HELLO EVERYONE.. I have post on here at different times before, and I am finally going to start on my 1968 Camaro, SS/RS 396 375HP 4 speed original matching numbers car... I will be posting primarily in the Body shop for now,, if you want to help me please go there and post answer and suggestions, I am going to need ALL the help I can Get... Please help Me :beers:
Please Please Help Me
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Whatever your estimated budget is, multiply by 3x.
Just to refresh the info on my car, This car was stripped down back in 1980 and parked in a garage for future restoration, which obviously should have been done years ago ... the original paint was sanded off and primered.. the car was okay until sometime in the early 1990's,, I was not there where the car was due to trouble at home (wife), problems... sometime between 1988 & the early 90's the garage roof started leaking and a big hole eventually showed up in the roof,, and the car got snowed on and rained on & in, for a few years and could not dry out, and when I went to save the car in 1994 the body was shot!!!!!!.... Everything in and on the car was rusted,, I could'nt even open the doors, the mech. was rusted/corroded... I almost puked and cried.. 
The subframe was rusted so bad it was not usable... I started buying parts for it in 1995 I have all the sheet metal to fix it but the hood.. Now they make a shell which would be perfect for my original drivetrain, but I have all this sheet metal.. If any of you remember we had a heavily debated posts about whether a person should use a new repo shell verses restoring an original, Remember?????.. It would be a whole lot easier for me to do that than it will be to rebuild this Whole car... would a repo shell be worth as much as a original authentic numbers matching car that has had all the original sheet metal replaced anyway,???? What would you do?????????????... :wacko:
The subframe was rusted so bad it was not usable... I started buying parts for it in 1995 I have all the sheet metal to fix it but the hood.. Now they make a shell which would be perfect for my original drivetrain, but I have all this sheet metal.. If any of you remember we had a heavily debated posts about whether a person should use a new repo shell verses restoring an original, Remember?????.. It would be a whole lot easier for me to do that than it will be to rebuild this Whole car... would a repo shell be worth as much as a original authentic numbers matching car that has had all the original sheet metal replaced anyway,???? What would you do?????????????... :wacko:
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4,888 Posts
Wow, saw the pics. Definitely a great car and therefore great incentive to restore it...but man...you definitely have your work cut out for you. Look forward to seeing it as it progresses.
A point of view from a guy that has collected alot of Camaro's over the years..... A L78 68 is a really neat car. If I read a ad for a frame off restored L78 I would be interested. ...As soon as i find out it has had a different body used as a replacement I am no longer interested. Your car will be worth much more if you spend the time and money to repair the orig. body.
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8,375 Posts
Yeah, but at what cost? I saw those pictures too. What a sad situation! You've had this car for a long time. Do you EVER plan to sell it? If not, don't worry about value. Do what's right for you.
Here's a couple of links to those guys that rebuild the original bodies that might otherwise be considered unrestoreable:
http://www.mikescustomcars.com/index.html
http://www.musclecarmetal.com/home.asp
Judging from the pics on the website, the first one (mikescustomcars.com) does fantastic work, the other guy, Tony, from Musclecarmetal.com also looks to do very impressive work. I would think, being an original L78 car it might be worth considering the option of sending the original body to one of these guys to rebuild, rather than replacing it with a new body. The prices for a new shell on the first website seemed quite reasonable, not sure if he'd rebuild your shell for a similar amount. At any rate, it looks like a fantastic project. Good luck with it!
http://www.mikescustomcars.com/index.html
http://www.musclecarmetal.com/home.asp
Judging from the pics on the website, the first one (mikescustomcars.com) does fantastic work, the other guy, Tony, from Musclecarmetal.com also looks to do very impressive work. I would think, being an original L78 car it might be worth considering the option of sending the original body to one of these guys to rebuild, rather than replacing it with a new body. The prices for a new shell on the first website seemed quite reasonable, not sure if he'd rebuild your shell for a similar amount. At any rate, it looks like a fantastic project. Good luck with it!
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8,303 Posts
Dale -
Is all the sheetmetal you have GM, aftermarket, or a combination?
The new body shells are kind of neat, but because they are all import stampings and not welded the way GM did them, they can be spotted as non-original. On the plus side, if you get them from someone who has good jigs, makes quality wleds, and generally has good quality control, they may actually be better than GM.
It's kind of the same deal with using an original shell but replacing the majority of the panels with aftermarket panels. It's going to be obvious what's been replaced, no matter how good the install is, because the parts are just different in subtle ways.
Ideally, you'd reuse your shell with your partial VINs intact, using GM replacement panels stamped with original stamping tools, yada yada yada. If you collected a bunch of NOS sheetmetal, lucky you, but otherwise this option is pricey enough to scare away all but the deepest pockets.
Just a painful situation...
Is all the sheetmetal you have GM, aftermarket, or a combination?
The new body shells are kind of neat, but because they are all import stampings and not welded the way GM did them, they can be spotted as non-original. On the plus side, if you get them from someone who has good jigs, makes quality wleds, and generally has good quality control, they may actually be better than GM.
It's kind of the same deal with using an original shell but replacing the majority of the panels with aftermarket panels. It's going to be obvious what's been replaced, no matter how good the install is, because the parts are just different in subtle ways.
Ideally, you'd reuse your shell with your partial VINs intact, using GM replacement panels stamped with original stamping tools, yada yada yada. If you collected a bunch of NOS sheetmetal, lucky you, but otherwise this option is pricey enough to scare away all but the deepest pockets.
Just a painful situation...
Frightfully Painful to say the least..:sad: .. Believe me I have beat myself up for years for letting this happen to this car..:boxing: . I used to take better care of that car than I did anything else I had.. I have heard stories of guys restoring a car in worse shape than mine... But man,, this is going to be a bigger challenge than anything I have ever undertaken thru out my entire life .... I have GM front fenders, front wheel wells, an excellant original set of doors never had any body work done to them and have not been on a camaro since 1985,, for 22 years... Other than that it's all repops...
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well word of wise lol. mine is a 67 camaro. for body wise i had both rear quarters and back sail and tail panel replaced. for 4000 plus parts. think about 1400 for parts. body guy now doing doors and sand blasted them they shot so now 300 a door and my trunk and frame and inside good. so if you figure all than in mind a new body with doors for 13000.00 not so bad. but buy body with doors cause older ones came with no doors and they where screwed up doors didnt match up with body at all. hope this helps lol you take 1 step forward and 4 steps backwards on restoring old cars lol.just like a boat a hole in which you can throw money in.
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Question? How do you become a millionaire restoring a 68 396/375 Camaro?
Answer: Start out as a multi-millionaire. (words of wisdom spoken from experience) Save and restore every possible part you have that is correct...finding the others is gonna be a challenge to say the least. The only thing I have found of any real help is the original transmission that was missing but fortunately all the owners lived within 5 miles of me. It looks really bad and gonna have to have a rebuild but it will be worth it. Never could find the rearend. Only found 2 with the correct code, one in california and the other in Canada...long way from N.C. Good luck and let me know if I can help! Kevin
Answer: Start out as a multi-millionaire. (words of wisdom spoken from experience) Save and restore every possible part you have that is correct...finding the others is gonna be a challenge to say the least. The only thing I have found of any real help is the original transmission that was missing but fortunately all the owners lived within 5 miles of me. It looks really bad and gonna have to have a rebuild but it will be worth it. Never could find the rearend. Only found 2 with the correct code, one in california and the other in Canada...long way from N.C. Good luck and let me know if I can help! Kevin
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