in the garage for a week when the folks went on vacation. Prior to leaving he came to me and said he wanted the car out of the garage by the time they got back in ten days. "No problem, dad" .........3 years later I got it out. Custom 289 4 spd. Dark 75 Lincoln metallic blue. Thank God for parental patience. Persistence and patience are the keys to resto. From your pics you have a great start carry on and good luck!