I lost my sweet daughter about a year and a half ago. She was not only my little girl, she was also my best friend in life. Lisa had many surgeries and had to endure to much pain the last few years of her life. It was a shock to lose her and it has devastated my life forever. She was my biggest supporter in so many ways including my love for muscle cars. The 69 Z/28 in this build thread was her car that I had promised to restore for her some day. I will restore it in her memory. I have struggled with whether I would have it in me to restore this car or even work on one ever again since losing her, but she left me a beautiful grandson and he is all boy. He was her only child and he loves cars, planes and trains. He is almost 4 years old so maybe Papa will have it done for him by the time he is able to drive. Hopefully he will even be able to help me work on it as he gets older. I am not starting with a lot of money in this car and will be doing every possible thing myself and as the title says its a labor of love so I am not concerned with how much I will have in it when complete. I have been watching several other build threads here on TC that have motivated me. The Brooklyn project and Chick's 68 Z are amazing. This car will not be restored to those levels but will be done to the best of my ability.
It is a factory Cortez Silver X77 Z/28. It does not have its born with drive train but came with a correct dated and coded block, heads, M22 and BU rear axle. The car is Jerry MacNeish certified. It is a early pre X coded car but Jerry found the X7 behind the rear seat bulk head along with all the other factory Z criteria. It was from the factory a flat hood, rear antenna, black stripe, non spoiler car. It still retains some of its original paint. It is a factory tach and gauge, console car with standard black interior. I'll be doing many things for the first time during this restoration and will be open to all positive suggestions, help and ideas. It has rust in all the usual places so it will be a challenge but so far seems to be good therapy for me and keeps my mind busy. I will be restoring the car back to mostly factory specs with a few upgrades such as headers etc. I appreciate all the different types of restorations but I am an old school purist type of guy so not many changes from original. Here are a few pictures of what I am starting with. I have begun the tear down. Hopefully there will not be to many surprises as I go forward. Thanks for reading and again I welcome any help. I'll need it!!
Still appears to have the original disc brake system in place. 309 US master cylinder dated the 297th day of 1968, original rivet ball joints, 9204 power booster dated the 304th day of 1968 and delco moraine disc brake calipers. It also still retains the original Manual Steering gear box. I might upgrade that to Power Steering.
So far the firewall and pillars seem to be solid. I am sure I will run into some rust areas on top of the dash once the windshield is removed but I will repair and patch and not remove the VIN plate. Looks like some damage on the drivers side pillar from a collision many years ago. The hidden VIN area looks to be very solid. Still has the original correct engine frame mounts. I am bagging and marking every nut, bolt and screw and taking tons of pictures documenting everything since it could be years before It goes back together.
Len, I'm very sorry for your loss. It's hard for me to imagine what you've been through, but I can see you're on the road to recovery ! I think this project will be the perfect medicine.
Thanks for sharing. Looking forward to following your progress....:beers:
I've had it sitting in storage for about three years. My daughter and I traded a 67 Camaro she had for it and I think the guy that we traded with had it for about five years. I'm not sure of its history prior to that. Unfortunately the VIN is in the batch that the NCRS does not have the original selling dealer info on.
Very sorry for your loss. It would deviate me to loose a child. My daughter is out in the shop with me all the time, and my Z rarely goes down the road without her in the passenger seat.
In the pictures it looks like white paint in the cowl area. Is that just the camera playing tricks? My Z had white in the wiper area and on the top too. Mine is a 05A Norwood car . Orange with white stripes and white interior. I too found the X7 behind the passenger rear seat back. Was very hard to see. I wish you luck with your build and with dealing with the loss of your daughter. Keep taking pictures and post them here as often as you can. Thanks for sharing.
Keith, thank you! I love hugger orange cars. I took some close up pictures of the cowl area today. I think it is Cortez Silver with the black faded and or flaked off. I would assume the car would have been painted silver and then the black added for the stripes down in that area but who knows, it could have been repainted many years ago. I'll post the close up pictures soon.
Len, my condolences. But your plan for a father, grandson project is a great plan. With patina like that I would be doing the minimum to preserve the body and concentrate on the mechanicals first. Drive it with the patina, you can always go back and paint the body
Kevin, thank you very much. At one time my daughter and I had considered to just get it running and driving but with the trunk needing replaced and some floor board work needed and you can't see it in the pictures but at one time a tree or something has fallen on the roof and it will need to be replaced. I love the old original survivors with the patina so I agree and I wish it would have been in a little better shape to do exactly as you suggested.
Having solid A-pillars is a big positive. Also your car doesn't appear to have been worked over by previous owners. It's nice to work on a car that hasn't had dozens of people with their hands on it.
It's nice to see another Camaro fall into good hands. Looking forward to seeing this build.
Steve, thank you! Yes, so far I feel pretty lucky that I will not have to replace everything. The rear panel below the rear window seems to be solid along with the shock tower area and rear seat area. Of course once I remove all the glass that could change but so far it looks promising.
Jonesy, I appreciate that very much! Yes, I have taken several good pictures of the X7 area and will post soon. I will also protect it well when it comes time for media blasting or whatever I use to strip and clean the metal. I sure am open to suggestions from you guys. I greatly respect you and the many others on this sites knowledge and experience. I'm constantly learning from you guys!
My heart goes out to you and your family. Get the little guy involved with the easy stuff. He will always remember working on it with you. Take lots of pictures for a personal photo album as well as sharing them with us all. I wish you the best of luck and look forward to following your build.
Brian you are very kind! Excellent ideas, I can't wait for my little grandson to turn a wrench. I was telling him about the car the other day and that I was going to start working on it and that it would be his one day. And he just smiled real big and kept saying "Really? "Really? Needles to say it melted my heart.
Thanks again to all you guys for the support and encouragement. Hopefully more progress and pictures soon.
Sorry for your loss but best wishes on your journey with this one.
Where in KS as you located?
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